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Pete:
When an umpire selects to work at the high school level there are several ways he can work his way to the "top."
Every year my association rewards hard working, dedicated umpires by offering them playoff games. We can do that becauee we need about 45 bodies for the first round of playoffs in my area.
So if an umpire becomes "good" by working playoff games we expand our "good" list each year.
All umpire groups need politically intelligent members. Now note I am trying to separate this group from two others: 1) butt kissers and 2) "good old boys".
Non-professional groups cannot work like the old MLB union under Richie Phillips. We need acceptance from administrators, coaches and league organizers and these people always seems to have a good understanding of processes and systems that help our group retain our client list.
We also have "less than good" umpires that work varsity baseball simply because they can get off in time to get games. So I guess "travel" has a small tidbit in an evaluation.
So what is a good umpire?
We can all agree that working the stick makes your name in baseball umpiring.
We know that balls/strikes, safes/outs and fair/foul make up 95% of your duties when on the plate.
Sadly it always seems that the other 5% of activities dictate if you are a "good umpire".
As a plate umpire you need a consistent strike zone and the ability to keep the tempo of the game in perspective.
As a BU we know that you are faced with large segments of time were nothing happens and then you are hit with a rush of a work load that exposes you to far more review (since you are in the center of the diamond and are an easy target) since that ONE CALL can be deemed "the most important call" of the day.
I think good umpires are identified by the following five issues (items):
1) Hustle. Not, false hustle, but real hustle. Getting where you need to be BEFORE a play occurs.
2) A commitment to the decision. I don't care if it is "safe" or "out", "fair or foul" an umpire has to be committed to getting the information, processing it and living with the outcome.
3) Experience in handling game situations. An umpire must handle the day-to-day boredom of regular paced play but always be ready for the "one off" or "plus one" issues that are bound to occur. These can be rules, game managment issues or even weather related. Good umpires handle this issues fairly, promptly and correctly.
4) A good umpire always has a quest to learn. I have went through my umpire life believing that I knew "everything" about umpiring yet in the last three yearsr I learned that I had three distinct situations that I was flat out incorrect in how I was doing things. Once an umpire fails to learn he has no future in the game.
5) Timing. This is a much more difficult issue to discuss as no one can decide what "correct timing" is -- so let's use the term "pro school timing". A good umpire knows how to take in information, process that information and make a call with PERFECT timing (not too fast that the play did not finish not so slow that people think you are flipping a coin.)
Pete, I have seen "good" umpires that eject in a fraction of a second, I have seen "good" umpires that seldom eject at all.
I have seen "good" umpires that call more "balls" than I do and I've seen guys that call many more "strikes".
I think a good umpire is simply a consistent umpire. Consistent in timing. Consistent is judgement. And, most of all: consistent in attitude.
Tee
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