Another shining example of why nothing is more intense than your local youth baseball league.
In one of wildest stories you will hear all day: Monee, Illinois mayor Jay Farquhar allegedly punched youth baseball umpire Tim Nelson in the face, breaking his jaw in two places according to witnesses.
On June 4th, Farquhar was managing his son’s team, which includes children as young as seven years old, when he approached Nelson over a disputed call in the second inning that quickly escalated into a violent confrontation.
“That’s what it really comes down to: I gave a 7-year-old girl who is playing in a boys’ league an extra swing. I’m stunned over the entire matter,” the 56-year-old Nelson told ABC7 Chicago.
After the incident, Mayor Farquhar, of course, took to Facebook to defend his extremely inappropriate actions by claiming self-defense stating, “…(T)here is no excuse for striking an official…in retrospect, it was a reaction which lacked comprehensively best judgement for the coach (me) to defend myself against the physical escalation of the umpire as such I willingly left the field and recognize the need to suspend my helping to coach that team the rest of this season.”
League officials have since suspended Farquhar from managing for a year and banned him from attending any youth baseball games. Additionally, the Will County Sheriffs Department will further investigate the alleged incident.
Nelson, deserving a massive raise and possibly a promotion, finished calling the game and will need to undergo surgery, which will require his jaw to be sewn shut for four weeks.
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While it obviously takes two to tango, no mayor in any town should ever degrade himself by getting involved in a physical alteration in front of small, impressionable children during a youth baseball game that constantly promotes sportsmanship.
How embarrassing is it that your mayor is banned from attending youth baseball games? That can help his approval rating.
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