The inexplicable trend of parents turning into complete lunatics during Little League baseball games has gotten especially bad in recent years. For some reason, parents are increasingly flipping out and going completely nuts when they disagree with the umpire calling balls and strikes. For another reason, which we don’t understand, parents in New Jersey seem to be the absolute worst at this. That’s prompted one New Jersey town to set a new rule to prevent parents from screaming at the umpires during games.
Little League parents in New Jersey take the game of baseball so seriously that they have developed a reputation for their explosive tempers during games. Trenton, NJ, is just a three-hour drive from the annual Little League World Series playoffs in Williamsport, PA, each year. Maybe that has something to do with it?
At any rate, Jersey parents are notorious for yelling at umpires during the games.
Deptford Township Little League has set a new rule that they hope will prevent Jersey parents from engaging in this weird and unsportsmanlike behavior. In recent years, Jersey parents in Deptford Township have grown especially bad about this. The verbal assaults on the umpires at these children’s baseball games have gotten so terrible that many volunteer umpires no longer want to work at games. Why would they want to get abused while not at least getting paid for it?
Under the new rule, parents could be penalized for their behavior or even banned from attending future games if they don’t shape up. The penalty for acting like a “Jersey parent” is that the parent must volunteer to be an umpire for at least three games before being allowed to be a spectator in the stands again. Otherwise, they don’t get to attend any more games.
The Township hopes that creating a little empathy for what the umpires are going through will make Jersey parents stop acting like Jersey parents during Little League games.
