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Backman is suspended, lashes out at SCL umps

• After being ejected from Tuesday's game, South Georgia Peanuts manager Wally Backman calls the SCL's umpiring lague-wide "a disgrace to professional baseball."

Paul Dehner Jr.

ALBANY — It finally happened.

Fiery South Georgia Peanuts manager Wally Backman was tossed from a game for the first time Tuesday night, coming in a contest the Peanuts eventually lost, 6-5, to the Aiken Foxhounds.

Backman lost his cool in the eighth inning, threw his hat and line card to the ground and bumped the basepath umpire multiple times. He eventually was thrown out of a game in which first baseman Brandon Woolard was tossed from innings earlier.

As a result of the tirade, on Wednesday, the South Coast League issued a three-game suspension. It is the first such punishment handed down by the SCL since the league began its inaugural season in May. Backman said he is appealing the length.

   When asked to discuss it Wednesday by phone from South Carolina, Backman didn’t hold back, railing the league’s umpiring.

“It needs to be reassessed league-wide, for sure,” Backman said, noting that the fairest has come with the home crew at Paul Eames Park. “There has to be something done to where the credentials of the umpire is important. You’re talking about guys that have played Double-A, Triple-A and in the majors.”

Backman then added: “The game is to fast for the umpires. I see them guessing behind the plate.”

He called Tuesday night’s explosion something that was building within him since the beginning of the season. He was arguing a check-swing call against Mike Caruso and says once the basepath umpire put a finger to his mouth and shushed Backman from across the field, he had enough. Backman charged from the third base coaching box then the two went nose-to-nose at which point the former major-leaguer admits “a few times” there was chest-to-chest bumping.

“I was fed up with it,” he said. “I’ve watched it for 21 games. Everyone complains. The players start to complain. You try to keep the players in line, they get frustrated after a while. It’s not fair for umpires to be able to dictate the outcome. It makes the league look bad.”

SCL Director of Baseball Operations Kash Beauchamp said he understood Backman’s concerns and, having been to just one game due to scouting trips, plans to turn a focus on the SCL’s on-field issues such as this one for the the rest of the season.

“It’s a first-year league,” said Beauchamp. “There are bumps in the road all over the place. We’ve got to get better. It sounds like umpiring is an area we need to focus on. When I see it with my own eyes, we’ll evaluate every aspect of the game, umpires, managers, everything. We’ve had a  couple issues in games. Every independent league has issues.”

SCL Chief Executive Officer Jamie Toole said Backman will get a chance to state his side of the story and voice his concerns in the appeal process, but when physicality becomes involved in an on-field incident, something had to be done.

“It is important to protect the umpires,” Toole said. “They are employees, too. It’s like two brothers fighting in the backyard, you separate the two, hear their stories and hand down the punishment accordingly.”

Backman has a history of altercations with umpires. Most recently, he was suspended for 10 games in his last job with the Single-A Lancaster SkyHawks for bumping an umpire to the ground during a game.

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