The Decline of Umpiring

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radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
I'm about to eat a turkey corn dog what the heck is that LOL
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
I think after doing something like umpiring for a long time, people would fall into 2 categories.

1. Hearing it so much that you become extra sensitive to it so it bothers you more and more. Like that beeping the fire alarm does as the battery goes dead. At some point you just want to rip it off the walls and chunk it across the street.

These umpires generally don't last or have problems. You can't have 'radar' or 'rabbit' ears. It is another reason why you avoid chatting with the crowd.

2. Hearing it so much that you become much less sensitive to it so it bothers you less and less. You just tune it out. You don't give 2 flips about what Suzie's mom thinks of your strike zone because you know Suzie's mom will be across the complex on Field 3 in another 25 minutes so all you have to do is ignore her until then and all will be well.

More of this though maybe not desentized, I HONESTLY don't hear much of it. You get to a point where you are focused forward and on the game - so it has to be particularly bad for me to even notice it happening.
 

inumpire

Observer, but has an opinion
Oct 31, 2014
277
43
Really? What are they?. As pointed out earlier, you can make $300 in a 9 hour day of umpiring. That's over $30/hour. No service job pays that. Not even close to that.
And you umpire straight for 9 hours, you will not be a very good umpire. Anyone, I don’t care the age, after about 2 or 3 games in a row, you are not a good umpire. You are just going through the motions to make money.
Been umpiring for a long time, and refuse to work multiple games in a row. It is just crazy. The teams paid the same money to play in a tournament, and if they get an umpire that has worked 6 games straight, are they getting their money’s worth? That just isn’t fair to the players.
 

inumpire

Observer, but has an opinion
Oct 31, 2014
277
43
I'm trying to picture the scene where a Target worker is allowed to throw a customer out of the store for calling them a name.


Nope ---- can't see that happening. Why do we allow umpires to be so thin skinned while the rest of the world is forced to remember "Sticks and stones...." ?
How would you like it if I came to your job and stood next to you and picked at every little thing you did wrong? How would you like it if I let you know every time you didn’t dot an I or cross a T, and then told you that you are stupid? How would that go over at your day job sir? Would you tolerate that very long? Probably not, but since you are an official, you are supposed to take it. Not to mention if you start to make it personal, like telling me I am stupid, you will be hitting the parking lot pretty damn quick. Parents and coaches like you are the heart of the whole issue!!!
Please inform me how telling am umpire he is stupid changed anything? One thing it did do, is teach your players and parent just how stupid you really are.
 

inumpire

Observer, but has an opinion
Oct 31, 2014
277
43
Do you see the contradiction there? If there are still old guys out there doing it, why haven't they quit long ago if it is so bad?

If it were so bad, the only umps doing it would be new ones and they would only do it until they got fed up.
I bet umpires get feed up with you real quick coach……..LOL
 

radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
How would you like it if I came to your job and stood next to you and picked at every little thing you did wrong? How would you like it if I let you know every time you didn’t dot an I or cross a T, and then told you that you are stupid? How would that go over at your day job sir? Would you tolerate that very long? Probably not, but since you are an official, you are supposed to take it. Not to mention if you start to make it personal, like telling me I am stupid, you will be hitting the parking lot pretty damn quick. Parents and coaches like you are the heart of the whole issue!!!
Please inform me how telling am umpire he is stupid changed anything? One thing it did do, is teach your players and parent just how stupid you really are.
At some 12u games this past weekend there was an obstruction play at the plate by the catcher. The Umpire did not call it. One of the coaches asked the Umpire why he did not call it and the Umpire said
because this is 12u.
It's those types of comments that don't come off so swell.
Nobody likes it when umpires come up with their own rules, but that happens to teams and coaches and players also. Wish it was a happier symbiotic relationship but unfortunately there's going to be bumps in the road no matter what.
Tolerance get stretched both ways.

If you're going to ask people to be more pleasant you'll have to make a blanket statement and not exclusive to umpires.

I am not defending berating umpires. Just an example.
 
Last edited:

inumpire

Observer, but has an opinion
Oct 31, 2014
277
43
At some 12u games this past weekend there was an obstruction play at the plate by the catcher. The Umpire did not call it. One of the coaches asked the Umpire why he did not call it and the Umpire said
because this is 12u.
It's those types of comments that don't come off so swell.

I am not defending berating umpires. Just an example.
And I agree that is an issue. Unfortunately it won’t be tournament directors. They need the umpires for their events. There needs to be training involved, but there are so many games, and not enough umpires to go around, so training went out the door for umpires, except for the ones who really want to become respected umpires. With the current situation, there are too many umpires that just want to make money. Just like the TD or organizations that don’t want to spend the money for training of the umpires.
I run an umpire associations, and if I try and run an umpire clinic, and just charge $5.00 per umpire, I might get 5 umpires to attend, out of the 80 members in the association. And 3 of those 5 are only there because I assign high school games, and they think if they attend they will get games. I can’t get them to understand……..if you want games, GET BETTER!!!
 

radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
And I agree that is an issue. Unfortunately it won’t be tournament directors. They need the umpires for their events. There needs to be training involved, but there are so many games, and not enough umpires to go around, so training went out the door for umpires, except for the ones who really want to become respected umpires. With the current situation, there are too many umpires that just want to make money. Just like the TD or organizations that don’t want to spend the money for training of the umpires.
I run an umpire associations, and if I try and run an umpire clinic, and just charge $5.00 per umpire, I might get 5 umpires to attend, out of the 80 members in the association. And 3 of those 5 are only there because I assign high school games, and they think if they attend they will get games. I can’t get them to understand……..if you want games, GET BETTER!!!
Good to read effort!

How many of the 80 do you think should be attending?
 
May 10, 2021
149
43
Do you see the contradiction there? If there are still old guys out there doing it, why haven't they quit long ago if it is so bad?

If it were so bad, the only umps doing it would be new ones and they would only do it until they got fed up.
You asked why they are quitting and I gave the main reason. Yes some umpires are staying too.
 

inumpire

Observer, but has an opinion
Oct 31, 2014
277
43
Good to read effort!

How many of the 80 do you think should be attending?
At least half of them IMHO. The older ones, we are just thankful they are sticking around. The ones with less than 5 years under their belts should be at any clinic they can attend.
 

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