The Essays of Sam Person
Kill The Umpires
During the recently concluded American League Championship Series between
the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox there were a couple of hotly
contested incidents resulting in umpire’s “calls” that invoke thoughts of
the entire umpiring process in baseball.
Indeed, if 1999 was the end of the millennium, it might also be viewed as
the end of umpiring in major league baseball as we have known it for
decades. To be fair, however, that end is a result of the ill advised labor
actions of the umpires rather than a change in the nature of what they do to
keep the game as honest and unbiased as it has been.
Thus, as a rather serious baseball fan, I have given thought to what has
happened historically, and what is going to happen in the future.
“Kill The Umpires,” the name of this piece, is not intended to incite a
riot. Rather, it is a long established cry of fans anguished at calls that
go against their team. To my way of thinking, for the most part, it has
always been said with tongue in cheek, which is certainly my intention.
Despite the “ war cry” to do umpires bodily harm, I do not recall more than
one or two scattered episodes in which a fan was so mentally muscle bound as
to seek to do so.
Rather, umpiring has been honored on occasion. For example, Normal Rockwell
invoked images of umpires in at least two of his works. In a 1939 Saturday
Evening Post cover of an issue which commemorated “100 years of baseball”,
there is a classic drawing called “The Windup.” It depicts a scene from the
late nineteenth century in which a pitcher is read to throw to the batter.
Behind the pitcher was the only other individual in the scene – an umpire.
Yes, in those days, the pitch was called from behind the pitcher.
In the 1940’s, another well known Rockwell piece – “Tough Call” – pictures
the managers of the Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates awaiting the
umpires’ decision about continuing a game with a light rain falling.
(Tangentially, over the years, Rockwell, the quintessential American
illustrator, also did several other works on baseball, the quintessential
American game.)
On lighter side, one needs to reflect back on the time when there were three
umpires rather than four (at least during the regular season). Whenever the
umpiring crew appeared on the field to begin a game at Brooklyn’s Ebbets
Field, a group of fans who had constituted themselves into a band greeted
the umpires with the tune “Three Blind Mice.” It was a scene that was
always good for a laugh from the crowd.
Sure there were “bad” calls in the 1999 playoffs. There always have been,
and always will be, for the simple reason that the umpires are human and
call them as they see them – which is harder to do under game conditions
than by watching a replay. By the same token, I think “bad” calls are a
part of the game; they set up circumstances in which a team needs to recover
from adversity. I would not change it with anything as absurd as instant
replay. In baseball, there are just too many circumstances in which invoking
instant replay would lead to substantial delay.
If you do not agree that baseball umpires are human, read “The Best Seat in
Baseball, But You Have to Stand,” by Lee Gutkind. The author spent the
summer of 1974 living and traveling with a National League umpiring crew.
His work is an excellent insight into the human side of the “men in blue.”
So, what did the umpires do to themselves in 1999 that has led to this
collection of thoughts? Baseball fans, (and labor relations experts as well)
know that the Major League Umpires Association set in motion one of the most
bizarre actions in the annals of organized labor. Apparently the umpires
were sold a bill of goods by their leadership; namely, by offering mass
resignations to Major League Baseball a situation would be created whereby
they would have the upper hand. They were wrong.
Their action, coming at a time when there was much controversy over the role
of umpiring, played right into the hands of Major League Baseball. Many
resignations were accepted, and new umpires were brought into the Major
Leagues. It should have been abundantly clear to the leadership of the
umpires association that there was a great deal of frustration with the
power that the umpires had come to have, and that they could not win the
showdown that was forced. In effect, they challenged Major League Baseball
to a gunfight in the street, and lost.
Unfortunately, some good, experienced umpires were forced out for reasons
unknown to me, which is the sad part of the affair.
In the end, baseball will go on. It always does. It might even come to pass
that there will be more uniformity in the calling of balls and strikes, but
in reality I doubt it: these are subjective decisions made as a round object
(approximately three inches in diameter) going at speeds approaching 100
miles per hour crosses a seventeen inch wide triangle. Further, “safe” or
“out” calls on the bases are a function of fast action and/or views based on
angles of sight; as such, they too are subjective.
The late Bill Klem, considered by many to be the greatest umpire of all
time, and a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, was once asked if he ever
made a wrong call. His famous answer sums up what umpiring is all about.
Klem said, “not in my heart I didn’t.”
Other than for some fine-tuning that may be necessary to make some umpires
less contentious in their behavior towards players, I cannot see the need
for major changes. To this extent, the fans did not “kill the umpires.” The
umpires killed themselves.
