Just about every night at every big-league ballpark across North America, there’s an argument at home plate. The argument is usually about the strike zone, but if the people arguing follow baseball’s unwritten rules, the crowd will never know there’s a disagreement.
Here’s how you have an argument in plain sight without alerting the fans, which is key: You can have a debate at the plate, but you better be subtle about it.
The hitter
For starters, nobody in the big leagues calls an umpire “Blue.” Calling an umpire that is considered bush-league; umpires have names, and players are expected to learn them and use them.