Baseball Umpires Endure Despite Thankless Tasks, Low Pay, Fan Abuse

By Bruce Haring

They are underpaid, have to travel, have responsibility for their own taxes and equipment, and most importantly, are subject to a lot of abuse about their judgments. 

Yet umpires continue doing their profession for the love of the game. And they hope that spectators eventually realize that having an organized game relies on them just as much as the players and coaches.

It’s becoming harder to recruit umpires, as well as football and basketball referees. Many of the old-timers who were on the jobs for years are aging out, and the pandemic shot a big hole in their ranks. Add in the spectator abuse, low pay, and volatile scheduling, and it’s not hard to see why those who do accept the role do it out of a love for the game. 

Ken Kelly is a brand-new umpire, a 37-year-old from Kansas, Oklahoma, working junior high and high school games in Arkansas and Oklahoma.He investigated umpiring as a way to earn money after a family vehicle had an expensive repair, but there was also something more. “I love baseball and played a bunch as a kid – I wanted to figure out how to get back into it. Not good enough to play adult leagues, coaching doesn’t pay, so I decided to try umpiring.”

He has a common complaint about the profession. “The biggest thing is it’s easy to be an armchair coach or umpire, until you are responsible for managing the game. A lot don’t realize, as an umpire, it’s not just calling balls and strikes, you have to know a situation before it unfolds,” citing fly balls that require making sure runners tag-up as one circumstance.

He adds, “It’s easy to call balls and strikes from the protection of the stands. Now you are responsible for (everything) and a plethora of (everything) – it makes it a lot harder.”

DIFFERENT RULES

John Crosser, a 37-year old umpire from Brevard, Florida, has umpired at the college and professional level for independent ball. He also has worked travel baseball and has a business that assigns umpires to tournaments, Space Coast Umpires.  

”My story is pretty common in the umpiring world. I had a friend who was a youth rec league president and they needed an umpire. It was a lot of fun, and I said, ‘where can I go from there?’  

Crosser slowly worked his way up, doing high school and college ball. “Obviously, every league has different rules. What you see on the big league TV is not the same rules or even the same game that little Johnny plays at eight-years-old.”

He hopes that fans wake up and realize that the sport “lost more umpires due to negative fan interactions more than anything else. There’s a  huge shortage. The statistics are actually very shocking.”

Combine the spectator abuse with the fact that “we don’t get paid enough for the job that we do,” and that explains the umpire shortages. Crosser noted that umpires only get paid if the game is played, with most fees set at $50 per game.Add in the costs of travel, equipment, taxes, uniform, and it’s sub-minimum wage. He recalled a recent game delayed 12 hours by lightning strikes, but he only received a single-game fee.

That’s why many umpires do it as a hobby, he says. “Umpires are doing it because it gets them off the couch and gives them something to do.”

THE BIG-LEAGUE PERSPECTIVE

Marty Foster spent 24 years as a MLB umpire and 12 years in the minors, retiring three years ago. The now-61-year-old Foster of Beloit, Wisconsin, started his umpiring career as a summer job.

He first became an umpire in the summer between college, doing kids games. He says the money was decent, as he worked three-four games each weekend. But he wanted to umpire at a higher level, so he went to the Joe Brickman Umpire’s School in Cocoa, Florida. He graduated No. 1 in his class, which led to his first assignments in the minor leagues, starting in Rookie Ball and moving up to Triple AAA.

After years of minor league assignments, Foster was starting to believe his MLB shot would never come. Then came a call from the American League, who needed him in Detroit the next day.

Foster blames spectator confrontations for the umpire shortage. “I read about parents confronting young umpires. I feel bad for the kids. They’re just trying to umpire a game.”

Foster says he understands their frustration. But “unless you can volunteer, just be happy someone is out there umpiring your game. They’re trying.”