Quotes About Umpires

Most of the umpires, it's amazing: 98 percent of them will not hold a grudge. I always felt a couple of them did. I never wanted to argue with an umpire in my life.

I told the umpires to walk back at least thirty-five feet from home plate. That reduced the arguements.

As all of us with any involvement in sports knows, no two umpires or no two referees have the same strike zone or call the same kind of a basketball game

In all my years of play, I never saw an ump deliberately make an unfair decision. They really called them as they saw 'em.

I cannot for the life of me see why the umpires, the only two people on a cricket field who are not going to get grass stains on their knees, are the only two people allowed to wear dark trousers.

I've heard it said that umpires are necessary evil. Well, we are necessary, but we are not evil. We are hard-working and dedicated people whose primary interest is to make sure the game is played fairly. We are the integrity of the game.

I'd always have grease in at least two places, in case the umpires would ask me to wipe one off. I never wanted to be caught out there with anything though, it wouldn't be professional.

Baseball should adopt replay, plain and simple. If we can see it at home or on hand-held PDAs, the technology should be used in games.

Don't park in the spaces marked, "Reserved for Umpires."

Our noise for some seconds passed beyond excitement into a kind of immense open anguish, a cry to be saved. But immortality is nontransferable. The papers said that the other players, and even the umpires on the field, begged him to come out and acknowledge us in some way, but he never had and did not now. Gods do not answer letters.

It'd be better if they had the same guys in there looking at video for all 162 games," Narron said. "I think it was [Chicago Cubs manager] Joe Maddon who said, 'A bunch of nerds in there would do a better job.' I definitely trust the umpires, but when you're in there every day, it's an advantage.

I cannot for the life of me see why the umpires, the only two people on a cricket field who are not going to get grass stains on their knees, are the only two people allowed to wear dark trousers.

They are supposed to be dispassionate dispensers of Pure Justice, icy islands of emotionless calculation. In short, umpires should be acute Republicans.

I don't think you can set up a computer to do a strike zone on a guy who's 6-foot-5 and then a guy who's 5-8. Where does it draw the line? One guy stands tall, and another squats down, and it changes the lines. Nah. I still love the umpires; they do a great job. I don't have a problem with any of that.

The trouble with women umpires is that I couldn't argue with one. I'd put my arms around her and give her a little kiss.

Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules. They apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules. But it is a limited role. Nobody ever went to a ballgame to see the umpire.

Remember when John Roberts was seeking confirmation of the Supreme Court, and he said judges should be just like umpires, just calling balls and strikes? Well, turnabout is fair play. What baseball needs behind the plate are umpires like those judges who are called strict constructionists, which means you follow subtle law to the letter.

Look, the umpires behind the plate? They're human. They're doing the best they can to try to call balls and strikes. I understand that there's a lot of calls that kinda are 50-50. They can go either way. And as a starting pitcher, you try to manage, 'Alright, if you didn't get that call, maybe you'll get it again here a few innings later.'

I made a game effort to argue but two things were against me: the umpires and the rules.

Umpires, like players, are expected to show constant improvement each season and at each level. Inconsistent plate work and the inability to handle situations are probably the two biggest problems that minor league umpires face.

Most umpires are good about letting the argument go, but you can only go on for so long, or go so far. If you don't leave it alone after a minute or two, you're in trouble. They want to keep the game moving, so they've got to throw you out. I had trouble leaving it alone, I guess.

I just loved officiating, and I hope what I did helped make it better. That's what I tell young umpires: you can have fun. I never spent a day where going out on a baseball field didn't make me feel better.

The integrity of the game is the umpires. Nobody else. The entire integrity of the game is the umpires.

First of all, you want umpires to call what they see. In the case of fair or foul, the smartest thing is to call the ball fair. Because if it's called foul and ruled fair, where do we put the runners?