Major League Baseball officials say they are investigating a tweet written by umpire Rob Drake in which he declared he was buying an AR-15 in case President Trump is impeached.
The tweet, published late Tuesday and seen by ESPN before it was swiftly deleted, hypothesized that the United States would descend into mass violence if the Democrats succeed in having the Commander-in-chief removed from office.
‘I will be buying an AR-15 tomorrow, because if you impeach MY PRESIDENT this way, YOU WILL HAVE ANOTHER CIVAL (sic) WAR!!! #MAGA2020’ the tweet read in full, according to ESPN reporter Jeff Passan.
The tweet followed one written earlier in the night, which purportedly read: ‘You can’t do an impeachment inquiry from the basement of Capital Hill without even a vote! What is going on in this country?’
Drake has been an umpire in the majors since 1999 and was assigned to postseason games in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015.
The Twitter account was switched to private mode tonight, but USA TODAY Sports reviewed other tweets from the account before the change was made.
Messages included a claim that Barack Obama was not born in the United States and a tweet to Hillary Clinton calling her an “(expletive) liar,” demanding the truth about “#benghazzi.”
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said tonight they would be looking into the situation with Drake and his tweets.
Politics aside, Drake was called out for making what Umpire Auditor on Twitter described as “the worst called ball” during a game back in August.
I’ve watched literally thousands of bad calls this season while making videos and I think this is the worst called ball.
Umpire Rob Drake inexplicably calls a ball on pitch that’s right down the middle. Tough break @e_lauer10. #Dodgers v #Padres pic.twitter.com/SOThDBWsIW
— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) August 27, 2019
During the second inning between the match-up of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, pitcher Eric Lauer threw what looked to be a perfect strike toward hitter Cody Bellinger. The announcers can be heard in the clip saying, “Did that miss?” and “I don’t know. I guess a strike doesn’t count.”
With humans as umpires, there’s always going to be a few bad or missed calls, but in this particular case, it was difficult for anyone watching the game to see how Drake confused this pitch as a ball, especially when it went smack dab into the strike zone.
In July, Rangers pitcher Jesse Chavez offered Drake his pair of glasses after a few pitches weren’t called his way, but the spat was quickly put to bed since Texas ended up walking away with the win against the Astros.
Drake has now deleted his Twitter account.
Millions of us already have ours and agree, fyi.
Ridiculous. If a president abused power, they will be impeached. That’s how it works. Democrats didn’t threaten to grab guns when Bill Clinton was impeached, and you shouldn’t either. We are not a Banana Republic.