In a Cardinal game recently, the umpire stopped play to tell the Cardinal pitcher to straighten his hat. He said the Rockies batter had complained. The Cards manager went wild, got thrown out, the ump later made a horrible call at home plate, some think out of spite.

Doug Eddings, the ump, said there is no rule against a crooked hat but it offended him.

The next day the league apparently told him he was out of line and he apologized to the poor kid who was pitching in his first major league game.

But here is the kicker. The Rockies hitter said he never said one word. Eddings lied and made it up!

If somebody like that worked for me I would fire him. Now.

But it doesn’t work that way of course. Maybe they will send him packing at the end of the season. Maybe not.

Wrong is wrong and every game he umpires is an attack on proper umpiring and the truth.