Oct 28 2009
How To Improve MLB Umpiring: More Collaboration Among Umpires
If Major League Baseball and its umpires want to receive less flak from fans and media, the crews on the field need to discuss difficult plays more often on the field. When plays are confusing, or the vision of umpires are blocked, they need to ask if another umpire had a better angle and to help with the call.
This doesn’t work at all for bang-bang plays, or even for calls that are blown when the umpire is in position, but a short conference can help arrive at the correct decision for a difficult call. It isn’t an embarrassment to ask for help. It’s a mistake not to ask for it.
Example: Why didn’t Tim McClelland, a crew chief who is considered one of the best umpires in the game, call a conference to help him with the two New York Yankees runners at third base during the recent playoff series with the Los Angeles Angels? Looking down the line, you would think that the home plate umpire would have seen that Robinson Cano was not on the base.
A conference might have led to the right call. Instead, McClelland did not discuss it with his crew members and Angel fans who saw the replays on the television screens throughout the stadium rained the field with boos.
The objective is to get it right and if talking it over for a minute results in the right call then they just need to talk it over.
