During the Yankees/Orioles game at Camden Yards in Baltimore Wednesday umpire Tim Timmons had had enough. In an extremely rare move he forced several people to leave the field. But he wasn't exasperated with a player or manager. The rare part was that he ejected the entire stadium grounds crew. What kind of mischief were those punks causing? Throwing garbage? Cussing out Yankee players? Holding up profane signs? Actually none of that.
The crew positioned themselves behind the giant tarp roll, ready to spring into action, expecting the foreboding skies to open up with rain, and the skies did just that shortly after the youngsters were booted. So, why did Timmons force them to scram so emphatically?
"I didn't 'eject' the grounds crew," Timmons said in a text to The Associated Press. "I just didn't want all of them behind the tarp, especially with the infield in."
Watching the kids scurry to exit at the right field corner is a little bit funny, especially if you imagine the Benny Hill music going with it.
Though Timmons does have the power to eject the grounds crew, as well as ushers, photographers, media, etc. an ejection in baseball technically means they leave the field and may not return for the remainder of the game. It sounds like he was worried that someone could get hit by a smoked foul ball or something. When the rain came that same crew was able to come back and stretch the protective tarp over the infield.
