In 2016, Noah Syndergaard was tossed from a game for what refs believed was an attempt to pitch at Chase Utley. What the internet didn’t see until now was the mic’d up fallout from it.
MLB doesn’t want you to hear what argument between a manager and an umpire really sounds like
Are there more of these?
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
It’s here where we embedded a really amazing video from 2016, but it only lasted a day before MLB decided to kill it.
For the sake of posterity, here’s what the video DID show, if MLB wanted you to see it.
The “Chase Utley” rule started in 2016 after he slid into Rubén Tejada, so the Mets had plenty of beef. You can even see the umpire’s point of view on the whole situation and why they’d believe Syndergaard was trying to escalate things — but no player is the star of the show here. That goes to former Mets manager Terry Collins, who turned in a performance that David Mamet would be proud of.
It’s a beautiful, expletive-laden tirade that makes him one part baseball manager, and two parts Joe Pesci from Goodfellas.
“YOU C***SUCKER! IT’S F***ING BULLS***! IT’S F***ING BULLS***! IT’S F***ING BULLS*** TOMMY AND YOU KNOW IT! YOU GOTTA GIVE US A SHOT! YOU GOTTA GIVE US A SHOT! WHY DON’T WE GET A SHOT? WHY DON’T WE GET A SHOT, TOMMY?! HOW ... WHAT AM I? MLB DID NOTHING TO THAT GUY! NOTHING! F***ING BULLS***! YOU’RE BETTER THAN THAT TOMMY! YOU KNOW THAT! F***ING MOTHERF***ER!”
The astonishing thing about the video is seeing umpire Tom Hallion using his conflict resolution skills on the Mets manager. Whether he was being honest or not, the tact of saying he agreed that Utley should be punished and letting Collins get all his anger out was a thing of beauty.
This video emerging raises a big question: Does MLB have an archive of mic’d up interactions between refs and managers? It’s not outside the realm of possibility to think they do, even just to have as evidence if any issues arise down the road between two parties. If they have those videos I really hope baseball just lets them go public — because we’d watch them all day long.
