Heightism in Officiating
 

Numerous psychological studies have shown that shorter individuals, especially males, are more likely to face discrimination in many wakes of life. Taller people are granted more employment positions such as firefighters, CEO's of large corporations and police officers than their smaller counterparts. And height is positively correlated with the money one makes at work. The winning presidential candidate tends to be taller than the majority of his competition.

From a social standpoint, short people are assumed to be insecure, introverted, anxious and less successful than the person of average height (5'8). A tall man who takes a stand is respected. A short man who takes a stand is seen to be overly aggressive and pushy.

And it gets even worse from there. Shorter men are less likely to be accepted as mates by females. Most females prefer a male about 2 inches taller than themselves. Obviously this preference is genetic, as attraction to those who are taller helped females seek the protection of physically stronger men.

Numerous songs ("Short People" by Randy Newman), comedies (BBC's "A Small Problem) and television episodes (Family Guy) portray short people as a joke. The media advances the general notion that short people are less capable.

With countless examples of short people being discriminated against socially, in the workforce, through the media, and through mating, one must ask whether this trend occurs in officiating. And standing 5'5, I can tell you that height discrimination does exist in officiating. In fact height is probably more powerful a factor in discrimination than race, gender, and sexual orientation.

I have experienced firsthand the impacts being short has on the ball diamond. I've heard "we've got a f***ing twelve year old doing our game" after I tossed a rat. Fans sarcastically yelling from the stands "that's child abuse!" when an adult player argues a strike call. "I don't care about your age, you're effing brutal". We have an umpire in my league who is known as "weisel" due to his short stature. Being told by my assignor that I cannot do university level games because I "look young" is just proof of how ridiculous things are getting.

Is being a competent umpire not enough to do high-level games? Apparently one has to be reasonably tall as well. While it is understandable that being short can undermine one's authority on the ball diamond, it is time that umpires work to battle the stereotype of shorter umpires not being capable of working high-level ball, just as we work to prevent racism and sexism. Greater awareness on height discrimination also needs to be reached in everyday life, just all other forms of prejudice are being recognized and combatted. Watching one episode of "Little People Big World" will offer proof of two things. Firstly, that heightism is one of the few prejudices that is not adequetely recognized. And secondly, that short people are capable of doing just as much as taller people are.

For further reading, I recommend the following article for you to ponder:

http://www.jonathanrauch.com/jrauch_...ast/index.html

i hear your words mr Canada but i dont get the conection you make with height and youth (in your post). why are they related??

(says the 5'8" old man heh)

Randy Newman's song was satire. It was not poking fun at short people, it was poking fun at people who have stupid prejudices.

Give me a break.

OTOH, my opinion is probably worthless, since I'm over 6' tall.

Height and youth are related because if you are shorter you probably look younger.

Height is also related to spelling ability. In a survey of children aged 5-18, scientists found that the taller children were better spellers than the shorter children.

;)

The fact of the matter is this. As sports officials, fans, players, and coaches will find any reason to verbally attack us. It's just the nature of the game. Let's face it, we're not the most popular people out there. I'm 6'1", 224 lbs. I take just as much abuse as someone smaller. In case you haven't guessed, I'm usually assigned the Umpire position. I had a player once call me a "pot-bellied porker". Did I let it bother me? Absolutely not. I think you're problem is that you're insecure about your appearance and you're ashamed of who you are. Maybe sports officiating is not for you. Not because of your size, but because of your own self-esteem. If you're just here to whine and complain, then go find another message board.

I am not insecure about who I am, my size or my abilities as an umpire. When that coach said "we've got a f***ing 12 year old doing our game, it didn't bother me,". Rather it was him that was bothered by my size, and that becomes my problem because size and quality of officiating are not related. I have experienced firsthand the effects of heightism. Don't make personal judgements about me or tell me to go to another forum.

By the way, I was in a really bad mood a few days ago when I started this thread, so that may account for some of the anger expressed in it, but I do stand by everything I wrote.

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

Height is one of those things you have no control over. You have to compensate for it by having a strong knowledge of the rules, a clean and neat uniform and most importantly, a firm (not overbearing) field presence.

At 5'9" I'm not very tall but I feel I carry myself well that it is not much of a problem. It made me laugh today, I was working a JV Football scrimmage at umpire, and I realized that every single defensive player for one team was taller than I was. In my eyes you can either complain about it or actively work to improve in the areas you can.

You have stated that you look much younger than you are. Five years I think you said. That means you look 14. That has nothing to do with your height. I work with two umps that are 5'9" if they are that tall (5'6" is probably more accurate). They are 50+ years old, and look it. No one thinks they are 25 because they are short.

When you are short you must carry yourself different. It's already been said, but field presence is what makes the difference.

You are confusing height and age. How old you look could make a difference, how tall you are shouldn't. I'm not disputing what you stated (advancement, pay etc - I've never seen anything on the subject) - but you are blaming looking young on height - those two are not related, IMHO.

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.

Can't be, they are further away from the words. :eek:

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.

Ha ! <iii>

Hmmm,
 

Let's see:

Dutch Rennert was 5' 6"

Dick Stello was 5' 6"

Both had long and successful MLB careers.

Of course neither tried to play and umpire maybe that is the issue.

Regards,