"C'mon Ump!"

From time to time, almost everyone has to undergo the process of a performance evaluation. It can be humbling to hear the criticism and even more difficult to swallow when you see the data to back up the claims of inadequacy, especially when ther are some blemishes to be uncovered. 

Now, imagine that you are an umpire, working on the highest stage of them all in your profession, Major League Baseball and the crowd is getting hoarse from their booing that is directed solely upon you. No doubt, it can be a lonely existence when you have no place to hide after blowing a call. I know that we are all human... but some folks are just more human than others.

Don't just take my word for it, here's "the rest of the story", as my late friend Paul Harvey used to say. https://www.bu.edu/today/2019/mlb-umpires-strike-zone-accuracy/

Not everybody could handle the kind of pressure that falls upon an umpire or, for that matter, a hockey goalie, who feels the burn of the red light on the back of their neck when the goal light is flipped on after they let one slip by.

Back to baseball, where leather-lunged fans shout at the home plate umpire for not “calling ‘em the way they sees ‘em.” One would think, even possibly assume that the position directly behind the catcher and in a direct line of sight of the pitcher 60’ 6” away would be the best spot to be perfect on each and every pitch. Well, Bunky, think again. Nobody claims that it is easy to face up to the crowd and the intense scrutiny of multiple angle replays these days, but when it comes to getting it right, I believe that most fans would like that to happen.

According to an extensive study by Master Lecturer Mark T. Williams and a team of graduate studentsat the Questrom School of Business at Boston University, the arbiters who work the strike zone who have historically claimed that they “calls ‘em like they sees ‘em,” but that certainly does not mean they get them all correct. In fact, there is a shocking set of statistics that were drawn from the study of 11 seasons of MLB, covering more than 4-million pitches that will most probably fuel the fire of the loudmouth sitting behind you at your next ballgame who shouts at a record breaking decibel level, to ask the age old question, “Hey ump, are you blind?”

The exhaustive study exposed an irritating set of facts, considering that we live in a period of replays and reviews. According to the report, “In 2018, MLB umpires, made 34,294 incorrect ball and strike calls for an average of 14 per game or 1.6 per inning. Many umpires well exceeded this number. Some of these flubbed calls were game changing.” A sobering finding was that in the 2018 season, a staggering number of 55 games ended with a bad call.

I find myself joining the growing ranks of supporters of technology when it comes to getting the calls correct. If out/safe, fair/foul calls can make the game fair for both sides, then why not take the human error factor out of the equation? …this coming from a guy who cannot stand the DH. 

Replay has reduced, if not all together eliminated the great managerial outbursts of the likes of Billy Martin, Earl Weaver, Sparky Anderson and Lou Piniella, but at least, the correct call eventually gets made, albeit after what often seems like an unnecessary delay from whomever is holed up in the replay room in New York. The wait is often so lengthy, it gives rise to the question of whether somebody has to wake these guys up to take a look at the replay… we’ll save that study for another group of scholars. 

Let’s just Play Ball!