Ump Stops Game to Eject ... a Fan

It's not unusual for an umpire to toss somebody out of a baseball game, but it's typically a hot-headed manager or a player. In Philadelphia on Tuesday night, it was a foul-mouthed fan. As the Philadelphia Inquirer reports, home-plate ump Bob Davidson stopped the Phillies-Giants game in the sixth inning to have stadium security remove a fan. (Video here.) "This guy starts yelling, 'You suck!'" Davidson explained after the game, per ESPN. "You could tell he was [drunk]. And so, all right, suck is not bad." But things became progressively more graphic, and that's when Davidson got the hook out.

"I turned around and said, 'You know what? Get rid of this guy.' You could have your wife, girlfriend, kids. They buy tickets. They don't have to come here to listen to that." He added that Philly fans cheered him, "which is unusual in this town for me." The Phillies later clarified that the fan wasn't formally ejected but agreed to leave after talking to security. One person surprised: Phillies catcher Cameron Rupp: "I started laughing, and Bob said, 'I don't know how long we were going to have to listen to that guy, but I put an end to that.' First time I've seen that happen." USA Today notes that Davidson has had a fan thrown out previously, and provides that video link here. (More umpire stories.)