Umpiring is not that difficult

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by GarthB

Why, my mom is working the Dodger game later tonight.

But is she working the plate?

[PeteBooth]

What the hell does the power of unions have to do with the ability to umpire?

It's very difficult discussing something with someone who simply doesn't get it.

You talk about ability in umpiring etc. and my point comparing the Players Union to the Umpire Union was this.

If Umpiring was the "be all and end all" and you need a certain amount of ability to call games, then why wouldn't Major league baseball go out of their way to settle Umpire Union Strikes - Why!

because Major league baseball can go to the Minors Leagues or PRO Schools and get anybody (and by anybody I mean anybody who attended and graduated from PRO Schooll - Geeze I feel like I am talking to my kids) to umpire their games.

Let's assume right now the Major league baseball Umpires went on strike. MLB would simply bring up the guys from the Minors to do their games.

There would not be a Work stoppage because the umpires went on strike.

Of Course one has to go to PRO School in order to be eligable. My point was that Anybody in PRO School or in the Minors could work those games.

Perhaps I shouldn't have used the term Anybody to make my point because you seem to be dense in my usage of the term and the illustrations I gave.

Learn to think "out of the box"

Pete Booth

[Tim C]

Let's see:

For 10 years on the internet I have said:

"Umpiring ain't that tough . . . balls/strikes, safe/out, fair/foul equal 99% of our game."

I do think Pete that you have a simplistic view of something you have never done:

Example:

After umpiring seven days of the dish for the Mariners in inter-squad games (2 of the games had attendance of about 40,000 and two had attendance of about about 6) both Jerry Naron (current Reds manager) and Bud Bulling, Seattle catchers, came to me and said: "Your balls and strikes were as good as we see every day in the Major Leagues . . . but don't get to cocky . . . we would like to see what happens when you are working in front of 55,000 fans in Yankee Stadium!"

So Pete, MLB players might not agree with your statement that "ANYONE can . . .".

I feel your post is silly at best and and nearly criminally wrong at the worst.

You have attempted to "socialize" umpiring and that will never work . . .

Pete, we know by experience, that when an umpire works over their head and choke that their strike zone resembles a pea. There is a difference my man and I am sorry that you can't see that . . .

It is truely sad that someone that appears to know as much as you about umpiring can be so tragically wrong on this simple but important issue.

Not all umpires can work all levels of games.

Regards,

[3appleshigh]

So by your own analogy PETE, If Jeter were to go on strike, Retire, get injured the Yankee's would no longer play. Seems to have a few flaws in that there logic stuffs.

I think we all know that without players there is no game, So when they go on strike and the entire union the minor league players are in the same union for the most part goes on strike THEY ALL GO ON STRIKE. The owners as we all know, would never even consider using REPLACEMENT PLAYERS. Why they wouldn't hold a training camp with them or anything. NEVER! THE GAME WOULD DIE!

Pete you have tried to over simplify, you are wrong, condesending and ignorant. The comments are inane and downright wrong. So much so that now you are changing from anyone - to those few who have attended PRO SCHOOL, you already drummed out 75% of umpires out there are unable to do what you claimed ANYONE CAN DO!

TTFN
Andy

P.S. You *** called it wants your head out by Sunday.

P.P.S - Tee we have to stop agreeing this is getting creepy.

[GarthB]

Originally Posted by PeteBooth

What the hell does the power of unions have to do with the ability to umpire?

It's very difficult discussing something with someone who simply doesn't get it.

You talk about ability in umpiring etc. and my point comparing the Players Union to the Umpire Union was this.

If Umpiring was the "be all and end all" and you need a certain amount of ability to call games, then why wouldn't Major league baseball go out of their way to settle Umpire Union Strikes - Why!

because Major league baseball can go to the Minors Leagues or PRO Schools and get anybody (and by anybody I mean anybody who attended and graduated from PRO Schooll - Geeze I feel like I am talking to my kids) to umpire their games.

Let's assume right now the Major league baseball Umpires went on strike. MLB would simply bring up the guys from the Minors to do their games.

There would not be a Work stoppage because the umpires went on strike.

Of Course one has to go to PRO School in order to be eligable. My point was that Anybody in PRO School or in the Minors could work those games.

Perhaps I shouldn't have used the term Anybody to make my point because you seem to be dense in my usage of the term and the illustrations I gave.

Learn to think "out of the box"

Pete Booth

Pete

You are confusing politcs with ability. Don't do that. One only needs to look to Washington for the results of that.

I never argued that it takes the equivalent of a heart surgeon to do this. But you DID say that ANYONE could.

That simply is rubbish.

Then you said that any minor leaguer could. Obviously that isn't true and there are a number of released minor league umpires to attest to that. Some even were release when they attempt to fill in at the MLB level with disasterous results.

Then you tried to excuse your position based on a work stoppage. Equally ridiculous and more importantly, irrelevant. As soon as the stoppage was over, what happened? The "real" umpires came back.

What to compare silly arguments? What about the replacement players during the last NFL players strike? I guess the "real" players weren't all that important, eh?

Face it Pete, at best, you misrepresented your position by a poor choice of words. It is proveably not true that ANYONE can umpire.

[GarthB]

Originally Posted by Tim C

Let's see:

For 10 years on the internet I have said:

"Umpiring ain't that tough . . . balls/strikes, safe/out, fair/foul equal 99% of our game."

Tee,

And despite the rocket science accusations, you and I have agreed on this. Umpiring is not tough. But over simplifications such as "anyone can be an umpire" are ridiculous and untrue.

Many, many people are simply not cut out to be umpires. Some do not have the physical coordination to be umpires others do not have the attitude and skills necessary for game and people management and still others have difficulty interpreting rule situations. To think otherwise, one would be delusional.

[archangel]

Pete, Way to go!---another great post thread!
The season is over for most of us, things quieting down, so what can I (Pete) do to liven things up again, get the old blood pumping? I know-be my consistent self and throw out an outragious opinion/sarcasm that will have most up in arms...
I can just picture you now...a small gnomelike creature, sitting there, giggling while wringing your hands, reading the posts....
Thanks for the laughs, cause you cant be serious...

[ozzy6900]

Umpiring is not rocket science!

Anyone can read a rulebook but it takes inquisitiveness to find out what the rules mean.

Anyone can wear a uniform but it takes pride to make crisp creases and shine your shoes just right.

Anyone can stand there and let a manager ream you a new a$$hole but it takes control to talk him down and get the game going again.

Anyone can run a coach but it takes experience to know when to let him speak.

Anyone can call a swing but it takes understanding to know if that was a offer or not.

Anyone can call balls and strikes but it takes a certain drive to do it over and over until you get it right.

Anyone can call a runner safe or out but it takes a person with knowledge and a set of balls to call the interference or obstruction.

Anyone can walk onto a baseball field dressed as an umpire with everyone expecting him/her to be perfect but it takes an umpire to get better from there!

No, Umpiring is not rocket science but it is not for everyone either.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Pete,

Not everyone is cut out to be an umpire, so not just anyone can umpire. I have to agree with Garth on that point.

You said that anyone out of pro school could step right in to do the Yankees game. You must mean the Penobscot LL Yankees, because you certainly can't mean the New York Yankees.

I know lots of pro school grads that I would have a hard time putting on a Varsity HS game, much less anything close to a pro game. That's why PBUC only takes the top graduates out of every pro school class, and sends the rest home to terrorize the local diamonds with their new-found power trip.

[Dave Hensley]

It surprises me that I seem to be the only one, so far, who is willing to try to see what Pete is saying without rushing to the insult bucket. (BTW, "ties for the second dumbest post ever" is getting REALLY, REALLY trite.)

Pete is saying anyone can be an umpire, if they're willing to be a bad umpire. That's not too far from one of my standard sayings, which is "the only way to become a good umpire is to first be a bad one."

He goes on to point out, with validity, that the non-umpiring world is really, demonstrably, pretty tolerant of substandard umpiring. It wasn't substandard umpiring that resolved the MLB strike in the 90's, and it damn sure wasn't substandard umpiring that resolved the MiLB strike earlier this year. In this year's strike, it was pretty obviously the failure of the substandard replacement umpires to have any kind of noticeable impact on anybody except other umpires, that caused the MiLB umpires to settle and come back to work.

So what I took from what Pete was saying was simply that umpires are kind of like Rodney Daingerfield (RIP) in that we don't get no respect, in particular from the rest of the non-umpire baseball world. That ain't right, but that's the way it is.

I don't think he was claiming that there's no difference between a veteran, trained, diligent and dedicated umpire, and a dad out of the stands. I think he was claiming that, within reason, the dad out of the stands can walk on the field, wing it, and 99 out of 100 of the players, coaches, and spectators probably won't notice how bad he sucks, compared to a "real" umpire.

I don't know why those rather simple observations elicited such a visceral reaction from everybody.

[BigUmp56]

I don't feel so out there alone then, Dave. I didn't have a problem with his analogy. It isn't rocket science and anybody can do it, although not everyone can do it well.


Tim.

[mbyron]

Umpiring is not that tough: If you have

*excellent training
*outstanding mechanics
*sound positioning
*comprehensive rules knowledge
*proper use of the eyes
*sanity in game management
*common sense
*a well-developed idea of fairness
*a grasp of baseball tradition
*an unusually thick skin
*a good sense of humor
*some political savvy

If, I say, you have all of these things, then 99% of baseball calls itself. The ONLY hard part of umpiring is acquiring items 1-12.

[David B]

Originally Posted by BigUmp56

I don't feel so out there alone then, Dave. I didn't have a problem with his analogy. It isn't rocket science and anybody can do it, although not everyone can do it well.


Tim.

I see the point, but part of his analogy was just a little shaky.

As umpires I (we) see it more than anyone everytime we attend a baseball game as fan or umpire.

Its very obvious that anyone "can" be an umpire. However, when there are 1000+ in the stands, or when its a one run game with bases loaded, or when the pitcher is throwing it 90+ - that's when we see that not everyone is cut out to be an umpire nor should everyone be an umpire.

Umpires don't cost games is great to say, but what about the Braves/Marlins in the playoffs.

And I know of several games that I've umpired or attended in which an umpires decision (based on lack of experience) made a tremendous difference in the game. You can play the song that it didn't win or lose the game, but who is to say that it didn't??

We'll never know because you can't replay history.

Thanks
DAvid

[gordon30307]

Umpiring is not that difficult but I don't think anyone can do it. It takes dediication, rules study and lots and lots of games at various levels to get good at it. The key is to get the participants to believe that your judgement is excellent. Not everyone can do this.

[voiceoflg]

Originally Posted by PeteBooth

ANYONE can (officiate), however, not everyone can play shortstop for the NY Yankees.

Pete Booth

I'll agree...to a point. I reffed city league co-ed volleyball once. I'll never make that mistake again. I learned that officiating a sport wasn't for me. It is just not in my nature. So out of respect for the sports world, I stepped away from it.

My father officiated various sports for years until back surgery put him on the shelf. He was a good one, IMO, from what I saw. He was also a TI at Lackland AFB. Though he never sought out a confrontation, he didn't back away from it either.

Yes, anyone can find work as an official at the lowest levels. Just like anyone can find work as a broadcaster at the lowest levels. But not just anyone can do the job right and well enough to be around long.