[GarthB]

Boys in blue welcomed back
June 16,2006

You hear it at every ballpark at every level, the cry of the eternally disgruntled fan: “Hey ump, you’re missing a good game!”In the first half of the Carolina League season, it would’ve worked well in reverse: “Hey game, you’re missing a good ump!”

Only a few games have been played since minor league baseball’s umpires returned to work this week, and the reviews are already rolling in.

Nothing against the anonymous guys who filled in until the strike was resolved, but rarely have baseball people been so glad to see umpires.

“Just their presence,” Kinston manager Mike Sarbaugh said when asked the biggest difference between the replacements and the pros. “You see more confidence, just a feel for the game with positioning on plays — just overall approach. Even the first day back, you noticed a difference.”

Indians first baseman Stephen Head agreed, citing the new and unusual practice of complimenting the guys everyone loves to hate.

“We’ve even said in the dugout (after a close play), ‘He was on top of that call,’ ” Head said, referring to the pros. “Whether or not he missed it, you could tell he had his own point of view; he wasn’t guessing.”

Said Indians third baseman Matt Whitney, “These guys just seem relaxed, like they’ve been there before.”

But positioning isn’t where the pro umps really stand out. It’s clear they’re more comfortable out there, but the real difference has been situational.

Take a May 27 fiasco in the Indians’ game against Winston-Salem. That night, a throw from second base pulled (or didn’t pull) Warthogs first baseman Chris Kelly off the bag, and the base umpire called the batter, Brian Finegan, out.

After a conference, the plate umpire (again, these guys were anonymous) overturned the call. Winston-Salem manager Rafael Santana bolted onto the field for an animated argument that lasted about 10 minutes. No less than seven Warthogs players surrounded the two umpires near first base and Kelly, his shirttail hanging and arms flailing, joined Santana to put up an argument that would’ve made Earl Weaver blush.

Still, amazingly, not one person go the the thumb.

“Maybe they knew that they screwed up and they didn’t want to make things worse,” Santana reasoned that night, surprised they didn’t at least run him.

Looking back, Sarbaugh said the pro umps wouldn’t have tolerated the display for long.

“There would’ve been probably at least two guys gone by then,” Sarbaugh said Thursday. “I just think (the replacements didn’t know), at times, how professional situations are handled.”

And take last night, when a pair of pro umps quickly diffused what could’ve gotten ugly after Kinston’s Brian Barton was plunked by Lynchburg’s Yoann Torrealba and both benches cleared.

That’s why it’s nice to see professional umpires once again doing a professional job with professional players. It wasn’t so much that the replacement guys were bad; it’s more a testament to the fact that the professionals — the guys who do this 140 nights a year — are actually good.

Even the pros make mistakes, but there’s way more to umpiring than balls, strikes, safes and outs. In the minor leagues, being a quality umpire is as much about knowing the nuances of the professional game as it is being able to make a fast, informed decision from the proper angle.

Still, Sarbaugh said, the replacements deserve some gratitude.

“I give them credit for coming into a situation that, at times, wasn’t a great environment,” he said. “But they hung in there and did the best job they could. We can’t play without umpires, so you’ve got to thank them for coming in in a tough spot.”

“These guys, they came out and 95 percent of them really tried,” Epperson continued, “and they did the best they could.”

Whitney agreed.

“It was just overwhelming for them, I think — the speed of the game and the other things surrounding it.” he said. “But they had to do what they had to do. I think it was all right.”

But it’s good to see the pros back where they belong.

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Bottom line: No one, and I really mean no one, expected amateurs to step into AAA ball and perform peferctly. Hell, AAA umpires don't step into AAA ball until they have at least five years experience working "pro" ball, and then, they don't perform perfectly.

Are AAA MiLB umpires better trained and better equipped to handle AAA ball than amateurs. Of course. No question. They are also better equippend to handle AAA ball than A and AA MiLB umpires, so what's new?

Amateurs, from what I saw first hand, did no worse than the "pros" at the long season A level. And that makes sense. Most of them had more experience than the Single A pros.

The argument was not, is not, and six years from now, will not be whether Amateurs are as good as AAA umpires. (They are not) The argument was, is and will be that managment found the difference in quality acceptable. That is the issue AMLU should begin working on. If they concentrate on blasting the amateurs, they will only succeed in guaranteeing that even more will sign up next time.

The AMLU needs to cultivate a relationship with amateurs, not continue to insult and degrade them. But that will take leadership, an item, apparently, in very short supply at the AMLU.