Heightism in Officiating

[bob jenkins]

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.

It works in reverese, too. Billy Martin and Earl Weaver were short managers, and the umpires ran all over them.

Just in case that message is too subtle -- work on things you can control, and quit whining about the things you can't.