MLB Umpires

[Old Tiger]

What is your opinion on them?

[ronwx5x]

Originally posted by Old Tiger
What is your opinion on them?

They are necessary.:)

[Bull Butter]

Most of them are good umps and do a heck of a job and try to avoid controversy. Then there's Joe West...........

[eagleqb_14]

Originally posted by Bull Butter
Most of them are good umps and do a heck of a job and try to avoid controversy. Then there's Joe West........... :iagree: :iagree:

[Farmersfan]

I think most of them have WWWAAAAAYYYY to high of an opinion of themselves. Just recently is the only time I ever remember one of them actually admitting they were wrong. Someone needs to inform them that they really AREN'T suppose to be part of the game. The rules are already defined. They simply need to enforce them. The strike zone has already been defined by baseball. The ump is suppose to simply enforce it. But over time they have grown to think that the strike zone is a arbitrary thing that they can put their spin on. A pitcher or a hitter should NEVER have to adjust to a ump.

[Txbroadcaster]

Originally posted by Farmersfan
I think most of them have WWWAAAAAYYYY to high of an opinion of themselves. Just recently is the only time I ever remember one of them actually admitting they were wrong. Someone needs to inform them that they really AREN'T suppose to be part of the game. The rules are already defined. They simply need to enforce them. The strike zone has already been defined by baseball. The ump is suppose to simply enforce it. But over time they have grown to think that the strike zone is a arbitrary thing that they can put their spin on. A pitcher or a hitter should NEVER have to adjust to a ump.

both the Ump from the Ranger game where the HR was not reviewed and Joyce admitted they are wrong


In saying that I think to many of themtry to make themself part of the game now. They are looking to argue and dont do a better job of difusing situations

[Farmersfan]

Originally posted by Txbroadcaster
both the Ump from the Ranger game where the HR was not reviewed and Joyce admitted they are wrong


In saying that I think to many of themtry to make themself part of the game now. They are looking to argue and dont do a better job of difusing situations



There's no way to expect them to never be wrong. They are human. But they need to understand they are simply enforcers of the rules and not interpreters of the rules. (if that makes sense). It seems to me that many of them have a bit of a God Complex.

[eagles_victory]

Originally posted by Farmersfan
There's no way to expect them to never be wrong. They are human. But they need to understand they are simply enforcers of the rules and not interpreters of the rules. (if that makes sense). It seems to me that many of them have a bit of a God Complex. I agree with this calling pitches consistent strikes that are 6 inches off the plate where a hitter can't reach out and do anything with it is making the rules your own too much. A strikezone should be attempted to be enforced the same by all umps instead of having hitters umps and pitchers umps.

[mlb04stangs]

it is what it is baseball has always been a sport of more controversial calls than any other because ur asking people just like u and me to look at two different players and the ball is just to hard from human eyes to distinguish which happens first. As far as the strike zone I played catcher and use to really have conversations bout why pitches weren't being called cause i could plainly c where it was, But few years later umped a game on the hill here and to tell u the truth those pitches that looked good as a catcher didn't look so hot as an ump

[GreenMonster]

These guys really do a good job. 98+% of all calls made by MLB umpires are correct by the end of the season. I'd say that is a pretty impressive rate of efficientcy. I have a buddy at the triple A level as an umpire and those guys go through rediculous hard rules tests through the offseason. These guys have years of training and experience before they ever get the opportunity to step on an MLB diamond. In the minor leagues they are evaluated regularly and harshly. Many of the minor league umpires call year round by doing fall league or going out of country to Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Dominican Republic etc just to get more reps and perfect their craft. Also, the strike zone windows that pop up on TV for the announcers to analyze and talk about umpire strike zones are actually used to grade an umpire's performance by their supervisors. That was the actual reason the thing was invented. Consistency is extremely important as well, so if the umpire misses one for a called strike early on he is expected to continue to call that pitch a strike for the rest of the game or that counts against him as well. Being that umpires are human and therefore prone to error you also have to account for them having a personality as well, which covers the Joe West complaint. He doesn't go out of his way to find trouble, trouble just seems to find him because that is his personality. We all know people like that, people that say what they feel and aren't bothered by the turmoil their words or actions start up. It is what it is. One thing I think MLB can do is give the Managers a challenge flag like the NFL has done. If the manager is wrong on his challenge then he should lose his challenge for the rest of the game and if he wins his challenge he should get it back to use again if so needed. Balls and strikes should be excluded from review. Because of the very few actual incorrect calls made on plays in the field that would go a long way towards correcting any flaws in the system.

[BaseballUmp]

Originally posted by GreenMonster
These guys really do a good job. 98+% of all calls made by MLB umpires are correct by the end of the season. I'd say that is a pretty impressive rate of efficientcy. I have a buddy at the triple A level as an umpire and those guys go through rediculous hard rules tests through the offseason. These guys have years of training and experience before they ever get the opportunity to step on an MLB diamond. In the minor leagues they are evaluated regularly and harshly. Many of the minor league umpires call year round by doing fall league or going out of country to Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Dominican Republic etc just to get more reps and perfect their craft. Also, the strike zone windows that pop up on TV for the announcers to analyze and talk about umpire strike zones are actually used to grade an umpire's performance by their supervisors. That was the actual reason the thing was invented. Consistency is extremely important as well, so if the umpire misses one for a called strike early on he is expected to continue to call that pitch a strike for the rest of the game or that counts against him as well. Being that umpires are human and therefore prone to error you also have to account for them having a personality as well, which covers the Joe West complaint. He doesn't go out of his way to find trouble, trouble just seems to find him because that is his personality. We all know people like that, people that say what they feel and aren't bothered by the turmoil their words or actions start up. It is what it is. One thing I think MLB can do is give the Managers a challenge flag like the NFL has done. If the manager is wrong on his challenge then he should lose his challenge for the rest of the game and if he wins his challenge he should get it back to use again if so needed. Balls and strikes should be excluded from review. Because of the very few actual incorrect calls made on plays in the field that would go a long way towards correcting any flaws in the system.

:clap: thank you, finally someone with some sense lol

[crzyjournalist03]

I work in a department of my company where we actually calculated and showed that we have a 99.9% accuracy rating, but that still doesn't stop us from getting chewed out by higher-ups when that 0.1% slips by!

[Astrosdawg07]

Originally posted by Farmersfan
The strike zone has already been defined by baseball. The ump is suppose to simply enforce it. But over time they have grown to think that the strike zone is a arbitrary thing that they can put their spin on. A pitcher or a hitter should NEVER have to adjust to a ump.

You obviously have never stepped behind the plate. Your view of a strike is different than the guy next two you believe it or not. And to say that a player should never have to adjust to an umpire just goes to show your lack of knowledge.

[zebrablue2]

Originally posted by Astrosdawg07
You obviously have never stepped behind the plate. Your view of a strike is different than the guy next two you believe it or not. And to say that a player should never have to adjust to an umpire just goes to show your lack of knowledge.




well said!!!:iagree:

[CenTexSports]

My son is quitting his job sometime this year and he has signed up for an umpiring school in Florida (run by ex-major leaguer). It is 300 hours of classroom and on the field work over 5 weeks.

I don't know if he will get to the major leagues but that is his goal.

[zebrablue2]

Originally posted by CenTexSports
My son is quitting his job sometime this year and he has signed up for an umpiring school in Florida (run by ex-major leaguer). It is 300 hours of classroom and on the field work over 5 weeks.

I don't know if he will get to the major leagues but that is his goal.



wish him all the best!!!

[Astrosdawg07]

Originally posted by zebrablue2
wish him all the best!!!

Same here, that's something I hope to do once I graduate college.

[GreenMonster]

Originally posted by CenTexSports
My son is quitting his job sometime this year and he has signed up for an umpiring school in Florida (run by ex-major leaguer). It is 300 hours of classroom and on the field work over 5 weeks.

I don't know if he will get to the major leagues but that is his goal. That is exactly how my buddy got in. He was 19 years old and midway through his sophmore year in college. He joined the local chapter of HS officials the first year out of high school just to supplement his income. He did such a good job that several of the older guys in the chapter encouraged him to go to a pro school in Florida which happened during official spring training. MLB sent scouts to the school and kept 2 or 3. 14 years later my buddy is still rocking along and currently bounces back and forth from AAA to the big leagues as a fill in for injuries or when one of the regulars needs a break for some reason. He's gone 10+ months a year calling baseball games all over the western hemisphere. I called him on Christmas during the blizzard and 18 inches of snow and he was spending Christmas Day on the beach in Venezuela. He's had some awesome opportunities in his career so far including working the AA Futures Game during the All-Star break the year it was in Milwaukee and as a perk to that he got to call the celebrity softball game and was one of the officials for the Homerun derby that year. He is currently a crew chief in AAA and will work the AAA all-star game and the AAA championship series this year. He's very very close to making it full time in the big leagues and has been on ESPN numerous times. Not bad for a good ol' boy that grew up 8 miles north of Iowa Park.

[CenTexSports]

Thanks for the encouragement and well wishes. He and his wife have taken an potentially bad situation and done well.

They got pregnat when she was a senior and he was a sophmore in high school. He has worked in computers since he was a junior and for the last five years he has worked at the A&M medical school as a PC Tech. He is also scheduled to complete his BS in December. My daughter-in-law went straight to A&M after high school and got her degree in biomedical sciences then tried to get into a PA program. When she didn't, she went back and got her RN degree from A&M (graduated two weeks ago in A&M's first RN class). She starts next Tuesday as an OR nurse at Scott & White Hospital.

Not a great start but they done good. I hope the umpiring works out as well.

BTW: Two granddaughters; 8 and 2.

[BaseballUmp]

Cole Hamels has a no hitter going through 6 innings...Jim Joyce is behind the plate lol

[BaseballUmp]

Doesn't matter now lol just got homered on