Two Views on Umpires' Threat to Resign

Letters to the Editor:

Two Views of the Umpires' Threat to Resign

Mark:

For five years, I went to spring training in Florida with the New York University baseball team. We played games at the Cocoa Beach facility originally owned by the Astros, but not privately owned. The Brinkman baseball umpire school was located at the facility; so we used umps who had passed their tests and were waiting to be assigned to various "A" baseball minor leagues. I attended some of their "public" training sessions and watched how they were graded (by major league umps; and videotape).

These umps were very professional (almost mechanical), young, athletic (in tremendous shape), and ready to work in a system that would take them years to make it to "AAA." I also know some umps who worked at the "AA" and "AAA" levels. I also am very friendly with a pro football referee who does NFL in Europe, arena football, and Big East football games. The NFL screens referees very carefully (including background checks on financial data, large cash deposits into checking accounts, etc.).

There is a pool of talent ready to jump to the major leagues. Overall, their ability to call a regular season game would be acceptable. They might have trouble in playoffs and the World Series because of the pressure.

Each year major league baseball calls up between 1 and 6 new umps (expansion has helped). So a normal influx of personnel take place.

I think Major League Baseball (MLB) will try to break the union and use replacement umps. The fans at a recent Yankees game I attended booed the umps; so fans couldn't care less, at least now.

Baseball survived the Black Sox, the Boss, and bad commissioners. It will survive with new umps. In fact, it might be good for the game to get the unathletic, sometimes indifferent umps out of the game.

Albert Greco

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Hey Mark,

I enjoy perusing your zine. The umpire situation particularly interests me because I spent nine years doing public relations for a labor organization. In case you're having trouble falling asleep at your desk, I thought I'd put in my two cents.

From a tactical standpoint, I think the umpires have announced their collective suicide. Unless they would be perfectly happy to retire en masse, I don't believe they have any muscle to back up their threat, and clearly, neither does the power structure of major league baseball.

Moreover, from a public relations standpoint the umps have picked particularly inauspicious issues over which to "strike." (This is, in effect, a strike threat. As you know, an employer may permanently replace strikers, just as MLB may permanently replace the umps.) The public doesn't know or care about whom the umps report to and they believe the union is acting in a knee-jerk manner in its support of Tom Hallion. Obviously an umpire should be suspended for bumping a player or coach just as the player or coach should be suspended for bumping an
ump. You have noted other PR problems facing the men in blue.

If you listen to Sandy Alderson's uncharacteristic nasty talk, it's clear that baseball believes it has the power to bully the umps. And that is the underlying problem here.

I don't believe this dispute is about Robby Alomar or strike zones or league presidents or Hallion's suspension. It's a cry for respect from a group that has been ignored by MLB all decade. Instead of tough management tactics, MLB should be sitting with the ump union and
listening to their grievances. MLB needs to show the umps that they're an important part of the game, that their efforts and talents are appreciated, and that MLB takes them seriously.

I have seen employees go on strike for money or other tangible benefits when all they really wanted was respect. It's made me think how much trouble and money management could have saved by simply listening.

Waldo@albany.net