Umpires: Supply vs. Demand

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I see quite a bit of posts complaining about umpires. Is there a long line of qualified umpires vying for work? I know in our old rec league it was a struggle to get umpires so I was glad to get a half-qualified teen-ager some of the time.

I understand that in travel we're paying for quality umpires and should expect a well-called game.

At the same time I am just wondering if there are lot of people out there who even want to be umpires or are we at times scraping the bottom of the barrel just to get games covered.

I mean that as no offense and have the utmost respect for umpires, but I do wonder what the reality of this situation is.

 

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Not sure if umpire age is a major factor but; it did come into play with us this weekend.
We had a younger umpire 19/21years old who seemed to be intimidated by the coaches, parents and fans. We had several STRANGE calls or no Call as a result of the in-experience this is from one game.

Scenario one: pass ball on third strike batter runs to 1st, Catcher hits runner in the back of the head and ball rolls toward the opposing teams dugout. Before the ball rolls in the dugout one of their players pick it up and throws it back to the pitcher. I thought the runner should have been awarded second base. Both umpires feel the ball would have stopped before entering the dugout?

Scenario number two: same game pop foul off of first. Our First baseman tracking the ball has to stop because of the first base coach. First base coach takes two steps back to the fence but; then caught the ball!
The batter eventually struck out but; I felt the batter should have been called out because of obstruction. Both umpires converse and feel the coach attempted to get out of the way but was stopped by the fence.

Scenario number three: Runners on 1st and second our batter bunts the pitch. The 1st baseman picks up the ball and bounces it to the second baseman covering 1st. Second baseman traps the ball with the glove palm down home plate umpire does not see the play so the field umpire calls the batter out.

Later that day with an older umpire crew we have one out and the tying run on second. The batter hits a line drive back up the middle the ball goes off the pitchers glove/wrist and rolls toward third. The third baseman was playing in and ran back to get the ball the SS is in the base line and gets hit by our runner advancing to third. Field umpire calls the batter out and orders the runner back to second.
I call time and ask why? Field umpire said runner did not give the SS a chance to field the ball. Home plate umpire gets involved and after 15 minutes they decide the ball hit the pitcher and the runner collided with the SS in a no play situation. Result of the play was runner at third and first. Next batter hits a line drive to second and doubles up our runner at first to end the game.

 

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You may be on to something especially during the summer months when there are so many tourneys.

 

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umpiring has been the worst i have ever seen this year. I Think Out of work people decided to umpire games to make ends meet. to blow calls that are not even close makes me wonder how an umpire got certified to ump.

We lost a game that the runner was called safe at home on a tag, even though the runner never touched home plate. As i am telling the umpire that the runner did not touched home , I tell him to look she still aint there yet.

 

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I agree, umpiring has been the worst I have ever seen too. One game this weekend the home plate ump had the count wrong at least 4 times and his zone was all over the place. Way too many very bad calls this year.

 

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I understand that in travel we're paying for quality umpires and should expect a well-called game.

At the same time I am just wondering if there are lot of people out there who even want to be umpires or are we at times scraping the bottom of the barrel just to get games.

I know from seeing it first hand that there are weekends that they're scrambling to find enough umpires to cover all the games. The only options are to bring in less experienced umpires (which can lead to unusual calls, by virtue of their inexperience) or to work your best umpires an excessive number of games in a single day (which can lead to unusual calls due to the fatigue factor of working multiple games).

If you were to hire, say, fifty lawyers, fifty plumbers or fifty pitching coaches, naturally all fifty would not be of equal ability, skill level or experience. And it's the same way with umpires. Some will be good, some will be better and some might be not as good.

At least I can say that I'm not aware of any tournament games ever having to be canceled due to a lack of umpires. So, the games are being covered one way or the other. I do know that the assigners I deal with work hard to assign their best umpires to games and to match an umpire's skill level with the level or age of the teams playing. But if your best umpires aren't available that weekend, or if you have an excesssive number of games to cover, the available pool of umpires can get stretched pretty thin.

 

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Not sure if umpire age is a major factor but; it did come into play with us this weekend.

It's a factor in that a younger umpire will usually be a less experienced umpire. I work with and train young umpires for a local league and there are some good ones out there. But nothing can replace the experience of actually working games. Ideally, you would like to have them get a few seasons of lower-level rec league ball under their belts before turning them loose in travel ball tournaments. I know that when I first started out it took a couple of seasons to get comfortable with positioning and mechanics, as well as dealing with coaches and handling unusual plays or situations.

On your specific plays:

1) Assuming no issue with interference and the three foot running lane, in which case the batter-runner would be out, when a defensive player not involved in the game touches a live ball it is considered a blocked ball. It doesn't matter if the ball would have rolled into the dugout or not. The ball is dead and the runners are awarded two bases from their position at the time the throw was made.

2) It doesn't matter if the coach "tried" to get out of the way, or if he "accidently" interfered. If the umpire judges that the coach's positioning or movement prevented the fielder from making the catch then the batter is out. The ball is dead and any other runners are returned to the bases held at the time of the pitch. Simply, the fielder has the right of way and is entitled to an unimpeded opportunity to make the play. The coach may move any distance and any direction anywhere on the field to give the fielder room. If he doesn't, or picks the wrong direction, that's his bad.

3) An initial play at first base is always the base umpire's responsibility. The plate umpire's first duty is to watch the lead runners, so I'm not surprised that the plate umpire didn't make this call. It's not his to make.

That the ball touched the ground doesn't automatically make the runner safe. The catch of a thrown ball has a different definition and standard than the catch of a batted fly ball. If the fielder had her glove around the ball and was able to lift it from the ground, without adjusting or bobbling the ball, then she has demonstrated control of the ball. This can still be a valid catch and tag of the base for an out.

4) once a batted ball is touched or deflected by a fielder, any interference with a subsequent fielder trying to get the deflected ball must be intentional. If the runner did not intentionally run into the fielder, then there is no rule violation. Live ball, play on.

When a runner does interfere, it is the runner who is out, not the batter.

 

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I agree with you the only way to get umpires for the future is to grow and develop them today.
However; I think the umpires experience should be taken into consideration when assigning partners and field assignments.

Our situation happened in our third "winners bracket" game against a very solid team. Not to take anything away from them or any other game but; several calls in one game like these can get a team down or give others opportunities for new life.

On the trapped ball play the fielder needed to use her bare hand to scoop the ball into the glove after the out call was made she could not pick it up with her glove hand.
Neither umpire asked to see the ball at the time of the play the field umpire just called the batter out and turned away.
The fielder was in contact with the base and the ball by trapping it to the ground but in such a crucial point in the game with so, many unusual plays it is frustrating for all involved.

 

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bretman you are right on the money with your post. I have seen a problem coming for years with a shortage of quality umpires. The amount of tournaments that are being held each and every weekend has more then doubled in the past 3 years or so. The experienced umps are being stretched out and while all games are being covered, there is a steep learning curve going on. In the long run I think the problem will get better because some of the umpires will stay with it and get better and the overall pool will be deeper.

 

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What is getting to be the norm is the fact that the inexperience umpires usually are set on the 10u and 12u groups. Sounds like to me Dennis, that the scheduler tried to put an inexperienced guy with an experienced guy.. like it is going to made a difference...LOL I've had my share of such over the years.

Baseball guys.. it's baseball where an umpire can go do two games and leave with $140.00 and a lot less headaches from fans, coaches, etc... I see it all the time.

Problem too is the umpires of the future come out of the rec as kids... and the abuse they get as rec umpires for parents and coaches.. turns them away from umpiring.
The boys, odds are, are playing baseball themselves and see the difference in the grief an umpire gets in baseball versus softball.

ASA has a rule of working the locals first and then calling the next district over to fill.

At that point, a TD is forced into getting what is sent to him and cannot do it on his own and get the best umpires he/she can find from all over the state to officiate his event. A TD has NO control over who he gets. Until then, I don't plan on any ASA events I'm going to hold, other than the Hall of Fame qualifiers this Fall, based on that fact.

I am absolutely scared to death what I am going to be sent. Petrified is a better word for it.