Top 10 illegal items seen at umpire sightings at the plate? These baseball cards and even more baseball themed collectibles have been seen on the field.
10. Bat gloves – Some umpires in this list of the worst baseball umpires in the majors have been ejected for wearing gloves while working.
9. Baseballs – We’ve been told by several sources that the only rule a professional baseball umpire can be removed for is using a baseball as a weapon to hit an umpire.
8. Baseball bats – One umpire has been ejected from a game after fans reported he was waving the bat around his leg and then using it to remove pebbles from his shoes.
7. Batting helmets – There’s one umpire who not only wears a batting helmet while umpiring, but had a security guard ejected from a game for not taking off his helmet and then called him the worst umpire in the game.
6. Balls – The batters have been told in the past to be careful where they throw the balls on the field in front of a certain umpire. Many times, the baseball hit in front of the umpire just disappears or goes crazy so that the batter is given a warning.
5. Bats – The same bat that hits an umpire in the ribs can also be used as a weapon against an umpire.
4. Pitch clocks – The clock that’s been installed in some ballparks so that umpires can judge how many seconds remain on a pitcher’s time limits is not an easy thing for them to manage. It sometimes confuses and even annoys umpires while they are working the game.
3. Umpire equipment – In an attempt to help the umpires, umpire equipment has been designed with a lot more in it for them to use. It’s the little things that have been installed.
2. Baseball hats – Umpire must wear baseball hats to show they are official baseball personnel.
1. The Baseball – Yes, the baseball is the worst thing that an umpire can be hit with by a player. It’s just one of those things that happens from time to time that should be dealt with properly.
The best place to check for an umpire who may be going the wrong way with the head and hand signals is by going on YouTube and checking the news clips.
“The other day, during the All Star Game, one of the home plate umpires made a serious mistake with the signals. He gave some of the home team players the wrong signal when they were at bat. For some of these players, they really felt it. It’s possible that the same umpire can be at fault for both the Boston and Kansas City incidents. The umpires, after all, are human. Sometimes, the stress just gets to them. It also brings into question whether or not baseball umpires should get special medical treatment during the game. After all, a lot of the players are playing right through injuries. For example, Alex Rodriguez came back from a very long injury, only to injure his other shoulder a couple of years ago. In all fairness, the umpires should have an insurance package like the players have, but somehow that doesn’t seem right. After all, these are the same guys who keep telling everyone that they are the best and that their hands are tied if it comes to calling a game unfairly.”
These are some of the things that the players say and some of the things they think. You can read through the comments, but we found these below to be the more popular comments on the topic that we have seen.
“The best part of the whole story is that after he was hit, the umpire went back to the plate and said, “sorry, but I didn’t see it.” He didn’t miss a call, he missed a head.”
“It’s clear the umpires don’t have enough time to think through the game situation and call it fairly. He is looking at the scoreboard. How much time does he have to think about it?”
“The one thing about today that made me mad and surprised me is that these guys who are umpiring, they have the best seat in the house. They can see where the pitch hits the catcher. They can’t see the pitcher’s eyes on the first strike, on the third strike. They can’t see when the ball is fouled off the plate. Most of them have vision and you’d think that they’re umpires, but when they go back to the old days where umpires were blind, they couldn’t hit. They don’t have that today.”
“The umpires do not seem to know their stuff and some don’t even know the strike zone and are not calling it and taking up all their time with “who’s up, who’s down.” But they don’t seem to be human.”
“As you said, they really do NOT think of themselves as human. To some extent, they may not have a choice.”
“I like that umpires are supposed to be human. You could see it when the umpires did a double switch on Sunday to get the right guy in to pitch. The umpires were having trouble with the players (including me) switching positions and they had to change us out like they do with the rest of the people.”
“I think that the job of an umpire is a very dangerous one, especially the part where they have to judge where the ball comes out. They have to judge which way it’s going and most of them have trouble remembering which umpire is responsible for which part of the field.”
“I have never been a fan of baseball umpires, but I know their job is difficult.”
“Baseball umpires are not allowed to take medication like us regular people, but I think that would help. It is so time consuming and boring.”
“I think umpires should only be able to use a gun for a certain amount of time. No more than ten hours if I am reading this correctly. Otherwise, I can see them not knowing what to call and making a bad decision.”
“A regular everyday umpire is going to have the same chance as me at getting the baseball, yet only me should be a “good” umpire or should be hired to work.”
“I’d like to see a real hard minimum on how many games you can call.”
“There are baseball umpires that have a tough time and should not be forced to work a long game, just because they were a umpire in the past.”
“It is possible that umpires will begin to take up smoking, maybe chewing tobacco like the players.”
“The umpires are not just going to get on the internet to see how their fellow umpires did in their game. They’re not going to see if they did things correctly or even if they made the right call. They are going to see how bad the other team was and how good their team was. It’s human nature. They are going to start believing that they are doing a good job for the good of the game, or something like that.”
“The umpires are the ones making the calls that are the difference between a hit, out, foul, safe, etc. The umpires should have a lot more control over how things go. I think their stress level would go down tremendously.”
“We don’t need umpires making bad calls when it comes to umpiring in the game. It doesn’t make sense to bring them back to a different era when baseball was not as fast and players’ bats were wooden.”
“I am starting to wonder if the umpires do deserve these perks.”
“I don’t know why any more baseball umpires are being hired. There is no way they will make less mistakes in any position than they would be in baseball.”
“It seems like the fans never get to see the bad umpires or the umpires that have a problem at their job. Or we just don’t get to see that video.”
“My opinion is that baseball needs a system where you do not have those who suck and those who don’t. That’s the system baseball works with now. I think baseball should come up with a fair system to ensure that every umpire has a similar number of bad calls in each game. The good ones are called better and the bad ones are called less.”
“I think that there should be umpire rotations. One group can go one half of the games, and another group can go the other half. And that way, the umpires are given a chance to sit at home and look at their mistakes.”
“Baseball really needs to find a way to punish umpires when they make bad calls. I’m tired of hearing when a bad call is
