In almost every sport these days, referees and um- pires come under heavy crit— icism by almost everyone in- volved, especially the spece tators. ,The Cadre suspects that most'people have forgot- ten the purpose of the refs eree. Therefore, with thanks to The Michigan High School Athletic Association Bulletin, Mr. Charlie Ballem, And Mr. Craig Albert, we offer this most thought prOvoking art— icle. By Denny_Warrick, g Watertown, South Dakota.
Donald Jenson was acci- dently struck on the head by a thrown bat while umpiring a little league game last ‘spring in Terre Haute, In- diana. \ _\
He continued to work the game, but later that evening was placed in the hospital by a doctor. -While being kept overnight far observations, Jensen wrote the following' letter: I "Dear parent of'a Little
Leager: ' '
"‘I am an umpire. I don't do it for a living. but only on Saturdays and.Sundays for fun.
1 "...I've played the game, coached it and watched it. But somehow, nothing takes the place of umpiring. Maybe it's because I feel that deep down I'm PROVIDING A FAIR CHANCE FOR ALL THE KIDS TO PLAY THE GAME WITHOUT DISAGREEMENTS AND ARGU- 'MENTS.
there is still something that bothers me about my job . . . Some of you folks don't under- stand why I'm there. Some of you feel I'm there to exert authority over your son. For that reason, you often yell at me when I make a mistake, or encourage your son to say things that hurt my feelings. "How many of you really understand that I try to be perfect? I try not to make a mistake. I don't want your son to feel he got a bad deal from an umpire. _ , "Yet no matter how hard I try, I can't be perfect. I
"With all the fun I've had,‘
It"s*~How Youl’luy. the Game um.
counted the number of Calls
I made in a six—inning game today.The total number of de- cisions, whether on balls and strikes or safes and outs .was 146. ‘
"I tried my best to get . them all right, but I'm sure I missed some. When I figured out my percentage on paper, I could have missed eight calls
._today and still got about 95 percent of the calls_right . . . in most occupations that percentage-would be considered excellent. If I were in school, that grade~ would receive an 'A' for sure.
"But your demands are higher than that.Let me tell you more about my game today.
". . . There was one real close call that ended the game
. a runner for the home team was trying to steal the plate on a passed ball. The catcher chased the ball down and threw to the pitcher covh ering the plate. The pitcher made the tag and I called the 'runner out. .
"As I was getting my equip-
ment to leave I overheard one. of the parents comment: 'It's too bad the kids have to lose ’the games because of rotten umpires. That wasfone of the
lousiest callsuI've\ever seen.‘
"Later, at the concession stand, a couple of kids were telling their friends,'Boy, the umpires were lousy today. They lost the game for us.'
"I felt just terrible when-I got_home. Here was a group of kids who had made alot of mistakes: which had cost them a number of runs.
_ "The purpose of Little' League is to teach baseball
skills to young men. Obviously,
a team which does not play well in a given game, yet is given the opportunity to blame
.chance to take all responsi-
bility for the loss from their
shoulders. "A parent or adult leader
who permits the younger player
'to blame his failures on an
S .
'E'N G“I N E'E R
IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING CONTACT THE:- L
P.0.Box 1090,
\
MINING DEPARTMENT,; NOVA SCOTIA TECHNICAL COLLEGE;
HALIFAX. N;s;‘BEJ 2x4
MINING
umpire, regardless of the qual- ity of that umpire, is doing 1 the worst kind of injustice to that youngster .«. . Rather ‘ than learning responsibility, such an attitude is fostering an improper'outlook toward
_the ideals of the game itself.
This irresponsibility is bound to carry over to future years.
"As i sit here writing '
‘this letter I am no longer as
upset as I was this afternoon. I wanted to quit umpiring. But, fortunately, my wife reminded me of another situation that occured last week.
"I was umpiring behind the plate for a pitcher who pan— tomimed his displeasure at any call on a borderline pitch that was not in his teams favor. One ebuld sense that he wanted the crowd to realize that he was a fine talented
\player who was doing his best
~to get along, but that I was a black-hearted villain who was working against him.
‘The Cadre,,March 30, I976, page 9
{counts
"This kid continued for two innings . . . while at the same time yelling at his own players who dared to make a mistake. For two innings the manager watched this. When the kid returned to the dugout to bat in the top of the third, the manager called him aside.
"In a loud enough voice that I was able to overhear, the lecture went like this: 'Listen, son, it is time you make a decision. You can be an umpire, an actor, or a‘ pitcher. But you can only be one at a time when you are playing for me. Right now it is your job to pitch. And, you are basically doing a lousy job. 7
""Leave the acting to the
_actors, the umpiring to the _ umpires,.or you won't do any ‘
pitching here. Now what is it
~going to be?’
"NeedleSs to say, the kid
zontinued on page ten
that loss on an umpire for one 2 call or two, is being given ther