[PeteBooth]

At officiating.com IMO Carl wrote an excellent article called " Let's NOT Take a Test?" which got me thinking (that could be dangerous)

What is required to be an umpire?

Is it simply to pass a test? or should on field abilities be taken into consideration?

Obviously there needs to be some "mechanism" to become an umpire. Also, let's face it,if it was too difficult, approx half the games would be uncovered because there wouldn't be enough umpires.

Suppose you wanted to start an association of umpires today. What qualities would you want? What "mechanism" or "approach" would you use to get umpires.

Keep in mind you have the Fall HS season in which games start at the 4 PM range and then the Summer / Fall season. How are you going to cover all the games?

The reason I posted this is each year we have to take an open book FED exam Parts I and II. Some questions IMO are just plain jokes. For example on Part one here are the last 4 numbers 97 to 100

97. The on deck circle is 5 feet in diameter located 37 feet to the side and away from home plate of space permits.

98. The recommended width of a foul line is 2 1/2 inches.

99. The batter's box should be 4 ft. by 6 ft. located 6 inches from home plate.

100. The distance from home to third base shall be 90 ft., measured from the apex of home plate to the back edge of the base.

All the above are true and with the exception of maybe 99 who cares. IMO these are NOT TEST questions. The questions should be more on rules and not how many inches or feet the on deck circle is.

In summary, what kind of test would you give and how much percentage would this apply to an umpire's overall ability.

In other words, there are:

1. Rules
2. Field Mechanics
3. Game management

How much "weight" should be on the aforementioned to come up with a TRUE grade for an umpire.

Pete Booth


[Edited by PeteBooth on Mar 17th, 2003 at 07:48 PM]