Not often you see baseball issues discussed in psychology journals and websites, but, here you are!
And, here's the "nut graf":
In a new study published in Psychological Science, researchers from the Université du Québec en Outaouais delved into the contentious realm of sportsmanship and justice within the heated atmosphere of professional baseball games. Their investigation reveals a surprising dynamic: verbal aggression towards umpires can actually sway their decisions in favor of the aggressor’s team. After facing verbal abuse, umpires tend to call fewer strikes against the team of the aggressor and more against their opponents.
The study is based on ejections, whether players or managers, of 2010-19 MLB games.
So, argue away!
2 comments
Why does the catcher have an infield glove?
I am a football and basketball ref and I would be lying if verbal aggression towards me doesn’t make me “look” subconsciously for a call to “please” the aggressor. It’s a human instinct, confrontation avoidance.
You should try to avoid it and the best umpires are largely unaffected but it is a fact that this unsportsmanlike behavior can be rewarded
There was an amateur soccer team in Germany that forced themselves to not berate officials for half a season.
They said after the experiment that they felt every 50/50 call went the opponents way who would routinely complain to the ref.
That being said: I don’t care that MLB managers sometimes make a fool of themselves or stand up for their team, whatever you wanna call it.
I care that it trickles down to a level where umpires don’t make 100k a year
I certainly wouldn’t ump a whole day of little league for 100-200 bucks and have my life and my family threatened in the process