Umpires: Pay Policies?

[The Man In Blue]

Apparently it’s you that needs to figure something out. As a player you can figure out where the pitch may have missed due to better positioning. As a spectator or coach you don’t have that luxury of being in perfect position every pitch.
Oh and I didn’t say that was how it’s done. I said I have heard it done and I think it’s a good way to go about it.

Partially being the Devil’s Advocate ...

If you can’t tell, why do you need to ask? More importantly, why do you feel you know better? (That’s what asking implies.)

Things look very different from different angles. There is a reason umpires don’t sit on buckets behind fences along the baselines. Not saying we are always right (we aren’t), but we are right far more often than you want to believe.

 

[canyonjoe]

The OP asked for opinion of Umpires. We all have stories of a bad umpire that we bring up. However, the vast majority of umpires we have encountered playing mostly in Northern NV and Norther CA have been very good. We might disagree on a close play here or there or a close pitch but most just kept the tournaments moving and called a fair game.

 

[The Man In Blue]

I am helping to derail my own thread ... forgot where I was ... can we get back on track or take that discussion to a new thread?

 

[djcarter1966]

Expectations management is KEY. While they might not be big fans I know some orgs pay out on a schedule every week or two weeks depending and as long as they are not missing payments not that big a deal. Cancellations are also a big deal each org needs to have some kind of mechanism in place for cancellation and the policy needs to be clear either a message is posted or ump contacted in advance (depending on distance may need two hours or more notice) or they get paid....usually nice to have some kind of differential (25%-50%) for solo games.

 

[salderman#19]

Nope... Sorry, but this doesn't stop any future questions - it adds to them. Because now the coaches (and crowd) think that you are going to answer them and will openly question them.

If you start to indicate where you think pitches missed, then you are going to get asked every single pitch. And then everyone goes nuts every time they disagree with you or on close calls or worse case if you happen to miss one. It spirals quickly - not every time - but it is a known situation that you want to actively manage away from.

Umpired with a newer umpire on a game this weekend and he totally fell for that trap. Then he got flustered and lost his zone for a bit which added to the chirping and the quetions and the crowd and... He never really recovered but he did learn a lesson.

I think it was MTR (maybe Comp) who told me "You job is not to commentate the game".

This is why I am teaching DD to engage Plate ump before game. Introduce herself, extend her hand and shake hands with the ump, etc. During game, she will ask ump "are we missing low, inside, etc." Most umps have been very accommodating in answering DD's question. Most umps we have will not answer a coach and certainly not a fan.

 

[Mocoso]

...........
First up on my list is pay policies. I have a draft based on what I would like to see, but I would like to benchmark it against policies in other places. I’m not asking how much you get paid, but I want to know what policies you encounter with getting paid.
........?

Just helping him bring the thread back on topic.. PAY policies NOT how jabbery a blue should be on answering questions about a pitch.....


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[Tatonka]

Beat me to it. I have noticed ... I’m not a fan of it though. I believe we are going to see some places starting to teach this as a norm.

When I first started umpiring I would do this. I can attest it causes more problems in the long run than it solves.

As others have said, your pitcher knows where she is missing. Your catcher knows. And yes, you can tell from the dugout too. You might not be able to tell how much it missed by, but you know where the ball is in general. If I don’t call it a strike, you know it missed there. You asking me ”Where did it miss?” is nothing more than you saying you didn’t like the call.

Generally, I won’t answer you. Ask your catcher. Besides, what are you going to do to fix that? Restate the obvious to your pitcher and catcher? They are the ones who need to fix it. Quit bothering them and quit bothering me.

Sorry but...we have had so many bad plate umps this year that have left the pitcher and catcher just shaking their heads and not having any clue why their not getting strikes. Some times it's been consistently bad throughout a game, sometimes consistent against both teams but in general it's been consistently inconsistent. And I'm not even talking about one umps different interpretation of the zone vs the next ump who is calling the next game. Nor am I referring to other blown calls and lack of knowledge about the rules. Sure, everyone is human and makes mistakes but at times it's just frickin' ridiculous. The battery works too damn hard practicing their craft and they certainly do know where the zone should be. Get better blue.

 

[inde53546]

Our policies for rec/league and hosted tournaments are different.
League we hire a certified umpire to work games with league players that want to do it. Im not sure on pay for league games. I think its about $35 for the umps and $16/game for the kids.

We host 4-5 tournaments/year with roughly 32-40 teams across age groups. Roughly 8 teams each age. We hire a UIC that is in charge of hiring and scheduling umpires. We have 2 umps per game 3 for championship games. I believe it’s $50/game 80 minute time limit. Finish inning. I know we provide water for the umps. Im not sure if there are any food perks. I think the cost of the UIC is like $400-500 for the wknd. Payment is made immediately after the tournament


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[inumpire]

1) Consistency (especially with balls & strikes)
2) Be Loud- I want to hear balls and strikes ( go the extra mile tell me where it missed (high, low, inside, outside)
3) Don’t get defensive when asked to explain a call.

We are not public address announcer, we call balls and strikes, not high, low etc.

 

[inumpire]

I UIC about 10 tournaments a year, some large, some smaller. I also UIC a youth fast pitch league and an adult slow pitch league.
Both the leagues pay every 2 weeks. The umpire do not like it. The adult league uses 2 umpires per game and pay $30 per umpire per game. The youth fast pitch league pays $45/game for a 2 umpire system. We start younger or newer umpires at 10U.
We teach a softball umpire class that starts every January, and goes through the middle of March, with at least 10 classes. If you don’t make at least 75% of the meeting, you get very few games. We also have an 8 Hour USA softball umpire class in that same time frame. We give you 2 meeting credits if you attend that.

The youth tournament in the area are either USSSA, USASE or USA Softball tournaments. For those tournaments I schedule the umpires and am onsite to execute any rule situation if they come up. In those tournaments the pay is $40 to $50 per game. As a UIC I am paid anywhere from $500 to $1000.00 for my services.

The leagues run about 10 to 12 weeks and I am paid $500/season. The slow pitch has 3 seasons a year.

By making sure the umpire go to classes, and yes even the ones who have been umpiring for 20 years MUST attend the same classes.

By doing this, I have very few issues on the field with the umpire. 1 time in the last 5 years have I actually had to get involved in a dispute. So it works well for me. Do they miss calls, they sure do, but we all do.

Also during the tournaments I am watching games and making notes. All the umpire than get a written evaluation after the tournament is over, along with conversation after just about each game. Most of the time the umpires already know what they did wrong.

It has been a good system I have had in place for about 10 years, and yes once in a while I have an umpire not want cooperate. So they get to sit at home all softball season.