Umpire (baseball)
In baseball, the umpire is the person charged with officiating the game, including beginning and ending the game, enforcing the rules of the game and the grounds, making judgment calls on plays, and handling disciplinary actions. The term is often shortened to the colloquial form ump. They are also sometimes nicknamed blue due to the traditional color of the uniform worn by umpires. Although games were often officiated by a sole umpire in the formative years of the sport, since the turn of the 20th century, officiating has been commonly divided among several umpires, who form the umpiring crew. The position is analogous to that of a referee in many other sports.
Role and Responsibilities
Umpires enforce all rules of play, make real-time judgment calls, manage disputes between players and coaches, and may issue ejections if necessary. The role requires strong observation, communication, and decision-making skills.Career Path and Training
Most professional umpires attend accredited umpire schools, progress through minor league assignments, and are evaluated for accuracy, professionalism, and rule knowledge before joining Major League Baseball.Duties and positions
In a game officiated by two or more umpires, the umpire in chief is the umpire who is in charge of the entire game. This umpire calls balls and strikes, calls fair balls, foul balls short of first/third base, and makes most calls concerning the batter or concerning baserunners near home plate. To avoid injury, the home plate umpire wears similar equipment to the catcher, including mask, chest protector, leg guards and shoes with extra protection added over the laces. If another umpire leaves the infield to cover a potential play in foul ground or in the outfield, then the plate umpire may move to cover a potential play near second or third base. In the event that an umpire is injured and only three remain, the second base position will generally be left vacant.In nearly all levels of organized baseball, including the majors, an umpiring crew rotates so that each umpire in the crew works each position, including plate umpire, an equal number of games. In the earliest days of baseball, however, many senior umpires always worked the plate, with Hall of Fame umpire Bill Klem being the last umpire to do so. Klem did so for the first 16 years of his career. On the Major League level, an umpiring crew generally rotates positions clockwise each game, with an exception for doubleheaders, where the plate umpires scheduled for both games do not work the other game at first or third base. In a doubleheader, the first base umpire in the regular rotation is replaced by a fifth umpire in the first game, and the fifth umpire takes third base in the second game, to replace the umpire who was the plate umpire in the first game.
File:Eduardo Escobar called safe at second, Aug 06 2022.jpg|thumb|right|Base umpire Stu Scheurwater calls Eduardo Escobar safe.
Other umpires are called base umpires and are commonly stationed near the bases. When two umpires are used, the second umpire is simply the base umpire. This umpire will make most calls concerning runners on the bases and nearby plays, as well as in the middle of the outfield. When three umpires are used, the second umpire is called the first-base umpire and the third umpire is called the third-base umpire, even though they may move to different positions on the field as the play demands. These two umpires also call checked swings, if asked by the plate umpire : the first base umpire for right-handed batters, and the third base umpire for left-handed batters; to indicate a checked swing, the umpires make a "safe" gesture with their arms. To indicate a full swing, they clench their fists.
When four umpires are used, each umpire is named for the base at which the umpire is stationed. Sometimes a league will provide six umpires; the extra two are stationed along the outfield foul lines and are called the left-field and right-field umpires.
Outfield umpires are used in major events, such as the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, and depending on the level, at parts of post-season playoffs. For Major League Baseball, all playoff levels use six umpires adding a left-field and right-field umpire, while at lower levels, six umpires are used at the championship games. Rulings on catches of batted balls are usually made by the umpire closest to the play.
Crew chief
The term umpire-in-chief is not to be confused with the crew chief, who is usually the most experienced umpire in a crew. At the major-league and high minor-league levels, the crew chief acts as a liaison between the league office and the crew and has a supervisory role over other members of the crew.For example, on the Major League level, "The Crew Chief shall coordinate and direct his crew's compliance with the Office of the Commissioner's rules and policies. Other Crew Chief responsibilities include: leading periodic discussions and reviews of situations, plays and rules with his crew; generally directing the work of the other umpires on the crew, with particular emphasis on uniformity in dealing with unique situations; assigning responsibilities for maintaining time limits during the game; ensuring the timely filing of all required crew reports for incidents such as ejections, brawls and protested games; and reporting to the Office of Commissioner any irregularity in field conditions at any ballpark." Thus, on the professional level, some of the duties assigned to the umpire-in-chief in the Official Baseball Rules have been reassigned to the crew chief, regardless of the crew chief's umpiring position during a specific game. Instant replay reviews, for example, will be reviewed with the crew chief and one other umpire, with results announced by the crew chief. The crew chief acts analogous to the crew chief in basketball or the referee in American football.
Starting with the 2022 season, umpire crew chiefs are equipped with wireless microphones to be used when announcing replay challenges and the results of those challenges, similar to college and professional football and the National Hockey League.
Judgment calls
An umpire's judgment call used to be final, unless the umpire making the call chose to ask partner umpires for help and then decided to reverse it after the discussion. Since 2014, MLB allows managers to challenge plays during the game. If the manager successfully has a call overturned, they are rewarded with another challenge.An independent study of umpire pitch-call accuracy over 11 seasons released on April 8, 2019, by Mark T. Williams of Boston University concluded that over 20% of certain pitches were called incorrectly. For the 2018 season, home plate umpires made about 34,000 incorrect ball and strike calls, which is about 14 per game and 1.6 per inning.
If an umpire seems to make an error in rule interpretation, the call, in some leagues, can be officially protested as was the case in MLB until 2019. If the umpire is persistent in his or her interpretation, the matter will be settled at a later time by a league official.
Modern Practices and Technology
Video replay and electronic strike zones are used to assist umpires in making accurate calls, but professional judgment, experience, and rule knowledge remain central to the role.Amateur umpiring
An amateur umpire officiates non-professional or semi-professional baseball. Many amateur umpires are paid and thus might be considered professionals, while some amateur umpires are unpaid. According to the Little League Baseball official website, umpires should be volunteers.There are numerous organizations that test or train anyone interested in umpiring for local leagues, and can help make connections to the leagues in the area. Little League Baseball and the Babe Ruth League are two of the most popular organizations when it comes to youth baseball, and each have their own application, test, and training process for becoming an umpire. In Canada, most umpires are certified through a provincial organization, and then hired by local municipal associations through an umpire in chief.
For the Little League World Series, amateur umpires from around the world participate on a volunteer basis. Prospective Little League World Series umpires must participate at various levels of Little League All-Star tournaments, ranging from district to state to regional tournaments, prior to being accepted to work the World Series tournament.
High school umpiring
In the United States, many high schools sponsor a baseball team. Many high schools sponsor multiple baseball teams; for instance, "varsity" and "junior varsity" teams. During the 2017–18 academic year there were 16,513 high schools sponsoring at least one baseball team, and 488,859 students participated on a high school baseball team. Thus, high school baseball is one of the most popular levels of baseball in the United States. Unlike college athletics, there is no competitive national championship on the high school level. And, unlike college athletics, umpires on the high school level are not administered by a national organization. Rather, high school baseball is administered at the state level and the qualifications for becoming and remaining a high school umpire are usually set by the entity overseeing high school baseball in each individual state. For example, the Florida High School Athletic Association sets forth minimum requirements for being a high school umpire in Florida. Many statewide high school athletic associations contract with multiple local umpire associations throughout their state in which the local associations agree to train and provide umpires for high school games in each association's geographic area of the state in return for a "booking fee" being paid to the local associations by either the statewide high school association or by individual high schools. The local associations also promise to train their umpires to meet the state high school association's minimum requirements for umpires. For example, in Florida the Jacksonville Umpires Association trains and provides umpires for high school games in the Jacksonville area.The specific requirements for becoming a high school umpire vary from state-to-state. However, generally all states share the same basic minimum requirements. First, a person trying to become an umpire must usually register with both the state high school athletic association and their local umpire association. Upon registering, most states provide their umpires with a high school rulebook, casebook, and umpires' manual. Second, most states require all umpires to attend clinics and meetings. These clinics may focus on rules, umpire mechanics, or a combination of both. Third, most states also require an umpire to pass a rules exam. Finally, most states also require umpires to work a certain number of pre-season scrimmages prior to working regular season games. As an example of these requirements, Georgia has an "officials accountability program" which sets forth the specific requirements for its interscholastic officials which can be reviewed .
Although high school baseball is administered at the state level, the various state high school athletic associations have voluntarily formed the National Federation of State High School Associations. Through the federation, most state athletic associations have agreed to use its rulebook. Thus, while high school baseball is administered on a state level, almost all state associations use the same unique baseball rulebook written specifically for the high school level. As a result, if an individual umpire moves from one state to another state he would likely be using the same rule set in his/her new state as was used in his/her former state. However, there are significant rule differences between the federation's rulebook compared to Major League Baseball and NCAA rules. Thus, individuals wanting to umpire on the high school level will have to learn a different set of rules than those they may be familiar with had they previously umpired in a youth league using the MLB or NCAA rulebooks.
Almost exclusively, high school umpires are paid on a per game basis. As they are not salaried, they are not paid if they do not actually umpire a game, although some states require the home school to pay the umpires' travel expenses if they show up to the game site and the game is called, regardless of whether or not it starts. The amount paid differs, often significantly, from state to state. Most high school games are officiated by a two-umpire crew. However, many states use three-umpire and four-umpire crews to officiate playoff games.