Making the Call: Learning the Ropes as a Big League Umpire

By April Umminger, USA TODAY

Alex Ortiz dreams of being the most hated figure on the baseball diamond. For him, the rules of baseball are more important than playing the game.

Ortiz, 22, completed a five-week course this month at the Harry Wendelstedt School for Umpires in Daytona Beach, Fla. The school is one of two programs Major League Baseball uses to recruit those who call the game.

There, Ortiz and 100 other aspiring umpires spent six days a week in the classroom and on the field learning techniques that ranged from voice control to the correct way to call a batter out on strikes. Instruction emphasized attitude, instinct and judgment — a crucial skill when interpreting a sometimes-contradictory rulebook written more than 100 years ago.

"I went down there thinking I knew everything about umpiring, and it turns out I didn't know anything," Ortiz says. "I was shocked at how poorly educated I was."

For example, at school Ortiz learned that hands are not part of the bat. If a batter gets hit on the hands by a pitch, it's not a foul ball but a walk to first base. The strike zone isn't determined until a batter prepares to swing, and if a pitch bounces, it's still fair game.

The path to the majors is nearly identical for umpires and ballplayers. Both start playing at the rookie level, then work their way through the ranks of Class A, AA and AAA ball. However, making the majors is less likely for those who judge the game than for those who play it.

More than a thousand play Major League Baseball each year. However, there are only 68 major league umpires and 230 in the minor leagues.

Turnover is also less frequent. Umpires must stay in the game for 20 years to get their pension. It's not unusual for them to stay longer.

"We compare major league umpires to Supreme Court justices. Once you make it to the majors, you set your career," Wendelstedt instructor Brent Rice says.

Rice thinks that instinct is what separates "the good from the OK."

Most students can learn the correct positions on the field. They can be taught how to call a force play, to look at the base, watch for a foot, then listen for the sound of the ball hitting a glove.

But the best umps know they need to move before a play, that with runners on first and second and no outs, a lot is about to happen.

Grades are given during live games with college students and control games with instructors. At the end of the course, the faculty recommends the top 25 students to the Professional Baseball Umpire Corp.

Consider this the seventh-inning stretch.