"HP Umpire Mario Seneca ejected Daytona Cubs DJ Derek Dye for playing 'Three Blind Mice' after a close call at first base, #MiLB A Advanced," so read the SportEjections twitter feed's
most recent (and most favorited + retweeted) tweet at 6:38 PM on August 1.
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| File: Professional Baseball (MiLB) Umpire Mario Seneca |
With none out and none on in the top of the 8th inning of Wednesday's Florida State League contest between the Fort Myers Miracle and Daytona Cubs, Miracle batter Andy Leer hit a ground ball off of Cubs pitcher Scott Weismann to shortstop Tim Saunders, who threw low to first baseman Taylor Davis. After Davis attempted to snare the dirt-bound ball, which at some point fell out of Davis' glove, 1B Umpire Ramon Hernandez ruled Davis had bobbled the ball, resulting in a throwing error charged to Saunders and batter-runner Leer arriving at first base safely.
As Cubs manager Brian Harper visited Hernandez to argue the lack of possession call, Daytona Cubs deejay intern Derek Dye cued up a baseball organ version of "Three Blind Mice" to play over the Jackie Robinson Ballpark P.A. system. While Hernandez was engaged with Harper, his partner, umpire-in-chief Mario Seneca recognized the childhood tune and knew exactly what he had to do. (Video:
Inappropriate Song Plays, Dye Tossed)
If only Dye—an intern from the University of Illinois—was a bit more experienced or versed in stadium entertainment audio operations, he would have known that "Three Blind Mice" was a baseball no-no, a discipline-worthy offense backed by nearly three decades of precedent and past practice.
