REVIEWING THE PERFORMANCE OF UMPIRES.
REVIEWING THE PERFORMANCE OF UMPIRES. I take the controversy over umpiring as supporting my repeated argument that the reviews of umpires and referees should be made public. Umpires basically have jobs for life, while players and managers are scored on their performance every day, and they can be replaced by better performers. Last night, I was watching a broadcast of the Twins-White Sox game. A call on whether a ball in the corner was fair or foul went the Twins way so that there was no rancor on the part of the announcers when they chuckled that the first base umpire did not run down the line to get a better view. “He took ‘first base umpire’ literally and stayed at first base” was their reaction. It was refreshing to hear a comment about an umpire’s lack of hustle.
Phil, for a good read on umpires and umpiring there was a great recent book by a New York Times reporter whose name escapes mr right now. I recommend it highly. I gained a much deeper appreciation for how hard it is to become a major league umpire and how hard the job is itself.
Rob