CoachHoversten
Well-known member
As an umpire of many years (several just doing local rec games, to OHSAA certified, to getting in with a crew of almost all college umpires doing high-level tournaments), I rarely complain about other umpires. I know how hard the job is, and we don't have enough umpires to be trying to run anyone out of the profession, but there comes a time when someone just needs to vent. But instead of attacking anyone or making this a thread where people b**** about umpires (respecting that the "Ask the Ump" is not the place for it), let's try to attempt to make this positive and use this thread to offer tips, strategies, ideas, that have helped us become better so others can learn too. Maybe not every one will work for every person, but I have learned so much when I was being critiqued and basically being told everything I was doing wrong.
I am not a master of the rulebook, something I continue to strive to be better at (as evidenced by my being wrong a couple times in the "Ask the Ump") but I am pretty darn good at mechanics. After watching my son, and some of his friends, striking on called pitches that the catchers are diving at and blocking, I just can't not vent a little. We are all human and make mistakes, but that is just bad, and comes across as blatantly disregarding the integrity of the game.
So with all that said, here are some of my most helpful tips I have learned, and hopefully others will chime in not just with complaints, but about ways to improve.
1) Slow down - This is my #1 rule and I have been told by many coaches that it is very easy to distinguish the inexperienced and even HS umpires from experienced and/or college umpires by how quickly they make the calls. I thought I was a pretty good umpire when I got in with the college crews, only to be ripped apart (politely) for making calls fast. My response? "It makes me seem sure of the call". Their response? "No, it makes it seem like you made up your mind before the pitch or play even finished". I get that a pitch might look borderline low (especially when kids aren't throwing hard and the ball arcs), but if you are making up your mind before the pitch is complete, then you aren't tracking the pitch...when the catcher blocks the ball...its a ball. If the batter is out at first, he will still be out in 1 more second. Slow down.
2) Angle is more important than distance - It is easier to make a call from 90 feet at the proper angle than it is from 40 feet at a bad angle. This is especially important for umpires that work a game solo. It is impossible to always get out to the bases, but you CAN move from behind home plate. It looks really bad when you stand behind home plate and make the calls on the bases, and it looks really bad when you get the call wrong back there. If you hustle and get in position, people can generally live with a missed call; but a missed call from behind the plate gets no justification because it is always assumed you missed it because you didn't bother or care to move.
3) Don't verbalize every call - There is no reason to yell "strike" when a batter whiffs at a pitch or "out" when an outfielder catches a lazy fly ball, or "foul" when a ball is hit into the church parking lot. I am training my son on umpiring and I explained to him "if you holler foul ball on the obvious ones, no one will believe you when you emphasize it on the banger down the line. Your calls should reflect the closeness of the play.
4) Communicate Communicate Commmunicate - Be vocal with your partner (in a 2 person crew). One, it makes it more fun, and two, you become better and more comfortable. Say "John, I am at third" or "I am staying home" or "I'm on the ball"
5) Be Professional - Most games now-a-days pay $50 to $60 cash under the table for 2 hours. At $50 for the game, you are being paid the equivalent of $33 per hour at a tax-paying job, so act like you would at a "normal" $33/hour job. Wear nice clothes (not raggedy pants), clean your shoes, hustle on the field to be in position, and be friendly and approachable, but professional. Don't act like you are the boss-man of every kid and coach, it doesn't impress anybody.
6) Don't miss the easy stuff - Again, no one is perfect, I am not and don't expect you to be, but be good enough not to miss the calls that everyone in the world can see. If the catcher blocks the ball, it's a ball. If a kid is out by 3 steps, don't call him safe. Know the "basic rules", don't call a kid safe b/c he wasn't tagged when it is a force out (saw that last week, kid coming back to bag on a caught line drive). Every call that is bang-bang is going to upset 50% of the people in attendance, so try to get the call right, but everyone will forget that call momentarily because no one can say with any more certainty than you that the call was wrong even though their biased opinion says it was. But the ones that everyone sees and the whole fields blows up because you missed it? That's on you 99% of the time. Usually due to lack of hustle or awareness, which you can't do at $33 an hour.
I am not a master of the rulebook, something I continue to strive to be better at (as evidenced by my being wrong a couple times in the "Ask the Ump") but I am pretty darn good at mechanics. After watching my son, and some of his friends, striking on called pitches that the catchers are diving at and blocking, I just can't not vent a little. We are all human and make mistakes, but that is just bad, and comes across as blatantly disregarding the integrity of the game.
So with all that said, here are some of my most helpful tips I have learned, and hopefully others will chime in not just with complaints, but about ways to improve.
1) Slow down - This is my #1 rule and I have been told by many coaches that it is very easy to distinguish the inexperienced and even HS umpires from experienced and/or college umpires by how quickly they make the calls. I thought I was a pretty good umpire when I got in with the college crews, only to be ripped apart (politely) for making calls fast. My response? "It makes me seem sure of the call". Their response? "No, it makes it seem like you made up your mind before the pitch or play even finished". I get that a pitch might look borderline low (especially when kids aren't throwing hard and the ball arcs), but if you are making up your mind before the pitch is complete, then you aren't tracking the pitch...when the catcher blocks the ball...its a ball. If the batter is out at first, he will still be out in 1 more second. Slow down.
2) Angle is more important than distance - It is easier to make a call from 90 feet at the proper angle than it is from 40 feet at a bad angle. This is especially important for umpires that work a game solo. It is impossible to always get out to the bases, but you CAN move from behind home plate. It looks really bad when you stand behind home plate and make the calls on the bases, and it looks really bad when you get the call wrong back there. If you hustle and get in position, people can generally live with a missed call; but a missed call from behind the plate gets no justification because it is always assumed you missed it because you didn't bother or care to move.
3) Don't verbalize every call - There is no reason to yell "strike" when a batter whiffs at a pitch or "out" when an outfielder catches a lazy fly ball, or "foul" when a ball is hit into the church parking lot. I am training my son on umpiring and I explained to him "if you holler foul ball on the obvious ones, no one will believe you when you emphasize it on the banger down the line. Your calls should reflect the closeness of the play.
4) Communicate Communicate Commmunicate - Be vocal with your partner (in a 2 person crew). One, it makes it more fun, and two, you become better and more comfortable. Say "John, I am at third" or "I am staying home" or "I'm on the ball"
5) Be Professional - Most games now-a-days pay $50 to $60 cash under the table for 2 hours. At $50 for the game, you are being paid the equivalent of $33 per hour at a tax-paying job, so act like you would at a "normal" $33/hour job. Wear nice clothes (not raggedy pants), clean your shoes, hustle on the field to be in position, and be friendly and approachable, but professional. Don't act like you are the boss-man of every kid and coach, it doesn't impress anybody.
6) Don't miss the easy stuff - Again, no one is perfect, I am not and don't expect you to be, but be good enough not to miss the calls that everyone in the world can see. If the catcher blocks the ball, it's a ball. If a kid is out by 3 steps, don't call him safe. Know the "basic rules", don't call a kid safe b/c he wasn't tagged when it is a force out (saw that last week, kid coming back to bag on a caught line drive). Every call that is bang-bang is going to upset 50% of the people in attendance, so try to get the call right, but everyone will forget that call momentarily because no one can say with any more certainty than you that the call was wrong even though their biased opinion says it was. But the ones that everyone sees and the whole fields blows up because you missed it? That's on you 99% of the time. Usually due to lack of hustle or awareness, which you can't do at $33 an hour.