Umpire School 101

What is "umpire school"?

Believe it or not, baseball umpires don't grow on trees. And contrary to popular belief, they also don't come from homes for the blind. All professional umpires (NOT REFEREES), aka the individuals you see working in the Major Leagues, Minor Leagues, and independent baseball, are trained and developed through umpire schools, of which there are only 3 in the world, all located in Florida. Graduates of professional umpire schools also populate the ranks of college and high school baseball. In fact, umpire schools are perhaps the only specialized school for sports officiating that exists. The training and curriculum consists mainly of rulebook study, mechanics of working home plate and the bases, and game & situation management.


Why in the world would anyone want to go to a school for umpiring?

Yes, it's true. Some people go to umpire school so they can hide from the January winter and spend 5 weeks in Florida. What else is better than spending 5 weeks around baseball, sunny days, and sandy beaches or Disney World? (No, seriously, what is it? Do tell me if you know because I don't want to miss out)

But out of the 100+ students who attend each school per year, the vast majority are there to chase a dream, the dream of working in the big leagues. While the odds of actually making it to the Major Leagues are slim to none for even the best students due to the few number of jobs available and long arduous process of "up or out" in the Minor Leagues, eager and optimistic candidates show up at the schools' doorsteps every January for this 5 week "interview." As for the rest of the students? They are mostly there to become better umpires or to enable themselves to work higher levels in amateur baseball. Learning from the best in the business certainly helps in that regard. Thus, despite the different goals, all the students who attend umpire school tend to be self motivated individuals who have a passion for baseball and a love of umpiring.


What happens at umpire school?

The first thing that umpire school does is to ground their students. Regardless of the amount of experience a student may have, umpire schools will start everyone from scratch and mold them into lovely JELLO shapes the type of umpire expected at the professional level. Think of it as a boot camp, in which all things umpiring including mannerisms and the way to signal safe and outs become standardized. Part of this is to make the evaluation of students easier by taking subjective elements such as style out of the equation. The other is to eliminate bad habits that students may have.

In addition to classes and lectures held daily, homework and quizzes are given on a frequent basis (OMG, it's like a real school!). Afternoons and evenings are spent in the batting cages or on the field, practicing plate stances and on-field mechanics and techniques,while applying the rules and concepts learned earlier in class. Once the basics are mastered, students are tested on complex and complicated umpiring and rule situations by having to rule on them live in the field through simulations and live games. Students are also taught proper situation and conflict management (not so much this, but this and this) through role-play. Even mundane tasks that a professional umpire must handle, such as filling out an ejection report (see, there's paperwork; ejections aren't as fun as they seem), are practiced to perfection.


Hopefully, this provides a decent overview of umpire school. The attached chart might help as well (applicable for 2012). And if that's not enough, video samplings of what school is like one and two.

Any other 101 questions to answer?