Men in Blue:
They're Out There Watching

Dylan Bumbarger

Now I know how the producers of all those Amy Fisher movies felt.

Here I thought I'd come up with a great idea - evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of umpires. No one else had that idea!! I'd be telling you stuff no one else would!!

By now, you may have read the April 21 edition of Baseball Weekly. In it is an article titled, "The Umpires: Zoned Out - Or on the Ball?", in which anonymous major league players rate the umpires. It says a lot of the things I had planned to discuss, including:

- The fact that the NL strike zone is much, much wider, but the AL strike zone is much higher, probably because AL umps used to use the balloon chest protector.

- John Hirschbeck has a NL-style strike zone.

- Today's umpires are not more confrontational than those of previous years (Bill McGowan was suspended three times, once for throwing his indicator at a player, and he still made the Hall of Fame!!)

It's a very good article. I bought BW for the first time in six months because of it. Here are some things in the article that I think stand out:

- Highest-rated in the American League were Richie Garcia, the ump in the Jeffrey Maier game; John Hirschbeck, whom you probably know about; Tim McClelland, the umpire in the Pine Tar Game; and John Shulock, who was a replacement when the umpires went on strike in 1979.

- Ten years ago, Sports Illustrated rated plate umpires while discussing the shrinking strike zone. Jerry Crawford was rated as one of the five worst NL umpires. In the BW article, he's rated as one of the five best. Bruce Froemming in the SI article was rated as one of the five best; in the BW article, he's rated as one of the five worst.

- Durwood Merrill. He's not thought of as a great umpire, but everybody likes him. He has a new book out, and Ken Griffey, Jr. wrote the foreword.

One problem I have with the article is that it combines strike zone judgment with on-field rapport with the players. Jim Joyce was rated in the top 5 in the AL, although I've never been impressed with his strike zone. The comments about him were all about his rapport with the players.

Still, it's a very good article, and I'll be referring to it a lot.

Recent Observations

- I've watched only one NL game closely so far this year, the Braves-Phillies game with Maddux versus Schilling on April 10. The strike zone of Greg Bonin (pronounced bo-NAY) was wide even for a NL umpire that night. Using the strike zone I'm used to, I kept track of the ball and strike calls I disagreed with. Over about seven innings, there were zero ball calls I disagreed with, and 23 strike calls. Two calls (a ring-up job on Scott Rolen, and a pitch to Rico Brogna) had to be at least a foot outside. He was consistent for both teams, though, and Schilling recorded a 1-0 win. The amazing thing was the hitters barely complained at all. Do they expect this type of strike zone? Something to think about when watching games involving Maddux, Schilling, and Greg Bonin.

- I thought Don Denkinger had an inconsistent game Sunday (Seattle-Boston at Fenway), with Tim Wakefield pitching for Boston. It looked like he was having problems calling Wakefield's knuckleball, than struggled trying to keep the same strike zone for Jeff Fassero. Keep an eye on this when watching games involving knuckleballers.

Ejections of the (First Two) Week(s)

- Boston at Oakland, April 2: Derryl Cousins ejected Rickey Henderson after a called third strike.

- SF at Arizona, April 3: Angel Hernandez ejected Devon White for disputing called third strike in the first inning. The BW article said Hernandez had a "hot-temper" reputation.

- Pittsburgh at NY Mets, April 6: Frank Pulli ejected Bobby Valentine over a balk call. Bobby Jones threw to first while John Olerud was heading back to the bag after moving in for a bunt. The umpiring crew ruled that Jones was throwing to an unoccupied base, thus the balk. Can anyone explain the point of that rule? I'll talk about balks in the future, along with a listing of which crew has called the most.

- St. Louis at SF, April 12: Paul Schreiber ejected J.T. Snow after calling Snow out on a play at the plate. I saw the play on "Baseball Tonight", and it looked like a good call.

Feedback

I want to hear from you. If you have comments about an umpire, intelligent or otherwise, even if you just want to rant about him missing a call, drop me a line. I'll quote it verbatim and give you all the credit, especially if it's terrible.

Dylan Bumbarger still doesn't have his own mailbox, which surely must be the fault of strikethree.com's evil editor. Write to him anyway at letters@strikethree.com, but don't get too mad at the editor, who will be reading the mail first.

 

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