Umpire (baseball)

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Home plate umpire Gary Darling reporting a strike (2004)

In baseball , umpire is a referee for a baseball game. In modern baseball, a game is overseen by a group of umpires, the umpiring crew .

Tasks and positions

Referee squad at the Detroit Tigers / Minnesota Twins game (2008)
Home plate umpire Dale Scott (2008)

Home plate umpire

The chief responsible referee, umpire in chief or home plate umpire , is responsible for the game. He decides on balls and strikes , on fair balls and foul balls and makes most decisions that affect batsmen and runners near the home plate .

Base umpires

The base umpires are designated according to the base on which they are located. There is the first-base umpire , the second-base umpire and the third-base umpire . There is, especially in the lower leagues, the case that the second-base umpire is not used.

The second-base umpire ( Mike Reilly ) at a 2008 MLB game.

Outfield umpires

In the Major League, a left-field and a right-field umpire are also used on the foul lines in the All-Star Game , in the postseason and in the World Series .

The referee team rotates during a season so that all referees play in all positions.

Referee decisions

Unlike American football , a baseball umpire's decision is final. It can only be revoked if the referee consults with his colleagues and reverses the decision.

Since August 28, 2008, it has been possible to decide whether a ball is inside or outside the foul line by repeating slow motion for balls that just pass the foul pole . This practice was first used on September 3, 2008 when Alex Rodríguez ( New York Yankees ) struck the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Since the 2014 season, team managers in the MLB have also had the option of challenging the umpire's decision in certain situations. Here, too, the slow-motion repetition is used and ends either with Call confirmed (decision confirmed), Call stands (decision remains) or call overturned (decision is reversed). For a call to be overturned, there must be clear evidence that the umpire's decision on the field was wrong. It is therefore entirely possible that an actual wrong decision will persist if it is a very tight decision (call stands). A team has the right to one challenge per game and only receives a second challenge if their first challenge ended with a call overturned.

Famous referees

In the Hall of Fame

With most games

(Status: end of game year 2016)

With most seasons

before 1920:

between 1920 and 1960:

after 1960:

(Status: end of game year 2016)

Other notable referees

  • Emmett Ashford (AL, 1966-1970), the first African-American referee
  • Amanda Clement (SD, 1904-1910), first paid female arbitrator
  • Jim Evans (AL, 1971–1999) operator of a referee school
  • John Gaffney (NL, 1884–1886, 1891–1894, 1899–1900; AA, 1888–1889; PL, 1890)
  • Bernice Gera (NAPBL, 1972–1972), first female referee in professional baseball
  • Tim Hurst (NL, 1891-1897, 1900, 1903; AL, 1905-1909)
  • Ron Luciano (AL, 1968-1980)
  • Tim McClelland (AL, 1983–1999; MLB, since 2000)
  • John McSherry (NL, 1971-1996)
  • Jake O'Donnell (AL, 1968–1971) (also referee in the NBA from 1967 to 1995; only referee who was involved in both an MLB and an NBA All-Star Game)

Origin of the word "umpire"

" umpire " originated from the Middle English word " noumpere ", which in turn goes back to the old French word " nonper " (from Latin " non ", "not" and " par ", "pair, counterpart, like"). It therefore roughly means "the outsider who mediates a dispute between a couple" .

The word first appeared in Middle English around 1350 as " noumper ", and around 1440 the spelling " owmpere " was found.

The leading " n " was lost in the period from 1426 to 1427 and the form " a noounpier ", with " a " as an indefinite article, was written down. Around 1475 the " n " was added to the article, the spelling changed to " an Oumper ". Because of this sound change , one says today "an umpire" instead of "a numpire".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Official Rules: 9.00 am The Umpire. MLB , accessed December 2, 2010 .
  2. ↑ Special event selection. MLB , accessed December 2, 2010 .
  3. ↑ MLB Press Release about the start of limited use of instant replay. MLB , accessed December 2, 2010 .
  4. ↑ First use of instant replay in MLB, Sept. 3 2008 at Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg. MLB , accessed December 2, 2010 .

Web links

Commons : Baseball umpires  - Collection of images, videos and audio files