Umpire Who Allegedly Told Players Not To Speak Spanish, Resigns
By Huffington Post Latino Voices
An umpire who allegedly told New Mexico high school baseball players they’d be ejected if they spoke Spanish on the field resigned last week, the Albuquerque Journal reported Wednesday.
Corey Jones sparked an uproar in the town of Almagordo last week when he told Gadsden High School’s first baseman to stop speaking Spanish, according to a written complaint cited by Las Cruces Sun-News. The complaint said the player had been encouraging a teammate in Spanish but that Jones said he couldn’t tell whether the boy’s words were insults and asked everyone to speak English in the interest of monitoring their sportsmanship.
Jones’ alleged Spanish ban angered Emmanuel Burciaga, assistant coach for the Gadsden Panthers. But when he protested, Burciaga says, Jones responded with the same anti-Spanish posture.
“Anyone who speaks Spanish – coaches or players – will be ejected,” Jones allegedly said.
The alleged ban on Spanish didn’t go over…
This article was first published in Huffington Post Latino Voices.
[Photo by gwilmore]