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Originally Posted by rei
I don't think I have missed any point.
What we have is a lot of umpires who will call things the way it is obvious for everybody else so as to avoid conflict. In the old days: No conflict = Excellent job.  |
You have missed the point because it's not at all about avoiding conflict, although admittedly that is a desirable by-product. It's about not being bigger than the game. It's about whose reality of events matters most. The game belongs to the participants -- even the spectators -- but not the umpires. It isn't our game. Instead, we're placed in charge of THEIR game. It is their world and their reality of events that we should be calling.
We don't see everything, and we shouldn't always call the game as though we do. That's how umpires get the reputation of being arrogant egoists. Rulebook lawyers, microscoping, and minutiae have no place in a well-called baseball game. There is a pro school saying that goes like this -- "Don't let that crap ruin a perfectly good game of baseball."
I admit it's a fine line and a difficult concept. It takes many years to develop it properly. It is indeed an advanced umpiring technique. But it is real and it is valid and it can often be a career maker or breaker.