Looks Like Rain: Baseball’s Precipitation-related Ejections

There have been (roughly) 25 ejections from major league baseball games for reasons related to “field conditions.” That’s 25 people who complained too much (or, as we’ll see, too creatively), drawing the ire of a sodden and fed-up umpire who then tossed them out of the game.

This group of ejections share a common root: the weather dilemma.

Deciding what to do when it starts raining mid-game presents a quandary for umpires. In order for a game to officially “count,” the losing team must have taken their turn to bat in the fifth inning. Any game that does not reach that point may be “postponed” (essentially erased) and re-started on a different day. This is a much less frequent outcome in baseball’s current context, but for much of its history, rain washed out plenty of nascent games.

The rule inevitably led to gamesmanship by players and managers. The team that is ahead wants to keep playing a little longer, moisture in the air being good for the skin and good for the soul, after all, while the team that is behind complains that they are soaked, half-blind, and ready to pack it in and try again another time and, hey, was that lightning over there?

The weather dilemma is famously and wonderfully depicted in Norman Rockwell’s beloved painting Tough Call.

Credit: Saturday Evening Post, obviously.