Numerous psychological studies have shown that shorter individuals, especially males, are more likely to face discrimination in many wakes of life. Taller people are granted more employment positions such as firefighters, CEO's of large corporations and police officers than their smaller counterparts. And height is positively correlated with the money one makes at work. The winning presidential candidate tends to be taller than the majority of his competition.
From a social standpoint, short people are assumed to be insecure, introverted, anxious and less successful than the person of average height (5'8). A tall man who takes a stand is respected. A short man who takes a stand is seen to be overly aggressive and pushy.
And it gets even worse from there. Shorter men are less likely to be accepted as mates by females. Most females prefer a male about 2 inches taller than themselves. Obviously this preference is genetic, as attraction to those who are taller helped females seek the protection of physically stronger men.
Numerous songs ("Short People" by Randy Newman), comedies (BBC's "A Small Problem) and television episodes (Family Guy) portray short people as a joke. The media advances the general notion that short people are less capable.
With countless examples of short people being discriminated against socially, in the workforce, through the media, and through mating, one must ask whether this trend occurs in officiating. And standing 5'5, I can tell you that height discrimination does exist in officiating. In fact height is probably more powerful a factor in discrimination than race, gender, and sexual orientation.
I have experienced firsthand the impacts being short has on the ball diamond. I've heard "we've got a f***ing twelve year old doing our game" after I tossed a rat. Fans sarcastically yelling from the stands "that's child abuse!" when an adult player argues a strike call. "I don't care about your age, you're effing brutal". We have an umpire in my league who is known as "weisel" due to his short stature. Being told by my assignor that I cannot do university level games because I "look young" is just proof of how ridiculous things are getting.
Is being a competent umpire not enough to do high-level games? Apparently one has to be reasonably tall as well. While it is understandable that being short can undermine one's authority on the ball diamond, it is time that umpires work to battle the stereotype of shorter umpires not being capable of working high-level ball, just as we work to prevent racism and sexism. Greater awareness on height discrimination also needs to be reached in everyday life, just all other forms of prejudice are being recognized and combatted. Watching one episode of "Little People Big World" will offer proof of two things. Firstly, that heightism is one of the few prejudices that is not adequetely recognized. And secondly, that short people are capable of doing just as much as taller people are.
For further reading, I recommend the following article for you to ponder:
http://www.jonathanrauch.com/jrauch_...ast/index.html