Umpires livid over KKK membership questions . . .

[Bluebear]

Umpires are livid that Major League Baseball has sent investigators to their hometowns, asking neighbors a series of questions that include whether the ump belongs to the Ku Klux Klan.

"The questions that we found out are being asked are about beating wives, marijuana use and extravagant parties," World Umpires Association president John Hirschbeck said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "And then finally with this whole thing about the Ku Klux Klan.

"You get someone from security, shows his credentials and starts asking these kind of questions, and right away what's the neighbor going to think other than the umpire is in trouble, he's done something wrong and he's going to lose his job."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080130/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbo_umpires_background_checks&printer=1;_ylt=ArG_xOwXrylME69GnlCUcJD34494

[davidinalameda]

1. stupidity of the major league baseball never ceases to amaze me

no wonder they have no credibility on the steroid issue

[marmar]

2. Your picture reminds of me of the time I watched a baseball game on TV as a pre-teen....

.... and I had no idea what "K" meant in baseball parlance. So I see a shot of the crowd and three guys in the stands holding "Ks" while Dwight Gooden was pitching. Needless to say, I was a bit horrified..... and I felt really silly when I found out what a "K" was.

[Bluebear]

3. You'll notice that savvy fans will always post one of the first three K's backwards

to avoid that!

[JackRiddler]

4. No.

A backwards K means the batter struck out looking (took the third strike without swinging). A forward K means struck out swinging. This is the scoring convention. Not always followed on scoreboards. How the fans hold up the Ks in the pic is probably random. All the best.

[BuyingThyme]

5. Backwards Ks signify that the last strike was called by the umpire

(as opposed to a swinging strike).

[Bluebear]

6. And all this time I thought the fans were actually being sensitive lol