A Question for Umpires

[sawesomeness]

1st post - long time lurker.

This is an honest question - we have had, probably 95% good umpires in my daughter's & son's travel ball experiences. Not that there aren't bang/bang plays where there's a disagreement, but in general I think most umps try their best and really try to get the calls right, and mistakes happen. Bad calls are going to happen no matter how good the ump is, and generally that doesn't effect a game too much. But there has been the maybe 5% which are truly just awful, some to the point that they actually do have a large hand in the direction a game goes, and I just wonder if those 5% of the umpires know how truly bad they are?

So - for the umps out there. How do you know you are doing a good job?

 

[Louuuuu]

First off, let me commend you for almost admitting that, inside an umpire's uniform, is a human being with feelings...

Umpires hear everything being said. It doesn't mean we're affected, but we hear it.

As you stated, there are a percentage of plays that are "bang-bang", and the call could go either way. We understand that the vocal objections in these cases are partly disagreements with the call, and partly emotional because - even though the correct call was made, the fan was really hoping for it to go the other way.

And there are always cases of people yelling about not-so-close calls. Once again, we understand that.

There are also plenty of games where all the chirping comes from one parent, or one team's followers. 'Not really an issue; some people expect the officials to win the game for them. However, if every game I ump, I get complaints from BOTH sides of the field, then it may be time for some self-evaluation.

So, do we get report cards? No. Once in a while, a tournament director or assigner may mention that there were complaints about my umpiring. But, that's about as far as it goes. Why? Because there's a statewide shortage of Umps, and no one wants to have one less ump available next week

That's all I have to say about that.

 

[sawesomeness]

I didn't mean to be offensive in any way, and I'm sorry if you took it that way. I know umps have good & bad days, I just wondered how an umpire gauged his or her own performance(s). Thank you for your response.

 

[Louuuuu]

No offense taken. Umpires are accustomed to hearing criticism. Some of us are better at dealing with it that others.

It has always amazed me, though, how a small percentage of the population thinks they're supposed to be in the officials ear from the first pitch through the end of the game. How enjoyable is that - as a "fan"?

But you asked a valid question: How do we know if we're any good? I guess if no longer get games assigned to us, we know.

 

[ech92]

That is a great question, there are a couple umps that when they show up to our games I just shake my head and say to myself " not this ump again ". These are not umps that just have bad days, these are umps making calls or calling balls & strikes that make you go nuts! I always wander what can be done to let these umps know how bad they are without hurting their feelings or coming across as a sore loser even if we win. I have mentioned things to TD's and that seems to go no where! Wish there was a way for coaches to rate their umps at the end of each tournament. Im not kidding there sre a couple umps that have zero business umpiring. I have befriended a few umps over the years and 1 of them even told me one game that this particular ump is not his normal partner and not to hold it against him for this guy being so bad ( and he was ).

 

[bman0303]

This is a very interesting question? I had to chime in on this. I think a tournament could get good feedback from asking the coaches to rate them and I also think that you could offer an incentive to the umpires if they scored the highest. It could benefit the entire game of softball if umpires knew they had incentive to call a good game. JMO

 

[Louuuuu]

It could benefit the entire game of softball if umpires knew they had incentive to call a good game.

The problem with that is that umpires don't try harder one game vs another game. Either we're a good umpire, or we're not.

 

[Byers]

I think they should be graded by each team during the tourney. Give them a flat rate of maybe 75% of what they make now. If, at the end of the tourney their grade is an A they get the other 25% plus a 25% bonus. A B would get you the other 25% plus a 10% bonus. A C would get you the other 25% but no bonus. A D or F and you get nothing more. The poor performance of the bad umps would pay the bonus for the good umps.

 

[0203bbmom]

I read this post and thought about commenting, but didn't. Then flipped over to Facebook and seen a video from the World Series at Berliner taken just now.... the video showed teams dancing together during a lighting delay. The umps were right out there with them, dancing, two opposing teams having fun, making memories. Umps are human. Do I agree with every call every game, no. Do I sometimes say "Wow, missed that one Blue"...sure. But what we tend to forget far too often is the umps are there, putting themselves out in 100 degree heat, game after game, weekend after weekend. For what? I hope for the simple love of the game. After all, if we dig deep down, isn't this why we ALL are in this?

 

[wow]

There is a always a lot of debate in MLB about instant replay/video review & machines calling balls and strikes. IMHO the game is very rooted in the human element of everyone from the umps to the team managers. You just cant take away the umps ability to make a call and keep the integrity of the game. You must accept a certain amount of flaws and understand its part of what makes the game great. I get that fastpitch is not anywhere near having the technology the way MLB does, however accepting judgment calls in the heat of the play is what makes the game special.

There was a great sports science episode where they had the host simulate calling B/S while trying to replicate real life scenarios. They had a simulated crowd at some unreal decibel, raised the room temperature, had both the batter and catcher chirping at him. Then had pitches thrown. The show measured the hosts ability to call B/S vs a machine. The Host only got like 40%-50% correct vs the machine. The point is umps put in a large number of hours into training, studying, and becoming certified it takes a developed talent to do what they do on the fields. Are there bad calls made, of course, however isn't that life? Its how you deal with the call which makes the difference.

I am not a fan of performance based umpiring. I can see the "crowd mentality" determining whether someone got full pay for a tournament.

 

[Fairman]

If we are going to rate umps then the umps should be able to rate coaches (and maybe parents)
Coaches (teams) that don't know the rules would pay more.......

The major tournaments will have an Umpire in Charge. (UIC) that reviews the umpires work, coaches them to be better, does their own ratings and enforces it by not inviting back poor umpires. These UIC's are usually extremely experienced and well-respected umpires that know what an out of position umpire looks like or how an umpire should have reacted to keep control of a situation.

Having any random coach that can afford a scorebook rating umpires is just plain silly.

 

[ech92]

I agree that most umps are there for the love of the game. However its like anything else in life if your not good at what you do there needs be something done! Just because an ump loves what he does, does not mean he can't be bad at it. If I suck every day at my job they will replace me, even if I love the job. Im saying that like less than 5% of the umps are bad, I'm not referring to the missed call here or there. I mean we had an ump call a runner out because our outfielder threw the ball into second base and it hit the runner as she rounded second! After the game the other ump told us he was cunfused but didn't want to change his call. WTF, this guy makes stupid calls like this all the time. So should he just get to keep umpiring because he loves the game?

 

[sawesomeness]

Yea, I don't really agree with taking pay away from umps because of a complaining coach or team. I just think that opens up an ump losing money on a close call that one particular team feels strongly about...or a team full of jerks (those teams do exist).

The idea of offering an incentive is kind of cool - like an "Ump MVP" bonus

I dunno - I try to shake their hand a little harder & look them in the eye with a "good game blue" if I think they did a good job - but I'm sure they don't need my approval. I just wondered if there were particular things umps looked for to know they did a good or bad job in a particular game. Thanks for all the responses!

 

[Louuuuu]

I just wondered if there were particular things umps looked for to know they did a good or bad job in a particular game.

... an unobstructed path to the parking lot!

 

[KLS BM]

As a park Owner / Manager, I have for the past 10 plus years kept a simple excel spreadsheet, that list all the umpires that I get comments on good or bad. This is more for the adult slow pitch umpires that we deal with, but it does include fastpitch and boys baseball. ( Youth umpires are usually assigned by either the director/tournament organizer or a local assigner here in Cincinnati) Over the period of the season and in some cases years a pattern develops. Ironically this works both ways since the team/coach that complains or comments also gets placed on the list. An umpire that receives complaints from different teams indicates that we have an umpire problem. Do I have an Umpire problem or a coach/Team problem? I have shared this with a team occasionally and point out they have complained about every umpire that the have had on their field. (LOL, the complaining stops after that)

 

[yossarian]

Someone needs to create an app that has a public rating system like Uber! Although, nobody would ever ump again if that existed.

 

[Louuuuu]

Someone needs to create an app that has a public rating system ...

As long as that system includes your team name and whether you won or lost.

(You rarely hear "Yeah, we won, but that ump was horrible". And you never hear "Yeah, we lost, but that ump called a good game" !

 

[wow]

Someone needs to create an app that has a public rating system like Uber! Although, nobody would ever ump again if that existed.

How about a app for rating teams, coaches, and parents? Ever seen Glassdoor.com? The more transparency the better!