All you umps out there:
I don't officiate many games myself, mostly because i'm too busy playing for 4 different teams, but the other day i was talking to an umpire who told me he never really played baseball, just a couple years when he was a kid, but he's been officiating for 15 years now. We have about 10 different umpires in the league the aforementioned umpire is in and he is, in most people's opinion, the worst of the 10 umpires. My question to you all is, do you feel that experience in playing the game should be a pre-requisite to officiating the game? If not a pre-requisite do you feel it makes a better umpire or is umping just knowing the rules and officiating a lot whether you've played or not? I was just interested in what you guys think, i have no real opinion on this matter. If it's not too much trouble in responding could you please tell if you yourself have played before as well?
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You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time. ~Jim Bouton, Ball Four, 1970
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