In this episode of “Baseball Shorts,” we pay attention to the term Magic Words. In general, magic words are needed to make something happen or to make someone do something for you.
In baseball, the magic words are those words that make an umpire toss you from the game.
Bobby Cox, former manager of the Atlanta Braves had a gift to say the magic words as he is the record holder for ejections from MLB games with 161 ejections.
A nice example of a magic word is the following scene from Bull Durham in which Crash Davis manages to say the magic word and gets tossed. The following scene contains some abusive language and therefore isn’t fit for children under the age of 21. 😉
Perhaps the funniest “scene” is the ejection of Phillip Wellman, former manager of the Mississippi Braves (AA, Southern League). From the dugout, he shouted the magic word and was tossed. What followed was this dramatic retreat from the field.
