GAHHH LOOK OUT!
That’s what I wanted to yell at first-base umpire Vic Carapazza as Aroldis Chapman steamed toward him on a tight play at first in Tuesday’s Kansas City Royals loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Unfortunately, Chapman was watching the play at first and not ahead of him. As Chapman realized the first baseman would make the play — ultimately, an out by tagging first with the ball, but it was a close one — he headed toward Carapazza and knocked the ump down.
At first, Carapazza signaled safe — I thought for a moment he was sarcastically saying he himself was safe — but then changed the call to the correct one. I give him major kudos for doing that after the 6-foot-4, 218-pound reliever trucked him:
Aroldis Chapman just flattened an umpire pic.twitter.com/mt5bCw2ALD
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 5, 2023
Aroldis Chapman just tackled the Ump 😠pic.twitter.com/SjIXhyjrKx
— Royals Daily (@RoyalsDaily_) April 5, 2023
Aroldis Chapman solves the umpiring problem pic.twitter.com/d3dW2qySjd
— Welcome to the Ump Show (@umpjob) April 5, 2023
Hope he’s OK!