As a poor college student living at home for the summer, I looked for ways to make extra money. An opportunity to umpire 12- to 14-year-olds' softball games came up. It seemed like an easy enough thing to do.
Boy, was I wrong.
I had played softball from the time that I was eight up through high school, and I try to watch college softball as often as I can. I love softball and felt confident in my understanding of it. I figured that being an ump for these young kids would be no problem.
It turns out that I’m really not the best ump, at least according to some coaches and parents.
I made an honest attempt to make good, fair calls, but I fell short of the perfection they expected from the 21-year-old umpire for the 12- to 14-year-olds' softball games.
I gave a more generous strike zone than might have been necessary. But I did it because young children are terrible athletes. Some girls had a hard time getting the ball across the plate.
If I called a ball that was a little bit outside as a strike, I could always count on hearing a parent or coach scoff at the call. They wouldn’t yell at me necessarily, but I could hear their disbelief. It was like I forgot that their seat from the side of the field was better than mine from right behind the plate.
Sometimes it was hard to judge if the ball got to the mitt before the runner got to the base, and I had to make some judgment calls. Outs were hard to come by and plenty of innings ended with a mercy rule, so I tended to side with the fielder if it was close.
Now you might be thinking, “Wow, you sound like an awful umpire.”
But don’t forget that these girls were 12-14 years old.
I know I made a few questionable calls here and there, but in the end, while I might not have been the best ump, I surely was not the worst. This was a summer recreational league for fun, not the Women’s College World Series. I was trying to be fair, but a blown call wasn't the end of the world.
In the end, I walked away from this experience with a tremendous amount of respect for all umpires, especially those at the higher levels like the NCAA or professional leagues. It’s easy to get upset when they make mistakes, but they’re only human.
While watching the Women’s College World Series, I saw at least three umps blow calls at home plate. They called runners out, and video replay showed the runners were clearly safe. Had the calls not been blown, the games would have completely shifted. Whether the score would have been tied, or the losing team would have gotten another at bat with bases loaded, the umps made game-altering mistakes at the second highest level of softball.
Those were honest mistakes. They called the game how they saw it. As much as we want them to see everything at once, it’s really not possible. All umpires are held to unrealistic standards of perfection. They're humans susceptible to mistakes. We don’t really have room to be upset with them.
Can you honestly say you can do a perfect job? Nobody is perfect.
Next time you go to a baseball or softball game, remember that one bad call does not make an umpire terrible. Also be mindful of the age of the players and level of play. For the most part, umps will be doing their best to make fair calls, but human error is always going to get in the way.
If you want a perfect ump, don’t attend 12- and 14-year-olds’ softball games. On second thought, if you want a perfect official, don’t watch sports at all.
