In writing my Wednesday column on bringing the designated hitter to the National League, it brought back some thoughts I had previously had and notes I had previously written on the Major League umpiring system.
Mike Petriello at ESPN Insider wrote a great piece on why instant replay is working. Through September 4, over 500 plays were overturned. That is not a small number of calls originally made incorrectly. One has to think whether having replay since it was technologically possible to have replay would have changed pennant races and playoff games. One also has to wonder why umpires have been struggling to get the call right.
The biggest reason to me is when I ask myself, “What is the incentive to attempt to be a Major League umpire?” On it’s face, the question is easily answered. They earn around $120,000 when they start out in the majors, and can earn upwards of $300,000 after they become more and more experienced, according to a 2009 CNN story. That is good money, especially for a job that has you directly involved in the outcome of major sporting events. Umpiring in and of itself sounds fun, and lucrative once you get to the higher levels.
Now this is where the original question I posed becomes a bit more interesting. Just like Major League Baseball players, umpires have to move through the minors and prove themselves before they can get to call to the show. So, how hard is it to move through the minors? According to the “How to Become an Umpire” section of MLB.com and the Director of Umpire Administration, Tom Lepperd, it usually takes seven to 10 years in the minors to eventually become an umpire in the Major Leagues.
Here is an excerpt from the “How to Become an Umpire” post I previously referenced:
Altogether there are 68 umpires in the Majors, and 225 in the minor leagues. With the small amount of openings and the low turnover, Fitzpatrick said it’s very difficult for an umpire to make it past the minor leagues.
“From attending umpire school through making it to the Major Leagues, there’s very, very few umpires that actually make it to the Major Leagues. It’s a long shot,” he said.
That’s from former Professional Baseball Umpiring Corporation director Mike Fitzpatrick. That group is responsible for training, evaluating, promoting, and retaining umpires. The fact that the direct of the entity responsible for everything and anything umpire related is essentially saying “you have next to no chance of making it to the majors,” has to be at least a bit disconcerting for anyone actually aspiring to become an umpire.
And this is what causes an issue in the supply and demand of quality umpires. This gig is a career. You cannot do this and have some other full time job you are working towards. Maybe you can do something on the side, like Joe West’s country music singing, but for the most part you are an umpire and that is essentially what you are banking on being for your career. They have to work odd jobs during the offseason to make ends meet, as the minimum for umpire wages in the minors is between $1,900 and $2,600 per month, but anyone who is aspiring to be in a serious career understands that taking five months off to travel around and umpire would seem less committed than their peers. It is difficult, and by that I mean impossible, to be an accountant, an attorney, a business owner, a finance professional, etc if you are taking half the year off.
On the plus side this leads you to have a very committed group of people aspiring to be umpires. On the downside the league misses out on likely many more talented individuals who just are not willing to sacrifice the low wages and risk it takes to become a major league umpire. This is not to say that the umpires who make the Major Leagues are not talented – it is to say that they have not been put against the top competition. I am sure many who have all the skills and qualities to be a successful Major League umpire also realize that you have almost no shot to make it to the majors and you will be sacrificing potentially a decade of your life to even have an attempt at one day making it.
It is not to say that people aspiring to be umpires are insane people to take this sort of risk with such a low shot of the return actually paying off, but it is to say that many who would love to pursue this career and that are potentially more skilled than the incumbents are likely far more risk averse and potentially even more rational.
Fixing replay is a good start to making sure the calls are made correctly on the major league level. The next step is for the league to take a good hard look at this system and see if it is the most advantageous way to acquire the right talent that will make the calls right the first time. Length of games is an issue, and if the umpires are getting it right the first time and avoiding replay, everyone wins. Maybe it means paying the umpires more as they advance through the minors, or maybe it means having a better structure that does not require a decade of service before a very talented umpire can make it through the system, but putting a band aid on an increasingly gaping wound rarely works. If the league wants to focus on the integrity of the game being upheld to the standard it wants, I believe umpire reform is needed sooner rather than later.
