High school umpire tells entire crowd: You're out!

BRYCE MILLER

The Des Moines Register

June 13, 2009

Few high school baseball umpires have gotten more mileage out of one "Yer outta here!" than Don Briggs.

Briggs briefly ejected the entire crowd — estimated at more than 100 fans — during a game between Winfield-Mount Union and West Burlington on Thursday night in West Burlington.

"It was something else — I'll tell you that," Winfield-Mount Union coach Scott McCarty said.

Dave Anderson and Bud Legg of the Iowa High School Athletic Association said they know of no other sanctioned high school event in Iowa where an entire crowd has been asked to leave.

"I have no recollection of that ever happening," Anderson said.

The ejection came in the fifth inning of the game, after McCarty left the dugout to argue whether a batted ball was fair or foul.

West Burlington coach Jeff Housel, who said he did not see or hear time called, tried to send a runner from third base to score during the debate — but Briggs sent the runner back.

Briggs said the crowd became unruly, and had been unruly during the game. McCarty and Housel, however, said the situation was overblown.

Because no administrator from West Burlington was in attendance, Briggs said, the rules indicate that the head coach of the home team makes management decisions at the site.

Briggs said Housel declined to eject the crowd, so he did so himself. He called West Burlington police on a borrowed cell phone to monitor and assist in the situation.

"I know it sounds like I'm the bad guy — but it was the crowd," Briggs said. "If I got the control to ask one person to leave, I feel like I can ask them all to leave."

The crowd, estimated to be more than 100 people, lingered. Some people refused to leave. Others moved 30 feet away to a sidewalk officially off school property.

The delay lasted nearly 40 minutes.

Eventually, West Burlington Superintendent James Sleister arrived and persuaded the umpire to allow the game to continue.

Fans returned and the game resumed, under the agreement that "anyone making a negative comment toward the officials would be ejected from the premises and could be charged with disorderly conduct," according to the Burlington Hawk Eye.

"I talked to people from both school districts and both coaches, and they didn't seem to believe that the crowd was anything out of the normal," Sleister said. "They questioned some calls, but they said nobody was yelling loudly or yelling profane. I think it was an overreaction."

Briggs said the situation required some type of action. "In one area, most of the people were really being mouthy — not all of them, but most of them," he said. "And they don't say nothing when you look at them. They waited until you turned your back.

"I can get it to the point where we can play it safely with the kids. There was a lot of people yelling and arguing, so I made the decision. The kids were great, so I didn't have any problems with the kids."

The game was almost as eventful as the delay.

Winfield-Mount Union led 11-3 in the fifth inning before West Burlington rallied to win, 12-11, on a steal of home in the bottom of the seventh inning.

"I've heard a lot worse during a game, I guess I'll say that," McCarty said. "But it turned into a playoff atmosphere after that (delay). People were cheering, making plays. They had a great diving stop. It turned into a heck of a game."

For Briggs, who said he has umpired Iowa high school games for about a decade, there is no hesitation to umpire again.

In fact, he was preparing call a game Friday night. The matchup: a junior varsity between WACO of Wayland and ... Winfield-Mount Union.

"I'm not really worried," Briggs said. "They should know I won't take nothing from them."

Housel, the West Burlington coach, said it was a once-in-a-lifetime night.

"Like I told the other coach after the game," Housel said, "this is one you'll never forget."