Quote:
Originally posted by Tim C
There is no correlation between how many games an umpire works in one day and the quality of his work.
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Tee, while I know of no study to rate the number of games in a day vs. quality of umpiring, I find it difficult to believe that the quality of the individual doesn't start to dissipate when exceeding two or perhaps three games a day, Still, I've seen some talented officials I'd rather assign a DH to knowing they already called two games elswhere that day versus taking certain other officials of less talent. That is, games 3 and 4 of the talented official will still be better than games 1 and 2 of a less talented offical.
I think heat also plays a factor. I've occasionally done 4 games a day in the spring and fall and not felt as rung out as times when I've done only two games in the Texas summer heat.
The level of play is also a consideration. Today I did 3 college wood bat games that all finished in about 1:30 to 1:45 game times allowing breaks of 45-60 minutes between games. That's much different than doing a 2-2:15 hr. game and immediately changing gear with little break in order to maintain start times of the following games.
Yet another factor might be whether that official has just completed 8 hrs. of his regular job before stepping onto the field. That's likely not much different than someone who was off for the day and just completed two games previously and is ready to do games 3 and 4.
I average 250-300 games a season. Last season I did 330 games, and I finished game 166 of this season today. I call from February through November---a benefit of living in Texas. Calling lots of games exposes me to many varying situations, and many different yet similar situations. What is a rare occasion for some might occur to me several times a year just because of the number of games I call. Calling too few of games can let you get rusty where the first inning or two are used to tune-up. Somewhere is that happy medium, and it may vary among different individuals depending on other circumstances in their personal schedules.
There are varying factors that come into play.
As an assignor, I try to weigh those factors against the talent of the individual and the games I assign him to in order to hopefully challenge him and improve him while providing the league a qualified official on the field meeting the talent level that the game dictates.
Just my opinion,
Freix