Press

Long before Close Call Sports came into existence, the Left Field Corner was launched as a small blog on LiveJournal. From 2007 through March 2011, the Umpire Ejection Fantasy League existed in this location until a move to the more reliable and customizable blogspot address, umpireejections.blogspot.com, which is now www.closecallsports.com.

Over the years, the UEFL and CCS have evolved from an occasional e-mail that might have read: "5/9/06: Umpire Charlie Reliford (1, NYY Bernie Williams), Umpire Doug Eddings (1, NYM Julio Franco)" (look it up, it's accurate) to one of the first Left Field Corner blog posts, "Ejections: Rob Drake (1)." In 2010, the league opened to non-invitees and in 2011, the UEFL welcomed 37 participants.

Close Call Sports has always been dedicated to objective and fair analysis, transparency and accuracy. Interaction amongst website visitors and subscribers is accordingly encouraged, as is feedback via e-mail to the CCS staff.

CCS is an accepted and reliable source of MLB umpire and ejection information and data; over the years, we have been cited, quoted, and referenced by national media outlets such as ESPN, FOX Sports, Yahoo! Sports, Sports Illustrated, The New Yorker, USA Today, and Huffington Post, as well as local papers from The Los Angeles Times to The Minnesota Star Tribune, as well as online sports websites Baseball-Reference.com, The Hardball Times, SportsonEarth, Bleacher Report, and SBNation, and Major League Baseball itself, care of mlb.com. View a sampling of these features, below.

If you require accurate and timely rules interpretations, call analysis or other officiating-related services, rest assured Close Call Sports is devoted to delivering quality results.

Contact CCS today!
E-mail: info@closecallsports.com | Twitter: @UmpireEjections | Facebook: /UmpireEjections

Press

Featured & Quoted:
"Meet CloseCallSports, the tiny corner of the baseball internet just for umpires," TheAthletic, 9/21/20
"Festivus 2019: The airing of grievances, sports edition," The Denver Post, 12/23/19
"Nationals' Dave Martinez ejected from World Series Game 6 after call that sets off social media storm," PennLive Patriot-News, 10/29/19.
"Dodgers Dugout: Rich Hill shows true class after his spoiled bid for perfection," Los Angeles Times, 8/25/17.
Imber, Lindsay. "You're Out of Here' - A History of Umpire Ejections," The SABR Book of Umpires and Umpiring. Ed. Larry Gerlach, Bill Nowlin, Dennis Bingham, Len Levin. Phoenix, AZ: SABR.
Imber, Lindsay. "Reviewing Instant Replay: Observations and Implications from Replay's Inaugural Season," The Baseball Research Journal, 44.1, 4/1/15
"Fun and fascinating umpire statistics," (Español), ESPN (Jayson Stark Blog), 8/23/14
"Ejections in Baseball Are Down, But Not As Much As You Might Think," Business Insider, 4/28/14
"Rewind this: Are umpire-manager spats about to become extinct?" San Jose Mercury News, 3/20/14
"UmpTalk Episode #14: Lindsay Imber of Close Call Sports," UmpTalk Podcast (Audio), 2/11/14
"Drafting Umps and Counting Ejections: The Fantasy League That Keeps MLB Honest," Sports Illustrated Extra Mustard, 9/27/13
"Umpire Crew Perfect in San Francisco Games," Major League Umpires Blog, 10/30/12
"2012 Ejections Down 16% from 2011," Featured by Baseball Think Factory Newsstand, 8/21/12
2012 NFHS Football Rules Changes, "2012 Rules Changes," Featured as Educational Material by Long Beach, Los Padres/Central Coast and other State of California Football Officials Associations
Imber, Lindsay. "2012 Summer Olympics: Lolo Jones & US Athletes Seek Science to Gain an Edge"
Imber, Lindsay. "Gender Equality in Sports, Discrimination or Necessary Evil," Featured by ifeminists.com
http://cascreamindude.livejournal.com"Give Us a Break," REFEREE Magazine, November 2009

Publication Cited:
Snowdown, Hank. Would "Robot Umpires" Reduce Discrimination? Measuring Racial Bias in Major League Umpires, 2021. CMC Senior Theses. 2677. Scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/2677.
Nardini, Joe. Youth League Umpire, 2017. New York, NY: Page Publishing. Print and e-book.
Sports and Violence: History, Theory and Practice. Ed. Craig Hovey, Myles Werntz, and John B. White. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017. Print and e-book.
Routledge Handbook of Sport Communication. Ed. Paul M. Pedersen. Abingdon, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom: Routledge, 2013. Print and e-book.
Billings, Andrew C. & Brody J. Ruihley. The Fantasy Sport Industry. United Kingdom: Routledge, 2012. Print and e-book.
Goldblatt, Andrew. Major League Umpires' Performance, 2007-2010. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. 2011. Print and e-book.

Linkbacks, References and Blogs (Incl. Cites of B/R Work):
"Mark Loretta suspended for talking to replay officials," NBC HardballTalk, 9/25/19
"Ron Gardenhire's 8th ejection puts him in 1st-place tie," M-Live, 8/20/19
"Ex-Met Frank Viola gets ejected after robot umpire tirade," New York Post, 7/17/19
"Atlantic League coach ejected for arguing over automated strike zone," CBS Sports, 7/17/19
"Former Twins pitcher Frank Viola ejected - for arguing with a 'robot' umpire," StarTribune, 7/16/19
"Event before Colorado Rockies game highlights umpire goodwill, tensions," RoxPile, 7/1/19
"The St. Louis Cardinals' Matt Carpenter needs to chill," Redbird Rants, 5/22/19
"Dunlap grad makes MLB umpiring debut," Galesburg Register-Mail, 5/13/19
"Dunlap graduate Alex Tosi makes his MLB umpiring debut," JournalStar, 5/11/19
"George Springer's Slur Incident Induces Conversation," The Runner Sports, 5/4/19
"Kapler Displeased with Braves for Throwing at Phillies' Hoskins," Sports Talk Philly, 3/31/19
"Joe West Was Almost Perfect," The Big Lead (USA Today Sports), 10/18/18
"Umpires Ejections and Player Ethnicity: An Analysis," The Hardball Times, 10/15/18
"Rick Porcello celebrates first playoff win, defends Angel Hernandez," M-Live, 10/10/18
"Joe West took issue with camera placement at Chase Field, because of course he did," The Comeback, 9/26/18
"Phillies Could Protest Loss to Cubs Following West's Misuse of Rule 6.02(c)(7)", Sports Talk Philly, 9/1/18
"Here is the called third strike on Royals' Lucas Duda, Yost's ejection," KansasCity Star, July 10, 2018
"One Last Thing About Umpire Videos," FanGraphs, June 20, 2018
"Here is the call that led to Alcides Escobar's ejection from Royals Game," KansasCity Star, June 21, 2018
"Umpires Disproportionately Eject Non-White Players," FanGraphs, April 30, 2018
"A Semi-Complete Taxonomy of Baseball Ejections, Part I," FanGraphs, February 26, 2018
"Cold Takes: The Year in Ejections," Baseball Prospectus, December 15, 2017
"2017 World Series Props: Astros vs. Dodgers," My Top Sportsbooks, October 21, 217
"Robinson Cano on being ejected by Vic Carapazza in Mariners’ win," The Seattle Times, Sept 13, 2017
"Here is the pitch that upset Mike Moustakas, led to his ejection," Kansas City Star, August 3, 2017
"Want to relive the confusing 20-minute double-switch delay? Now you can!" ESPN, July 26, 2017
"John Farrell Ejected Saturday Night for Arguing A Balk Call," CSN New England, June 24, 2017
"Will Little's Big [Inconsistent] Strike Zone," Athletics Nation, May 27, 2017
"Local MLB umpire Will Little ejects Oakland's Melvin, Lowrie," Bristol Herald Courier, May 27, 2017
"For Argument's Sake," CBS Local Sports, May 25, 2017
"One team had it made with a game-ending walk...then the appeals began," The Telegraph, May 19, 2017
"You're Gone," The Hamilton Spectator, May 19, 2017
"The Yankee Stadium Effect," FanGraphs Baseball, May 3, 2017
"Most 'Murica: Your Redesign the USA Jersey Finalists," Uni Watch, April 1, 2017
"How Umpires' Ejection Rates Change with Age and Experience," The Hardball Times, March 29, 2017
"Rockies spring training quick hits," The Denver Post, March 2, 2017
"Carl Childress, Former Referee Contributor and Author, Dies," Referee Magazine, March 2017
"MLB umpire Jim Joyce to retire," Bless You Boys, February 22, 2017
"The End of Tal's Hill," Swamplot (Houston's Real Estate Landscape), February 16, 2017
"Thoughts on the Umpire Crews for 2017," Armchair All Americans, February 8, 2017
"Detroit Tigers Links," Bless You Boys, January 18, 2017
"Cleveland Indians smart not to sign Jose Bautista," Let's Go Tribe, January 17, 2017
"Couture's call: Umps integral part of game too," Berkeley Beacon, October 12, 2016
"What the Blue Jays and Donald Trump Have in Common," FanReads, October 4, 2016
"Blue Jays manager John Gibbons making a run at club record for ejections," The Globe and Mail, 9/12/16
"Atlanta Braves push Diamondbacks to extras, but fall in 11," Tomahawk Take, August 25, 2016
"Are the Days of Managers Arguing Done?" The Inscriber Magazine, July 21, 2016
"MLB memo encouraging managers, players to just 'play ball,'" Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 19, 2016
"MLB Tells Teams to Quit Arguing Balls, Strikes," CBS Sports, July 16, 2016
"Cardinals manager Matheny ejected," Lindy's Sports, June 30, 2016
"Cardinals manager Matheny ejected," Rotowar, June 30, 2016
"Advantages and Disadvantages of Talking to the Umpire," FanGraphs, June 10, 2016
"Umpire Ejection Weekend Wrapup," SportsBlog/Klip Bloggin Sports, Ongoing, 2016
"MondoLinks: Weaving wins with smoke and mirrors," SBNation/Halos Heaven, May 23, 2016
"Game 38 Recap: Red Sox 10, Astros 9," Baseball Prospectus Boston, May 16, 2016
"Fan boycotts, fan trades, and fantasy camps," Purple Row, October 16, 2015
"What exactly happened between Blue Jays' Russel Martin and Rangers' Rougned Odor?" Denver Post, October 14, 2015
"A Quantification of Fredi Gonzalez," Talking Chop, October 7, 2015
"You're Outa Here! Why Baseball Ejections Are on the Rise," Vocativ, Sept 15, 2015
"At the Mike: Going Viral," GB Tribune, July 15, 2015
"KNOW THIS," Minnesota Star-Tribune, June 12, 2015
"You're out! Umpire takes down Matt Kemp during Padres-Braves argument," FOX Sports, June 11, 2015
"Everybody Loves a Good Manager Tirade," Sons of Sam Horn, June 5, 2015
"Instant Replay - BR Bullpen," Baseball-Reference.com, June 2, 2015
"Marvin Hudson, MLB Umpire: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know," Heavy, May 20, 2015
"Royals Rumble: Crime & Punishment," Sports on Earth, April 25, 2015
"Saltalamacchia upbeat despite benching/Further review," Miami Sun Sentinel, April 17, 2015
"Game 5 Recap: Cardinals 7, Reds 5 (11)," Fungoes (ESPN SweeetSpot), April 13, 2015
"Game #1: It's a Sonny New Day in Oakland," Athletics Nation, April 6, 2015
"19 Ways Pittsburgh Earned the 'Quirky' Label," Pittsburgh Magazine, March 25, 2015
"Cubs-Giants Spring Training game goes Little League," Phoenix Sun-Times, March 5, 2015
"Dale Scott hit by pitch in first inning of his first game since coming out as gay," Outsports, March 5, 2015
"Life in the minors: Developing for the majors," Ballpark Digest, Feb 26, 2015
"Baseball ejections: A visual analysis," Beyond the Box Score, Jan 19, 2015
"Replay review and ejections," Beyond the Box Score, Dec 11, 2014
"Manager Ejections in the New Replay Era," The Hardball Times, Dec 10, 2014
"Reviewing Robin Ventura's ejections in 2014," South Side Sox, Oct 28, 2014
"Examining the decline of ejection rates in 2014," Lookout Landing, Oct 13, 2014
"Would You Take the 2014 Pirates' Season in 2015 for the Cubs?" Bleacher Nation, Oct 2, 2014
"Take Two: Ump quickly gaining on ejection-happy brethren," Columbia Daily Tribune, August 19, 2014
"Is the Replay Challenge system working in MLB?Fansided/Climbing Tal's Hill, August 6, 2014
"Matheny and Other Managers Exposing Flaws in Review System," STL Sports Page, August 4, 2014
"Replay hasn't reduced umpire arguments, manager ejections—just ask Tigers' Brad Ausmus," The Oakland Press (Blog), July 26, 2014
"Examining ejection rates in 2014," Lookout Landing, July 14, 2014
"Ejections are actually on the rise this season," MLB.com, June 26, 2014
"Why baseball has gotten a lot less fun to watch this year," Los Angeles Times, June 4, 2014
"Reviewing Saturday's home plate review," Athletics Nation, June 1, 2014
"The refs in the OKC-Clippers game made the right call," SportsonEarth, May 14, 2014
"Why do MLB managers get ejected at a FAR higher rate than head coaches in the other sports?" Tangotiger (The Book), May 6, 2014
"Umpire 'with a personality' gets the call to the big leagues," Minor League Ball, April 18, 2014
"Baseball Replay Works—And It's Terrible," The New Yorker, April 18, 2014
"A Welcome Casualty of the Replay System: On-Field Tantrums," theScore, April 15, 2014
"Mariners lose to A's, don't get ice cream," Lookout Landing, April 13, 2014
"Tracking instant replay results," Beyond the Box Score, April 7, 2014
"Did instant replay kill the art of the manager argument?", SBNation, April 7, 2014
"Game thread: Mariners at A's - game no. 4," Seattle Times, April 3, 2014
"MLB Replay Reviews Took an Average of 1:39," Deadspin, April 1, 2014
"MLB Handicapping: 2014 Umpire Crews," SportsMemo, March 31, 2014
"Bryce Harper ejected from spring training game," FOX Sports, March 26, 2014
"Weiss, Rockies can benefit from addition of instant replay," Purple Row, March 22, 2014
"Spring Training Ejections: More Common Than You'd Think," The Brewers Bar, March 17, 2014
"Instant Replay Gets in Shape," Gammons Daily, March 12, 2014
"Joe Maddon and the Rays continue twisting baseball's rules in their favor," Philly.com, March 7, 2014
"Reddick 3.16 (and 2.00(d))," Athletics Nation (SB Nation), Oct 9, 2013
"That's Not Foul - MLB Agrees to Expand Instant Replay in 2014," Villanova Law School, Sept 12, 2013
"Replay will preserve human element, while getting calls right," Newsday, August 23, 2013
"Blue Jays' Jose Bautista loses another battle with an umpire," National Post, July 28, 2013
"MLB Umpire Brian Runge Reportedly Fired Following Drug Violation," Bleacher Report, July 2, 2013
"Former MLB umpire wishes Marquette's Hamari well during outing," The Mining Journal, June 28, 2013
"Ump Show Update," Prospect Insider, June 10, 2013
"Umpiring in the AL West," Prospect Insider, May 12, 2013
"Umpire Marty Foster Hates the Rays," Sports Grid, May 7, 2013
"Spring training ejection?", Yahoo! Sports, February 28, 2013
"33 Reasons It Ain't Easy Being a Mets Fan," BuzzFeed Sports, February 20, 2013
"The Olympic Games: An Honest Competition?", Arbitrage Magainze, Summer 2012
"Optical Illusions & Dr. Strangeglove," Bless You Boys, August 29, 2012
The Hardball Times (THT Links), August 21, 2012
"Chart: You're outta here," StarTribune | Twins/MLB, August 21, 2012.
"MLB umpires: Danger zone ahead?," StarTribune | Twins/MLB, August 21, 2012
"On Our Bold Predictions," You Can't Predict Baseball, July 11, 2012
"Better Know an Umpire," Deadspin, April - July, 2012
"Brett Lawrie tirade raises questions for umps, fans and MLB," USA Today, May 16, 2012
"Blue Jays 3B Brett Lawrie awaits news of suspension," thestar, May 16, 2012
"Welcome to the Umpire Ejection Fantasy League: Span 'n' Gardy edition," StarTribune | Twins/MLB, 4/18, 2012
"This House Believes Instant Replay Should Be Used in MLB," IDEA Debates, February 21, 2012
"UEFL: 2011 Ejections of the Year," Baseball Think Factory, November 4, 2011
"Baseball's most ejection-happy umpirs and how to bet them," Covers, July 8, 2011
"Umpire Ejections: 17 Managers, Players & Coaches Tossed So Far in July," Huffington Post, July 8, 2011
"Umpires and Teams Not Making Nice," ESPN, July 6, 2011
"The Real Life Adventures of Joe West," FanGraphs, May 5, 2011
"The Definition of Obstruction," Baseball Umpiring, September 4, 2010
"MLB Umpire Ejection Fantasy League," Amazin' Avenue (SB Nation), July 28, 2010
"Umpire Fantasy League, You Say?", MLB Pro Blog (Keith Olbermann), May 1, 2010
"Meet the Cards-Dodgers NLDS Umpiring Crew," The Cardinal Nation Blog, October 7, 2009

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