Umpire pool too shallow?

[redhotcoach]

The three things that upset me with umpires is appearance, laziness, and not being in the game mentally. The ump who shows up wearing jeans, or worse. The ump who won't take more than a step or two and makes a call all the way across the field. And the ump who is paying more attention to who's in the crowd or what's going on at the field next to us. We've had girls who get four strikes, girls called out on two strikes, girls walk on five pitches and three pitches. Umpires who announce "one out" when there are two and it takes 5 minutes to straighten it out. That's unacceptable.

Leave your phone in the car, or at the very least in your equipment bag. Tuck in your shirt, look like you want to be there and, for pete's sake, be decisive. If you're doing a travel ball or high school game, don't joke with the parents between innings, don't dance to the walkup music.

The "best" umpires aren't the ones who get every call right, it's the ones who look sharp, act sharp, are loud, decisive and hustle to get in position to have the best possible view to make a call. They leave it all on the field. I just think there are less and less of these people around who want to do this. Just like politics, umpiring has turned into a profession where it's hard to get good, honest, hard working people to get involved because of the microscope you are under.

Yup! I don't know how it is in the rest of the US, but I would guess here that 75% of the hires of entry level to mid entry level jobs did not live in the US 2 years ago. Nothing against people that want to work, but all are from Africa, India, and Middle East. They just don't umpire (or speak any English).

 

[MTR]

My daughter had the weekend off so we went to a tournament abt 30mins from home to watch some of her friends and just enjoy being at the park. We witnessed some of the worse calls all day long by the whole group that I have ever witnessed. The crew consisted of guys that had barely ever shaved to guys with grey on the face

Is the rising amount of tournaments causing the umpire pool to become too shallow? I know that umpires are human and make mistakes but I really wonder if being able to pass a written test to become an ump is enough.

Simple calls being blown is what makes me question like this. Would love to hear thoughts

The answer to the subject line is yes. The number of umpires has decreased for a few reasons. Many will tell you it is the economy and lower unemployment rate. However, I can tell you that the largest part is the demands made of the umpire and abuse.

But even those who stick it out, too many become GAGAs, go along to get along and if they ever had any pride in the job and uniform, it diminishes quickly simply because they find it easier to make a popular call and BS their way out of arguments. If you meet an umpire on the field who wants to be your friend, find another umpire. You will think he is great until his/her calls and interpretation (which often includes compromise) do not benefit your team.

Because of this, some of the better umpires just will not work with this type of umpire or will just find a better association with which to work.

And yes, in areas where there are many tournament, it becomes thin because what many fail to realize is that umpires actually have families and lives that do not include softball.

To the person who mentioned an umpire needing to have a 4-5 game guarantee, I understand the reasoning. But I can also tell you that is just about the maximum of games an umpire can do in a day. I'm sure there are those who will brag about 6-8 games a day in a tournament, but you are not getting his/her best game and that isn't fair to the teams.

It should also be noted that due to the shortage, many umpires get assigned, even to nationals, that have no business on that particular field, but it is better than no umpire at all. It really is a shame, but that's life.

 

[chinamigarden]

Maybe she wasn't very good. It can't because she was female right? I know you would never make assumption about a persons sex.

It doesn't matter the age, or the sex. Good or not, Coaches and Parents shouldn't be on a kid so much that they decide to quit.

Brand new umps need to be put into games to get experience, and without experience they are never going to be good. Its a catch 22 that needs to be addressed in what games they are assigned and what level they ump at initially. Lets face it, if both teams think an ump is bad, at least its being called both ways.

 

[Ajaywill]

...but the coaches and parents were on her so much, she did not make it past the first season...

Here is a big part of the problem....umpires are expected to start perfect and get better from there.

Our association has tried to recruit HS aged players to umpire, but we often get a response of "No way am I going to be yelled at and treated like that" This all comes from what they have witnessed during their playing career from rec ball and up....

 

[Mr T]

At ASA norcal meeting a year or two ago UIC comments yes, number of umps decreasing, very concerning, because of abuse. Increased games and tournaments obviously doesn't help but by and large this is a case of reaping what you sow.

 

[chinamigarden]

Here is a big part of the problem....umpires are expected to start perfect and get better from there.

Our association has tried to recruit HS aged players to umpire, but we often get a response of "No way am I going to be yelled at and treated like that" This all comes from what they have witnessed during their playing career from rec ball and up....

My DD reffed some rec basketball games this winter. Good thing I wasn't around. My DS reffed some soccer games when he was still in HS, U8 AYSO. He was volunteering and still got yelled at by people who don't understand the rules. He would keep a volunteer application form in his pocket and offered it to anyone who was giving him too a hard time. Never had a taker.

 

[MNDad]

The issue I see with umpires is they always take the least experienced to work the 10U/12U where you have the most obnoxious parents. To make things worse most leagues and tournaments at that age only have one umpire. I’d like to see mentoring programs to pair up new and experienced umpires and require at least two umps at every level. I’ve heard talk of doing it here but nothing in the works yet.

 

[redbirdone]

The issue I see with umpires is they always take the least experienced to work the 10U/12U where you have the most obnoxious parents. To make things worse most leagues and tournaments at that age only have one umpire. I’d like to see mentoring programs to pair up new and experienced umpires and require at least two umps at every level. I’ve heard talk of doing it here but nothing in the works yet.

The problem with that is that the senior umps would have to agree to work with a "rookie" at the 10u level. I umped baseball and my worst experiences were at the little league 9-10 year old level. I would not go back to that if given a choice. It wasn't the players. It wasn't the coaches. It was the parents. I called little Johnny out on strikes and because of that he won't be a first round MLB draft pick. Yes, it's that bad with some of these parents.

 

[Ajaywill]

The issue I see with umpires is they always take the least experienced to work the 10U/12U where you have the most obnoxious parents. To make things worse most leagues and tournaments at that age only have one umpire. I’d like to see mentoring programs to pair up new and experienced umpires and require at least two umps at every level. I’ve heard talk of doing it here but nothing in the works yet.

My association has had mentoring programs set up in the past that worked fairly well. You need enough veteran umpires that know what they are doing and will instruct and mentor the correct way to make it work. We have a lot of veterans with the attitude of "I've been doing it this way for 20 years and I read the rule book back then and I ain't gonna change now"! You don't want these guys mentoring new umpires. You also need leagues and tournaments that are willing to schedule and pay for two umpires at those levels. Most of our leagues only want to use one umpire and I hear that a lot of tournaments are only willing to pay for one umpire in pool play or early round games. Hard to mentor and train someone that is working alone.

 

[Cowdogz]

It doesn't matter the age, or the sex. Good or not, Coaches and Parents shouldn't be on a kid so much that they decide to quit.

Brand new umps need to be put into games to get experience, and without experience they are never going to be good. Its a catch 22 that needs to be addressed in what games they are assigned and what level they ump at initially. Lets face it, if both teams think an ump is bad, at least its being called both ways.

Yup. Happened to DS when he was 13 umpiring a 12U baseball game. Blew a call and took so much grief from both coaches that he decided it wasn't worth the lousy $15 they were paying him to do it anymore.