Umpiring Fixes From a Former Ump

We are just over one-third of the way through the baseball season and despite the retirement of Ken Griffey Jr. (only one of the top 10 or so players of all-time), despite two perfect games, and despite a ton of great pennant races shaping up, the biggest story of the season so far has been umpiring, and more specifically a blown call that cost Detroit Tigers’ pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game. By now everyone knows the story: Galarraga was 26 outs through a perfect game when the first base umpire, Jim Joyce, called a runner safe on a relatively close play at first. The runner looked out live, and replay showed that he was clearly out, so it was a blown call that cost Galarraga a spot in history. The blown call caused a large outcry for more scrutiny and evaluation of umpires and an extended use of replay (right now it can only be used on home run calls).

Let’s tackle the Galarraga situation first. Galarraga will forever be remembered for what happened, much more so than had he pitched a perfect game. (If you think otherwise; there have been 20 perfect games in major league history and I dare you to name more than 7 or 8 of those, I will even spot you Roy Halladay and Dallas Braden from this year.) It is a shame that Galarraga had that moment taken away from him, but his place in history is probably more secure now than it ever would have been had he thrown a perfect game. I commend him and Jim Joyce, the umpire involved, for the dignity and class they handled the situation with. A ton can be learned from the situation just from the way these two men handled themselves.

But those crying for Bud Selig to step in, or any Major League Baseball change to the official ruling on the field, are flat out wrong. Yes, I understand that a “one time correction” could be made and that simply stating a can of worms would be opened is not entirely true, but in a sense, IT IS TRUE. We cannot undermine the authority of the umpires on the field or we might as well get rid of umpires altogether and call everything with replay. More importantly, we cannot begin a process where every egregious call will cause an outcry to be changed by the commissioner’s office. It is simply not a feasible or enjoyable way to manage the game on the field.

Galarraga’s situation, however, just highlights a larger theme in baseball today and that is the poor performance of umpires league-wide. When I say poor-performance I mean the umpires responsibility that goes above and beyond balls and strikes, fair and foul, out and safe. Blown calls are going to happen; they are and forever have been a part of the game. By performance I am talking about when umpires begin making themselves the story, such as Joe West speaking out about the slow pace of play between the Yankees and Red Sox (no matter how right he is), or the mismanagement of a game, such as the incident involving Mark Buehrle and his eventual ejection after two balk calls. Umpires, and their transgressions, are getting too much publicity for the enjoyment and for the good of the game.

I, myself, umpired from the time I was 14-years-old and into my early 20s. I umpired from Little League boys all the way up to American Legion, where 17 and 18-year-olds were playing at the highest level of amateur ball. I also ran the local organization’s umpiring crew for a few years training young umps, organizing a schedule and dealing with complaints. In college, besides umpiring in the summer, I refereed intramural basketball, flag-football and hockey amongst other sports as a way to earn a little extra beer money. There’s no one with more of an appreciation for what these men and women do than I have. It is a thankless job that is rarely rewarded with compliments, only headaches when complaints begin pouring in whether they are called for or not. That does not mean I haven’t complained a time or two in my life, it’s just that I understand that these are human beings trying to do the best that they can (we hope). And if you have never umpired or refereed a game in your life, you can have no appreciation for how hard it really is, especially at the professional level where players and judgment calls move faster than the human eye can follow. (This is especially true in basketball, where referring at the top levels is an almost impossible task.) So how do we help these umpires and try to satisfy the fans at the same time?

I think the most important aspects of fixing this umpiring situation are training and accountability. The technology we have today can be implemented for instant replay, but the most resourceful and appropriate use of this technology is to train the umpires. These are full-time positions paid handsomely by MLB, they should be trained universally by the best people and resources baseball can obtain. The second layer of this process, once all umpires are trained correctly, is proper evaluation and accountability. Has there ever been an umpire fired for poor performance? I have no idea what the answer to that question is, and that is a problem. MLB needs to hold its umpires to a higher standard, and let their fans know that this is taking place.

I do know that baseball has some form of umpire training and evaluation methods, but they are obviously not working. The same umpires have been around for what seems like ages. Players and managers know their tendencies, their behavior, and the way they call games. This is both good and bad. If the umpires are performing as they should, this is a good thing. I must add that the previously mentioned Joe West and Jim Joyce are two of the more well-respected umpires around the league for the job they do. However, there are a number of umpires who do not perform up to the level that fans and players expect yet there seems to be no consequences. If Major League Baseball wants to get umpires out of the headlines, it is time they take a proactive approach, train their umpires continuously and appropriately, and hold them accountable for their performance.

Finally, on replay, my stance is that it should be used as an aid to help umpires, not a crutch for them to lean on. I do not believe managers should have challenges or that a replay official should signal down to the field everytime he wants to review a call. The goal is not to prolong the game but to get an obvious call right. There should be one replay official, onsite, set up to reverse any call that was obviously misjudged. If a replay official cannot make a judgment before the next pitch is thrown, something that takes an eternity in baseball, the call on the field should stand. Let’s make it simple, get the calls right, and keep the game moving.

Replay, though, is not the most pressing issue facing the calling of games in baseball right now. Bud Selig and the rest of Major League Baseball need to ensure that they have the best possible and most well-trained umpires in the world officiating their games. They should take that from someone who has been there himself.