I’ve written in the past about my experience with umpiring. For the better part of four summers I have been umpiring baseball games. This summer has by far been the worst I have experienced yet.
The first few summers I umpired there were very little problems. I called balls and strikes and there wasn’t much said. This year is different. I’m not sure if for some reason I’m not doing as well as before, or maybe it’s just the buildup effect from umpiring more, but coaches, parents, and players appear to have a much shorter temper and tend to take it out on the umpire.
Normally I really enjoy umpiring. This year, I can only really remember one game so far, out of over a dozen, that I have enjoyed. Last week, a coach yelled at me for calling a high strike, a pitch that, looking back, I still don’t think was a ball. The night before I could hear parents yelling, “Throw it at the knees, it’s the only strike you can get.” I can’t win with these people.
The game is not supposed to be about me, it’s about the players. I am impartial and I don’t care who wins or loses on any given night. I don’t keep score and don’t know who is winning or losing. When coaches, parents, or players argue with with me or yell from down the baseline about a pitch they disagree with, it makes my job harder. Then I start thinking about it, every pitch. I lose the ability to just react to plays.
A game will be going well, and then someone will get mad. They usually let me know about it. After that the game slows down for me. The game drags on and I start to worry about if I’m making the right calls or not. I know I shouldn’t worry about what they say, but it’s hard to keep it out of my mind. It’s always there. In my opinion this is why it’s so hard to find umpires or other officials to officiate sporting events.
When the summer started, there was only myself and one other person who were scheduled to umpire the summer program here in New Richland. I thought that was simply appalling-until this summer got underway. I noticed a significant difference between umpiring in New Richland and other cities.
Over in Owatonna, I don’t hear anything from coaches or players about my job officiating baseball games. I credit that to their banner for the league over there. It’s based entirely around respect. Respect for players, coaches, fans, and officials. When that idea is said over and over again to young players with coaches who understand this thought, it really sticks.
Maybe it can all be chalked up to luck during the last three summers of umpiring, but this year has really challenged my ability to tolerate nonsense.
After stepping away for a few days, I decided to come back to this column with a fresh perspective, along with a weekend of umpiring under my belt. What I learned surprised me. It’s not just players who have either good or bad games on the ball diamond, but umpires as well. Some nights I see the ball and make calls without thinking twice. Other nights, it’s hard to see the plate or remember to call the infield fly rule when it happens, seconds after reminding myself.
One of my friends told me, “You’re just a scapegoat for people to blame when the game doesn’t go the way they want.” It doesn’t really matter what people say because when a game is broken down, an umpire very rarely has any impact on the winner or loser. Calls go both ways as one of my mentors would say.
Walking into last weekend I was expecting a rough weekend. I was scheduled to umpire six games in two days, in 90 plus degree temperatures. What actually happened surprised me and really encouraged me to put the bad games behind me. The players, coaches, and especially the fans were awesome. They treated me better than I’ve ever been treated as an umpire. Parents and fans were very friendly and continually offered cold rags and water to help deal with the heat.
With all that said, the tournament was a success and I felt like I umpired some really good games with some really great teams. When the players want to be there and want to win, the games play a lot different. It makes my job easy when the kids play like that. Far too often, teams get discouraged and don’t want to be on the baseball diamond. I would give almost anything to be back on that diamond, mound or batter’s box. I wouldn’t care if it was the worst game of my career; the opportunity to play baseball again at that time would be unbelievable. I’m beginning to understand that kids either understand this or they don’t-there is very little in between.
Thought for the day: enjoy the goods times.