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When the audio for this ejection first came out, I listened to it several times, because I wanted to hear what an ejection conversation sounded like. And I wasn't disappointed at all.

Completely agree that Tom Hallion did a phenomenal job with this situation. Trying to imagine Joe West in his shoes. Would have actually gone nuclear.

What I find really interesting is how Terry Collins reacts to the ump saying "our ass is in the Jackpot now" like he knows exactly what he is talking about.

As a Mets fan this gave me a whole new level of love and appreciation for Terry. For a manager to still care so much a year later shows the bonds he made with the team. Between that and his feelings on letting Santana finish the no no.

I figured that "ass in the jackpot" meant that the umpire crew was now responsible to handle the retaliation to Utley before it turns into a shit show of a game.

As a met fan , the tejada injury was devastating. It felt like he was done wrong, Not an unfortunate bi product of competition. We felt intent on the part of Utley. I respect Collins even more then I already did..his passion was real.

The ump saying “Our ass is in the jackpot” in this case means that he feels he and the rest of the umpiring crew would be in serious trouble if they didn’t react to the Mets’ retaliation against Utley. Also, you can find another similar reference to being “in a jackpot” in the movie “No Country for Old Men”. :)

God. Game 3 of that NLDS was ELECTRIC. Sold out for the first ever playoff game at Citi Field, and every fan, myself included, was so hyped, but absolutely ENRAGED at Utley for what he did. The thundering boos for him, the huge cheers for Tejada when he appeared on the field in crutches, and the subsequent blowout that followed made all of us feel great.

Hallion is a great umpire. He did very well being calm and decisive with Thor, then he takes Terry aside so he doesn’t get in more trouble by being overheard by other umpires. Give that man a medal.

Tom Hallion will always be the man for how he handled this

36 year Umpire here: We umps love this video for the beautiful way that it shows how umps work together to defuse a situation. Hallion did everything a crew chief should do, he took the heat off the home plate ump and put it on himself. The key to this is to have let Collins work his anger out on him. If you noticed, Hallion really didn't argue with Collins as much as listen to him. Excellent all around umpiring here.

Collins endeared himself to Mets fans forever after this clip came out. That said, Hallion did a great job of handling and diffusing the situation. You got reality out of both men, and he also handled the infielders calmly and rationally before taking on Collins. I know the crew chief's are trained to attempt to redirect the manager to them as opposed to another member of the team. Just smooth all around and yeah, quite entertaining. LFGM!

The dialogue and delivery between Hallion and Collins is so good it almost feels scripted. I feel like Hallion saw that 2000 made-for-TV movie, liked it, and stored it in the memory bank for the right moment.

As a Mets fan, I loved this breakdown. The Earl Weaver video is another classic.

This is why I love baseball: the game behind the game.

I'm neither a Mets or Dodger fan but I remember this vividly. I was disappointed on so many levels. First, that it actually happened and Utley only got a two game suspension. Secondly, that he was allowed to play while the suspension was being appealed and lastly, that Joe Torre overturned the entire thing. All the while, Tejada was actually injured and was never the same after that. Terry Collins, the Mets and Dodgers and the umpires all knew what was happening and unfortunately, these things happen all too often. MLB needs stricter rules and punishments to keep this kind of stuff from happening.

Wow this is a really good video. The only instance I can remember of someone using that term "jackpot" outside of a gambling context was in the movie No Country For Old Men when the cab driver says it to the main protagonist when he is concerned about being put in a precarious situation. Makes sense in both scenario to me now.

Essentially saying that “my ass is in the jackpot” essentially just means I am stuck with a bad hand, but my future is on the line, essentially another way to say they are stuck in a bad situation.

I'm feeling old now. No one remembers the Earl Weaver video where he got tossed like 2 batters into a game for arguing a balk? Ends up being him and the ump just talking shit to each other. It's almost poetry.

Due to the iconic catch phrase i think people failed to see what the best part of all of this was. It was the showcasing of the companionship and brotherhood that is created when you are on a sports team that transcends the actual sport. It doesnt matter if youre in little league or the major leagues those players and coaches become your family. It was so awesome to see a coach have that much passion and trying to get revenge for his player's injury. Thats the type of coach you want to play for. Im a lifelong Mets fan and when i had seen this Collins had instantly became one of my fav all time coaches not because of his skill i think could name a bunch better imo but because of the love he showed Tejada.

as a die hard Mets fan of 40 years i LOVE this video!!!!! great job!

A little brief windows into the reality of baseball is super fun. They knew what was happening, they understood why, they had to enforce the rules. Only thing that can be said if you're going to hit a guy, you should probably actually hit them.

That Homicide clip was from the TV movie when Bayliss and Pembleton were talking about the internet killer Luke Ryland (S7 Ep 13). 16 years later, Hallion used the jackpot phrase. In Tom’s context, if the crew did nothing, they were going to be fined or suspended for not enforcing the rule book. Adam Hamari (pronounced as HAM-er-e) was a AAA call up at that time, he could have been fired if he didn’t eject (or warn at the least). I think when this leaked, MLB had to change the way this was handled…which they did in 2020. Now the crew will discuss and warn or eject as they see fit.

This is a really great video. Good job and thank you for putting this together. I loved this original video MLB should put these out there on their own bc seeing this stuff is great for the fans.

I remember watching that game on tv. First time I watched a ejection on tv. Didn’t know I was witnessing history

Didn’t always love Terry but this has always been so hilarious and was awesome as a Mets fan

Time was, if a player had done something like what Utley did to Tejada (or not even as bad as causing a serious injury), he knew he was going to be plunked in a subsequent at-bat. It's just how the game was played. It was almost a badge of honor for both the pitcher and the batter, and the scales were once again balanced, and the game went on without further incident. And you can get a sense of that from what Terry (an old-school baseball man) was saying. "You gotta give us a shot." The team's honor depended on getting retaliation, especially when MLB did nothing. Frankly, I'd like to see a return to that kind of thinking in baseball. No ego; not trying to really injure the guy. Just returning balance to the situation.

We don’t need empire mics when all we need is jomboy

Terry was a warrior. The Utley blood goes way back and I only wish he had to play a couple weeks with sore ribs after this.

One of the worst calls in MLB history. Utley never touched second base

The best thing Tom Hallion should have said to Syndigard and Collins was "You had one job and you missed your shot." 😂😂😂

That phrase or something very close is used in the movie "No Country for Old Men" that is the first thing that came to mind when I heard this. Josh Brolin says it to the taxi driver outside of his motel. "Your ass is already in the jackpot, I'm trying to get you out of it" something like that

I was a D-1 and Minor League umpire and this is not unusual. As a matter of fact the only reason Collins was so pissed is because his guy missed Utley and you better believe everyone including Utley knew they were gona come after him. Thats why he didn't look surprised when the ball went behind him. MLB wont admit it, but warnings are issued to kinda give one retaliation shot. If you listen closely Hallion actually tells Collins..."you had your shot". In this situation great job by the umpires. Warnings wasn't gona cut it. There was a really good chance that he would have thrown at him on the very next pitch. Hallion was spot on. There is a great video by Jonboy where he does a lip reading of Hallion torching a coach. BTW Great break down of the game within the game.

Awesome video!! I do think you missed pointing out a great line from this, when Tom goes "Terry listen to me and let me hear what I'm saying" XD

Gotta love it . I remember one of the umpires brother was on the other team we were playing one time . Their pitcher had a huge zone . Seemed like he just couldn’t throw a damn ball . And our pitcher had the zone the size of a marble . Which also caused us to just have to basically swing at everything no matter what . The guy we had on the mound could throw some gas……coach calls time and brings us to meet on the mound . He calls for a next pitch fast ball right at umps shoulder . For the catcher too.sell it . After he shook it off he knew what was up and called the game A little more fair .

I was always a big fan of Lou Pinella's meltdowns and ejections.

I named my wifi “Our Ass is in the Jackpot”

this is what baseball needs more of. this is why we love baseball movies like major league

I gotta add "our ass in the jackpot." Nowon in my day to day vernacular. Its hilarious.

“MLB did nothing to that guy!” as a Mets fan, this gave me goosebumps and made my eyes well up. fuck Chase Utley.

The worst thing about this event is how Syndergaard was so obvious about being way inside, that Utley didn't even have to move to get out of the way. What a waste.

That video was amazing! Truly I will never see baseball the same way again. I'm actually glad this edge of the game is private. If it wasn't guys would likely censor themselves anyway, as they do during interviews. However, I never expected that a coach would be so blunt about it. Always figured they were just yelling fudge you doodiehead.

I'm a Mets fan so I remember this vividly. It changed the entire series. Don't forget that Chase Muttley was a Philly for 11 years before going to the Diggers. It all stinks to high hell

This was a great video, thanks for putting it together. I remember watching the video of the argument and I was very entertained.

Can you do a video about the 1989 game between the Pirates and The Phillies, the Pirates scored 10 runs in the first inning and the Pirates announcer said "If the Pirates lose this game, I'll walk all the way back to Pittsburgh" the Pirates lost 15-11 and at after that season he actually walked from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. It took him a few days but I can't remember how many days and I also don't remember the announcer's name. It would be so cool if BaseballHistorian were to do a video on it so he can give context about the game.

There's a scene in No Country for Old Men where Josh Brolin is in a cab, trying to dodge some assassins, and he tells the driver to take him somewhere else and the driver replies "i dont want to be in some kind of jackpot here." It basically is a sarcastic phrase that means "Im already in this game, and i dont want to win the terrible prize."

Too bad Utley didn’t take that heater right in the earhole. He had it coming and he knew it.

we went from Terry Collins doing a great job diffusing a situation to creepy hand massages, gotta love umpires

I do miss Noah in a Mets uniform…🥺 oh the potential…😢

Something that I always thought was interesting about the video, and I hope this doesn't sound too conspiratorial lol, is that once Terry officially name drops MLB (re: "MLB did NOTHING to that guy!"), the audio officially gets muffled. Now I don't know if that's Terry yellin so loud he blew out the mic, or if it's MLB attempting (and failing) to scrub out this part of the audio. They did try to have it erased from the internet after all, I just wouldn't be surprised if the muffled audio *exactly* at that part was intentional.

Braves fan here, and as many will know from that statement alone I absolutely hate the Mets. I started watching last year and never knew this had happened and I never thought I would see the day where I am on the Mets side of the argument but here we are. That type of play doesn’t belong in baseball and utley should have been punished by mlb.

Syndergaard's "sin" was doing it on the first pitch. He made it obvious.

Even if Chase never got hit like he deserved the fact that he tarnished the reputation of his entire career in one play will likely live with him forever

The clip of Collin’s yelling at the ump is cinema, by far my favorite mlb moment ever it’s insane. Like a movie

EVERYONE was/is on the Mets side here. I say this as a Dodger fan. I would have loved to see Utley get hammered.

Hallion was masterful here: honest, sympathetic, and just decently, manfully, trying to defuse everyone's uncontrolled rage. Hallion represents the best of umpiring.

This is the definition of turning a 5 minute story into 15 minutes.

You've never seen anybody get thrown out with style like Billy Martin (A's).

The phrase "in a jackpot" in this context also appears in the book No Country for Old Men, and the subsequent film as well. This was a great video.

When Terry is yelling "you gotta give us a shot", I interpret that as the ump taking away the Met's best shot to win the game by ejecting their pitcher without a warning. Not a shot at hitting Utley.

Great breakdown. Umps get a lot of deserved criticism, but they do a lot to control situations from getting out of hand. Manager negotiators, if you will.

Note to self: Be actively looking for ways to use the phase "ass in the jackpot" in future conversations, even though not exactly sure if that was the expression or what it means. And dang, the still shot of that guy catching air from the runner's slide!

Imagine just this scene played out in a movie, with Al Pacino as Terry Collins and Robert De Niro as Tom Hallion. Lol 😂

I think these things need to stay private, if for no reason that people would eventually find something they didn't like and it would cause a huge controversy. I'm not old, not even 30, and when I played in high school, hell even men's league softball, conversations like this weren't out of the ordinary. My brother was bat boy for a minor league team when he was in middle school and heard stuff like this all the time. The problem is, this is normal in the sports world but not seen as normal outside of it, and while many would find it fascinating, me included, I wouldn't want the discussions on the field to become self-censored because this stuff became public.

When Terry Collins said "You gotta give us a shot ...", he didn't mean that the umpires needed to give the Mets a chance to get revenge for what Utley did. He just meant you gotta give us a chance to compete in that series, because essentially they were taking away the Mets' ace started before the game even began.

You forgot to include the best part. "You got to give us a shot!" "You had your shot, that was your shot, we gave you your shot right there!"

This was an excellent summary of the relevant actions and conversations. I really learned a few things from watching this video!

I bet if he would have hit him, he wouldn't have gotten ejected. He missed with an intentional pitch, and you know the next pitch would have been another 99 to the ribs. I bet the umps were warned or cautioned about not letting things get out of hand. He had to toss him. But I really think if he hit him, no one would have gotten tossed and Utley wouldn't have even flinched.

This shit fire. I fuck with you baseball historian

WOW! I loved learning this backstory.

"OUR ASS IS IN THE JACKPOT" 😭😭😭😭🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂

How the hell did I miss this? Been watching baseball since 2010! Glad I saw a Facebook reel about this. Didn't expect to see Captain Raymond Holt, too (RIP).

Ass in the jackpot is Baltimore/East Cost style police slang for getting caught by internal affairs or your superior doing something on the job that is a crime or serious violation of policy. It's getting in trouble like your were a kid. I still don't understand it perfectly exactly. A jackpot is usually such a big deal that you get demoted or fired. Really popularized again by David Simon. He used it in "Homicide" the book that inspired the Homicide TV show, and again when he wrote "The Wire" on HBO. I remember it was used a lot on NYPD Blue (also written/produced by a former police I think). On those shows, and maybe in real life still today, it's the two sides of being a police, the thin blue line and all that. There's the day to day life where rules and policy aren't perfectly followed and usually the cops protect each other. But if the bosses or internal affairs(cops who investigate other cops) get wind of the a serious crime or violation, then that was internal affairs department's "jackpot". Nobody ever wants to put themselves or their co-workers into a jackpot because it's like a betrayal of that thin blue line stuff. So, Hallion is saying to Collins that if the umpires don't eject Syndergaard for a pitch the umpires thought was intentionally thrown at a batter, then the umpire crew for that game would be "in the jackpot" or facing discipline from MLB. He's almost saying that he and Collins are the same and that they know what it's like down there on the field every day, but the bosses upstairs at MLB are the ones making the decisions. The rule book leaves no wiggle room for pitches that in the umpires judgement are thrown intentionally at a batter. If the Umps don't follow the rules, especially in a situation like this, then they might get demoted or taken off of playoff assignments in the future. Hallion is trying to de-escalate the situation by saying almost that he agrees with Collins and wants the Mets to 'get their shot' at retaliation, but that can't happen because if the Umps allowed it then the whole umpire crew could be 'in the jackpot.' Everybody on an MLB field, players and even the umpires, all look out for each other. It's like a big fraternity, nobody want's to put another guy in the jackpot. Sorry for such a long comment! Just found this...More examples of the jackpot in media and history here: deadspin.com/on-the-origins-use-and-meaning-of-ass-in-the-jackpot-1827286762

That was a great breakdown. Thanks for taking the time to make this video!

Meanwhile Jomboy sitting back laughing all the way to the bank. 😂who needs microphones on umps when you got the lip reading genius of Jomboy.

Terry Collins was an amazing manager. He protected his players. He did amazing things with the crappy rosters the Wilpons kept giving him year in and year out.

Great video. It features a cameo of a guy I know personally (Ty Kelly) and a nod to one of my all-time favorite TV series (Homicide).

We've been beaten up on - physically - for the past who knows how many years. This past season I think we had the most hit batters over the regular season (112 HBP which is the most since 1900). Over the last 150(ish) years, the Mets are in the top 25 - 3 times. The managers, the players, the fans... everyone has had enough with the BS.

If you keep on making them, we’ll keep on watching!

This is an awesome video. And should be a case study for conflict deescalation.

yeah i wanna hear like every ejection. imagine the year end list of top ejections at the end of the season? that'd be incredible

As a Met fan Terry Collins has become one of my favorite Mets managers of all time

The first time I saw that video I probably watched it 5 or 6 times in a row.. I've been watching baseball since 1988 and it just fascinated me..

I honestly think him saying give us a shot at winning the game.

Love how as soon as Hallion says "Our ass is in the jackpot," anyone he's talking to is instantly shut down like "Oh fuck, their ass is in the jackpot. Give up." 😂

Wow, that umpire is seriously incredible. Clearly he has a relationship with these guys and it shows

an amazing video man, keep doing this! you got it

It's cute that after getting caught on mic, their solution was to remove the mics, not stop doing things they don't want on mic

It’s funny, earlier in the week I was thinking, how cool would it be if umps were mic’ed up to hear what they say between the catcher, batter in the box and, obviously, the ump himself. Then you look back at this video. Then this pops up in my feed lol.

Utley terrorized the Mets for years before the Tejada incident too. 21 homers at Shea stadium - the right field seats by the foul pole was known as "Utley's Corner" for all his homers that landed there. They hated him and he hated the mets lol

They used being in “a jackpot” a lot on NYPD Blue. That was where I first heard it. It’s really a fun turn of phrase.

This happens almost every game after an ejection when there is an argument between the ejecting umpire and an arguing player or coach. The ejecting umpire will explain what went on in terms of the ejection, but if things get heated, then the crew chief or the other umpire (if doing a 2-man system) comes in and intercepts the arguing coach/player and then directs them to him/her. This absolutely diffuses the situation because the coach/player is upset usually at the ejecting umpire, but now they are yelling at an umpire that didn't do the ejection, so the intercepting umpire then just diffuses the situation, usually just being a listener, and slowly leads the ejected player/coach off the field. Here we just got the audio into how this happens in a more prolonged situation, but this kind of thing happens at all levels of baseball. Really good umpiring by Tom Halyon here.

The most interesting ejection still involves Earl Weaver being asked if he’s going to the Hall of Fame for fucking up the World Series.

I remember hearing about this ejection and I remember hearing about the injury caused by utley. But I never considered that these two events were connected.

This is your best video yet my guy keep up the good work!

Tom Hallion, imo, is/ was one of the best crew chiefs and umpires in the game. This solidified that.

5:46 - 5:58 😂😂🤌🏻🤌🏻 8:28 ICONIC 😂 10:18 CALMLY AND RATIONALLY

A 'jackpot' is a situation where you find all eyes on you, as in, you've just won a slots jackpot at the casino and now everyones crowding you.

I love Collin's passion for the well-being of his players. He WANTED revenge.