There were times that it was apparently fairly easy to get tossed by the old time umps. Go ahead, call Bill Klemm "Catfish". He was apparently sensitive to his physical resemblance to that particular river inhabitant. If your name was Earl Weaver, Ron Luciano was likely to toss you when you were handing him the lineup card.

On the other hand, umpire baiters (like McGraw) did show a lot more creativity than Cox does. Even as recently as the 50's and 60's there were people with creativity when it came to getting tossed. There's a memorable series of pictures of Bobby Bragan offering an ump a drink of his orange soda as he proceeds through a tirade that would make Pinella blush. Casey Stengel gave the umpire the bird as a player -- literally. He tipped his hat in an argument and a sparrow flew out. That's premeditation.

Cox' understudy, Jimy Williams, was even capable of more incendiary performances than Cox. I guess that Cox career performance is a lot like Tommy Johns' induction into the Hall of Fame. It's more indicative of a long career than a brilliant one.

The Tommy John comparison is a good one. If you want to set an ejection record, it's probably better to pace yourself ... you don't want to give yourself a coronary by straining too much on Ejection #50.

I think that your probably right ~ it is a lot easier to get ejected now. I think a lot of it has to do with TV and the media. In the old days you could do basically whatever you wanted. Now, with ESPN and internet, MLB is much more conscious of presenting a family-friendly image.

Still, you've got to love the history of baseball. Its always cool to see guys right next to each other in a record book, who played/managed generations apart. It's that continuity that keeps baseball going.

I've been watching baseball since the early 40's.

I have never seen so many umpires actually prepared to eject someone.

They challenge players & managers and get in their faces to bait them.

This ought to be stopped.