Former Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver (left) and former umpire Ken Kaiser (right) get into it during their MLB active days (New York Times photo file)
Umpires: Impartial Pillars of Judicial Dignity
That’s Amaury News and Commentary
By Amaury Pi-González
It should not be lost during the baseball negotiations between owners and the players union, that the Umpires are “all in” and ready to go,if there is a 2020 season, Let’s give the umpires some love, because slowly but surely their jobs will not exist.
While distrust exist between the owners and the players union during these negotiations, trying to bring baseball back and save the season, the umpires reached a deal weeks ago to cover the 2020 season during the Covid-19 pandemic. In that agreement umpires took a 50 percent cut in pay in May and nothing more if no games are played. They usually make between $150,000 and $450,000. They agreed to play with masks and to abide on whatever new restrictions are put in place.
On July 10,2019 in York, Pennsylvania the independent Atlantic League became the first American professional baseball league to use a computer call balls and strikes, this was during their All-Star Game. The umpire behind the plate wore an earpiece connected to an iPhone in his pocket and then relayed the call after receiving it from TrackMan computer system that uses a Doppler radar In other words, during this “experiment”the umpires was like a baby-sitter, because he depended on a computer to tell if the pitch was a ball or a strike. During the 2018 season the MLB umpires at home plate were wrong by 20 percent of the time, that is the most important umpire on the field and he sees hundreds of pitches during each game.
Umpires never get any love from the crowd,unless they get hurt, as they walk out of the field, or if they are trying to stay in the game after they get hit by a ball a bat or collusion with a player. In some parks (including Oakland) umpires sometime get booed just when their names are announced before the game. It is a ungrateful profession, by any means. They get a lot of verbal abuse and it takes a special man to be an umpire. I always admired the baseball umpires, they are part of the game we love.
Quotes about umpires.
-I didn’t mean to hit the umpire with the dirt, but I did mean to hit that bastard in the stands. -Babe Ruth -Umpire’s heaven is when he works third base every game. Home is where the headache is., -Ron Luciano(Umpire) -I never questioned the integrity of an umpire. Their eyesight yes. -Leo Durocher -In a way an umpire is like a woman. He makes quick decisions and never reverses them and doesn’t think you are safe when you are out. -Larry Goetz – I’ll never forget the time he came out there to argue, and he turned his hat around. I turned my hat around, too, and he said he wanted to punch me. I said, ‘Go ahead you midget, you’ll hit my knee.’ (talking about Orioles manager Earl Weaver) -Umpire Ken Kaiser.
Stay tuned and stay well.
Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s Spanish play by play announcer on 1010 KIQI San Francisco and Tune In and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
