Heightism in Officiating

[GarthB]

Originally Posted by canadaump6

I do believe that height and appearance of age are related to each other, to a certain point. Being shorter can make you look younger if you aren't that old to begin with. For older umpires, height doesn't usually have that much of an influence on how old one looks. But even for older umpires, being short can make them seem easier to intimidate, and when a coach believes he can intimidate that is where the problems start. Furthermore, assignors and umpire in chiefs realize this, and will be much more hesitant to assign an umpire who is either short, or looks young, to higher level games.

I enjoyed a Single A Minor League game last night in which the BU was 21 and 5'10 and the PU was 18 and 5'9. They had no problems managing the game or controlling 6'4" players and 40 year old managers.

The difference between them and you is that they are trained, they know the rules and mechanics, the present a professional appearance and work with confidence.

My son and I met up with them in their dressing room after the game and not once did either of them whine about their height or age.

[Four-Oh]

Originally Posted by Bassman

Yeah ? Tell that to my association VP. He stands around 5' and some change and is not someone you want to mess with

I remember once, when I was working as a table official in a men's (w)rec(k) hoops league, we had one of the better referees from our local board who was of about similar height. Of course, the comment "Maybe if you were a little taller, you could see the calls" drew an immediate flagrant T!

OTOH, I remember, when I started refereeing, someone making a comment about my size (I was a little too heavy then, but, then again, so was the player in question!), something like "Why don't you go eat a vegetable or something?!" but I didn't end up calling anything for it, because I couldn't actually believe that he had said it!

Andrew
#40

[canadaump6]

This thread is probably going to be one that goes on for months, getting about one response every two days.

If anyone thinks that height doesn't make a difference in the way people percieve an umpire, check out this post from a credible source, and yes it is a link to another website:

http://www.umpire.org/modules.php?na...=5039&start=30

[mick]

Originally Posted by canadaump6

This thread is probably going to be one that goes on for months, getting about one response every two days.

If anyone thinks that height doesn't make a difference in the way people percieve an umpire, check out this post from a credible source, and yes it is a link to another website:

http://www.umpire.org/modules.php?na...=5039&start=30

I have no doubt that your lad is credible, but it seems to be just another opinion.
I think this thread has run it's course. Like you said, the responses are few.
It is now closed.