On Sat. May 13th the Chicago White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper got ejected in the bottom of the fifth for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Ron Kupla. I have been watching baseball for 30 years and I cannot recall the pitching coach ever ejected. Now Ozzie had already been ejected for a terrible (and I do mean TERRIBLE) call at first base an inning earlier. "Coop" had a legitmate arguement as well. If Ozzie was still in the dugout could Cooper still go out and argue or does Ozzie have to? And since he wasn't there, shouldn't it have been Harold Baines who is bench coach and takes over when Ozzie is tossed? Have any other pitching coaches been tossed and what was the status of the manager? Also, where did you find the info or do you just remember it happening.

No one is allowed to argue balls and strikes, period. Sometimes an ump will let things slide until the complainer gets too vocal and shows the umpire up. Then they always are greeted with the 100yd toss.

Its the managers job to stand up for their players. Theoretically any of the coaches can go out and argue, but they are more likely to get tossed than the manager. Besides, if Ozzie is on the bench and one of the other coaches goes out to argue a call what kind of message does that send to the player effected. "Ozzie will go argue for Pyrzinski but not for me." Thats no the way to get the best from your players.

The only people that can argue balls and strikes are the pitcher, batter, and sometimes the catcher, that's depends on how flexible the home plate ump is. The reason is simple. Balls and strikes are basically judgment calls.

When Fergie Jenkins was the Cubs pitching coach, he got tossed for arguing balls and strikes. I can't recall who the manager was at the time, maybe Jim Riggleman, whoever the manager was, they were still in the game.

It's unlikely that anyone else on the team besides the manager would take it upon themselves to argue balls and strikes, but it does happen, as you and I saw.