Mayhem in Stands as Baseball Parents Brawl Over Scorekeeping Decision

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Chaos erupted at a youth baseball game Thursday after parents mobbed a man keeping the electronic scorebook.

Seven men and three women surrounded Thad Simmons, a parent of a player for the 12U Hackensack Hitmen who was scoring the contest, and demanded he change an error into a hit.

After some harsh words, Simmons told the men to “get a clue” and tried to break through the circle of bodies to resume scorekeeping. One man shoved Simmons, sending his iPad flying. “You just bought me a new iPad, f***er!” said an exasperated Simmons. Soon fists were flying everywhere.

Police said the incident began after Simmons ruled as an error a hard ground ball that caromed off the pitcher’s glove toward the shortstop. The batter, Trent Galbraith, had been mired in an 0-12 slump. When his father was alerted via a dinging sound on his phone that his son had reached first base on an error, he snapped.

“Thad, you're killing me,” said an exasperated Mike Galbraith. “That was a f****** hit and you know it.”

When other parents learned of the controversial scoring decision, they sided with Galbraith and began approaching Simmons. Many had cited earlier scoring snubs as their motivation for trying to choke the life out of the 47 year old actuary.

“Your kid hasn’t reached on an error all year, but my kid has five," said Jack Milford, 49. "You better fix it or I’m gonna f*** you up.”

When Simmons in turn invited Milford to perform a lewd act on himself, the mob of parents pounced.

“I will rip your head off and s*** down your neck!” screamed Amanda Parsons, a 51-year-old psychologist who had seen three of her son’s hits scored as errors since April.

Police called the melee a “GameChanger.” Simmons was rushed to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he was treated for minor injuries.

Police said incidents like this can be prevented if parents can remind themselves that nobody cares about 12-year-old baseball, that in three years half of these kids will quit the sport anyway, and that they were all terrible athletes themselves and shouldn’t expect their kids to be any better.--SB!