Our 18u winter league just finished its tounament on Tuesday, 20 December. As always, I had the championship game behind the plate.

Rio Grande City played Hidalgo. Bobby Bonds, with an alumninm bat, could hit a ball that would fall perhaps 200 yards from Mexico.

Temperature at game time: 51 degrees. Fans: about 100. Frozen plate umpire: 0. I was wearing my all-weather UnderArmour, tops and bottoms, and my umpire pull-over jacket. About the fifth inning, with the temp dropping into the high 40s, I took off the jacket: Too warm.

Seriously! And I'm a guy who, when the temperature drops below 70, puts on an overcoat.

That's my first point.

My second point:

Johnny Damon as a Yankee?

Yuk!

But my main point:

At the pregame one of the coaches said a curious thing. The other was quick to agree, of course. The visiting coach (50 miles between the two cities) said: "Carl, I'm always glad to have you umpire our games because I know it will be called fair."

Not good. Fair.

He was the third coach to tell me that this season. The Weslaco coach said: "Carl, you and Javi are the most fair umpires I know."

Not good. Fair.

I told this to my boss at lunch today. He pitched in the Astros' organization until he hurt his arm.... Coach Allen said it meant they knew I didn't care who won. I said it meant they knew umpires who did.

So my questions is: Which is better: fair or good?

Our spring season starts January 5. It was scheduled to start on the fourth but that's the evening Texas whips USC.

I had it explained to me once by a D-1 manager:

"You can be fair and suck; but to be good, you have to be fair."

I'll take good.

January 4th? Texas will make Jim Bowie look like a strategic genius.

WOW, you really must be the "top dog" for getting the stick in all those "big" games.

Carl:

I'll take fair as long as it's in the judicious sense. If they meant fair as in mediocre, then I'm with Garth. Good is much better!

Tim.

I guess I need to be clearer.

I would rather be referred to as good, as in competence, than fair as in a judicial temperment.


I've heard conversations between coaches that went something like this:

"We've got Fred Schmucklesworth on the plate next game. Is he any good?"

"Well, he'll be fair to both teams."

Again, to be good, one needs to be fair. But one can be fair not be very good.


The compliment of being "fair" is sometimes like someone telling you that your blind date has "a good personality" when you ask if she's good looking.

Of course, I've used a very broad brush here. This wouldn't apply to Carl.

But I'll bet Rollie is a very fair umpire.

[Edited by GarthB on Dec 23rd, 2005 at 01:24 AM]

Loved the last line, Garth.

As an umpire, you can't be good without being fair. You can certainly be fair and not considered good (no pun intended).

I've witnessed dozens of fair umpires who "even up" calls or compensate for a partner that they disagree with. In my experience, I value the partner who is talented enough to realize that the game is not always fair. Some teams (and umpires) get screwed.

In regards to the compliment you received, it was certainly meant in the spirit of professionalism. I've only encountered two coaches that tried to blast me during the pre-game. One never got to see the inside of his dugout and the other walked away feeling pretty ridiculous. Coaches love to kiss the butt of the PU in the Championship game. I'm sure you did a fair job, and all words being equal - I'll take good any day.

When I'm walking off the field, I always like to hear those three little magic words, "Fair game, Blue".

Are you sure they aren't rating you? ;)

"Excellent game, blue."

"Good game, blue."

"Fair game, blue."

"Nice game, blue."

If you believe them when they tell you how great you are, then you must believe them when they tell you how bad you are. I just tend to not listen or care what they say. It is not the coaches that are going to determine much of anything.

Peace

Actually, in NCAA baseball, the coaches have a little input.


Merry Christmas, Jeff.

Personally, I think that if you are known as a "fair" umpire, that is a feather in your cap! I have a better relationship with many coaches because they know that I do not look at uniforms, numbers or the person wearing them. I make calls that involve players, not uniforms. That means when I am called to do a 4 man crew for an important game and I find that it is my home town HS playing, the coaches know that I call the play, not the school. There is never a question of being a "homie".

Of course, I try not work the plate in those situations (providing I am informed before we are dressed and arrive on the field). There have been times where it just worked out that it was my turn to have the plate and nothing could be done about it. That is when having a reputation of being a "fair" umpire helps a lot.

Now we all strive at being a "good" umpire - heck, even Smitty has that aspiration. But to be a "fair" umpire takes good rules knowledge, people skills, good decision making and a big set of balls! Why the latter? When that coach who thought you were "fair" suddenly turns on you, he has to go just as any other coach!

I would rather be known as a “fair” official any day. To me it means that I have accomplished what I started out to do twenty some-odd years ago. To be able to walk onto a baseball field to do a job that others wouldn’t dream of and do it right.

Let's take this a step further:

What is your definition of a fair umpire?

What is your definition of a good umpire?


As I intimated earlier, a fair umpire might not make the correct call. He just calls them equally the same. He doesn't see a red team or a blue team, he does the job as best he can. He tries to be fair when applying the rule and is conscious of the concerns of all involved. He must know the rules well enough to apply them equally. Yet, this says nothing about his judgement or ability to control the game. We all know umpires that are fair and they are universally liked. We usually enjoy working with these guys.

The umpires we consider to be good, usually demonstrate the ability to set themselves apart from the ordinary. Maybe they hustle more, communicate better or have outstanding timing and judgement. I don't consider umpires that cheat or don't give their best efforts to be good. I believe that good umpires must be fair, have a working knowledge of the rules and excellent communication skills. I want to work with these guys.

Now, I have nothing against those of you who consider a fair umpire more admirable than a good one. I would just like to see how you define them.

The orginal question could just as easily have been "Do you like the pitcher who works fast but is a little erratic or the dart thrower who is really slow? One makes the game move along but causes you to call ball four too often. The other makes your job easy - think strike, strike, sit down; but he kills your back and knees after another three hour marathon. Neither one is bad; perception is everything.

For a guy who's fairly clueless when it comes to BASEBALL, I think that's the smartest thing you've posted on this part of the website. Jeff is right on!!

Also, as much as I hate to admit it, WWTB is correct as far as NCAA baseball & coaches. That's probably why they call it N.C.A.A. because coaches have No Clue Att All when it comes to evaluations

All coaches have a say on some level, they do not have the final say. So why give a damn when coaches tell you their opinion.

You can call me clueless about the easiest sport to officiate from my point of view, but it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that you should not be worried about what a coach says. Maybe this is my other sports background, but baseball is the one sport where there is hardly any evaluation to get to work a college game. I worked college baseball just because I was asked. I never had to prove I was worthy or good enough. All I had to do is accept the game and work the game. Not the same thing when I worked a college basketball game and not at all the same if I choose to work college football. Even when I moved here all I had to say is I worked some college and open sesame I had college games. Now if I stunk up the joint that might make an impact and change other opportunities in the future, but in baseball has the least accountability out of any sports I work. Maybe that is why many umpires here spend all their time trying to convince everyone they are to be respected.

Peace

Rut,
Right again, baseball compared to basketball is fairly easy but I think football is the easiest to officiate. Anyways, the difference between coaches in the NCAA and coaches in PRO ball is that you can stick up for yourself in proball. They give it to you, you can fire back. In college however, if you go at it with a coach, you are viewed as aggressive, cocky, instigator, etc.

Moreover, NCAA coaches, for the most part, don't know how or when to argue. They come out on the dumbest plays and say the stupidest things. For example, I had a D-I BASE coach argue with my partner (shouting across the field), so I told him, "hey, knock it off - let Jim (the HEAD Coach) take care of it." His reply was, "I'm the assistant coach, I can say what I want out here."

Yes, that was at the D-I level (MAC Conference). I just shook my head in disbelief and looked at my partner and said, "he's all yours".

By the way, I was just joking with the "clueless" comment. Nice job refraining from firing back. As I said, you did make some good points.