Coach and Umpire Spar at Youth Baseball Tournament

VICKSBURG, MS – An altercation between coaches and an umpire during a baseball tournament with 9-year-olds is being investigated by the Grand Slam Sports Tournaments of Mississippi.

The fight happened last Saturday evening, October 12, during a tournament hosted by the Grand Slam Sports Tournaments at Key City Sports Park, formerly Sports Force Park, in Vicksburg. According to a video and eyewitnesses, the argument began after the coach questioned a call.

That video shows an umpire making a call, and the coach can be heard off-camera challenging the call. The umpire took exception and walked towards the bench, pointing his finger and saying things that were not clearly audible. A coach can be seen walking from third base toward the dugout. That coach is Michael Brown, brother of Sandlot owner and coach Roosevelt Brown. Shortly thereafter, the video shows a pile-up with the ump on the bottom. One person, later identified as Coach Michael Brown, can be seen throwing several punches.

Roosevelt Brown said he was surprised at how quickly the situation escalated.

“I’m not used to Umpires being the aggressor. They’ll stay right in their spot and say ‘look if you don’t leave, you got a minute or we’re going to forfeit the game,'” said Brown.

After that fight was broken up and the game was called, hostilities continued in the parking lot. One report included that a gun was involved, but that has yet to be substantiated by any credible source.

Grand Slam Sports Tournament Director Mike Narmour said after the incident, “The group involved is banned from playing Grand Slam permanently, and you know who is. Everyone involved should absolutely be ashamed. These are small kids, for God’s sake. I do not care what happens; it is NEVER OK for this type of behavior!!!”

After the initial banning of the team, Grand Slam reinstated the teams eligibility in tournament play, but still left the suspension of the coach and umpire.

In an email sent out to the parents of the Sandlot team, Co-owner Anna Burnett Tillotson said “Thank you so much for your time and providing this clarification for our team, parents and the public. We do have parents who are willing to step in and take over the teams until a decision has been reached and beyond that pending the decision. I will serve as the teams administrator from this point forward.”

Grand Slam’s follow up response

After the initial statement made by Grand Slam, Mike Narmour released the following statement on October 17, 2024:

Good Afternoon All

    I have been praying and thinking about this unfortunate situation since I first heard about it Saturday night. My main concern being the safety and well being of everyone and especially our young impressionable youth. It is truly ashamed they had to witness such behavior. 

   With that said we are going to implement a new rule going forward for both umpire’s and coaches. If a coach or fan is ejected he/she must leave immediately and failure to do so will result in a 2 tournament suspension for the 1st offense. 2nd offense will be a 4 event suspension and a 3rd will be a 1 year suspension. If you are thrown out you are most welcome to contact a director once you are away from the field and we will gladly hear you out. 

  If a umpire engages in any aggressive behavior towards a coach or fan he / she will be suspended 1 year minimum for 1st offense and then permanently for a 2nd offense. We have to prevent such altercations. 

   No one should jump to any foregone conclusions about the guilt or innocence of anyone involved in this past weekends altercations as it is a legal matter with both side pressing charges so we all need to let the legal process play out. 

 Thank You 

Mike Narmour 

God Bless