In Umpire Quotes Two we explore more quotes from umpires. These quotes should help the baseball umpire understand the difficult task umpires contend with.
“The Umpire must be quick witted. He may not, like the wise old owl of the bench, look over his gold-rimmed glasses, inform the assembled multitude that he will “take the matter under advisement,” and then adjourn the court for a week or two to satisfy himself how he ought to decide. No, indeed. He must be johnny-on-the-spot with a decision hot off the griddle and he must stick to it, right or wrong-or be lost.”
A. G. SPALDING
1911
“Any time I got those “bang-bang” plays at first base, I called them out. It made the game shorter.”
TOM GORMAN
“One of the really wrong theories about officiating is that a good official is one you never notice. The umpire who made that statement was probably a real poor official who tried to get his paycheck and hide behind his partners and stay out of trouble all his life. Control of the ballgame is the difference between umpires that show up for the players and the managers.”
BRUCE FROEMMING
“They expect an umpire to be perfect on Opening Day and to improve as the season goes on.”
NESTOR CHYLAK
“Fans and players boo and abuse umpires, but there isn’t one umpire in the history of baseball who has ever been proved guilty of being dishonest. I’m very proud to have been an umpire.”
GEORGE PIPGRAS
I’ve been hit with mud balls and whiskey bottles, and had everything from shoes to fruits and vegetables thrown at me. I’ve been hospitalized with a concussion and broken ribs. I’ve probably experienced more violence than any other umpire who ever lived.”
JOE RUE
“If they did get a machine to replace us, you know what would probably happen to it? Why, the players would bust it to pieces every time it ruled against them. They’d clobber it with a bat.”
HARRY WENDELSTADT
“That’s what it means to be an umpire. You have to be honest even when it hurts”
DOUG HARVEY
“Umpires are like Republicans–dead to human feelings.”
GEORGE WILL POLITICAL COMMENTATOR
“Umpires are most vigorous when defending their miscalls.” (no picture available)
JIM BROSNAN
“He’s so slow that you could take sequence photos of him with a Polaroid camera.”
RON LUCIANO (ON JOHN MAYBERRY)
“The pay is good, it keeps you out in the fresh air and sunshine, and you can’t beat the hours.”
TIM HURST
“An umpire doesn’t eject a manager or player, they eject themselves. They know exactly what they can say and who they can say it to. So when somebody is thrown out, he has either completely lost control, or he intended to be run.”
ERIC GREGG
“The bigger the guy the less he argues. You never heard a word out or Stan Musial or Willie Mays or Roberto Clemente. They never tried to make you look bad.”
TOM GORMAN
