Bryce Harper was ejected from Thursday's Phillies game after getting called out on a check-swing strikeout. This frustrated him so much that he decided to move closer to the third base umpire, Angel Hernandez, while yelling at him before getting ejected. Harper then decided to throw his helmet into the crowd, which caused him to receive a fine.
Harper received a $5,000 fine from the league for throwing the helmet.
The fine isn't a big deal and is just pennies compared to his salary, but it's not about the fine; it's about what Hernandez did to him. He plans to appeal, per Todd Zolecki of MLB.com.
Bryce Harper is right to fight MLB over Angel Hernandez-induced fine
Harper is known to have a bit of a raging problem, as seen with his feud with Hunter Strickland back in the day. He knows he should have walked instead of striking out and has decided to appeal it because he is tired of the amount of slack the league keeps giving to umpires like Hernandez who ruin the sport as a whole.
This stand that players like Harper are making against umpires must happen if they want any change. Umpires, for too long, have been getting away with stuff that they wouldn't if they didn't have such a tough union. MLB needs to step in and officially announce the Robo-Umpires, or they need to start holding umpires responsible.
Harper was fined $5,000 despite the fact that no one was hurt, and even a little ten-year-old fan received the gift of his helmet. Harper signed the helmet and let the fan keep it.
MLB wants to show its control over the players while taking a knee to the constant demands from the umpires to punish players for actions they have a right to do.
A player should be allowed to show their emotion when they are constantly getting screwed over by the umpires with all the blown calls. Instead of saying sorry when they blow a call, they continue to say they are in the wrong, which makes the situation even worse.
