How to Become a Major League Umpire

Major League umpire spend years climbing up the ladder before they get rewarded with a plum assignment.

Becoming a Major League umpire is a tough job. While players have a difficult time advancing up the ranks from amateur, high school, college and the minor league levels to get to the big leagues, so do umpires. To climb the ladder to the top, umpires have to be able to endure a tough physical grind, must know all the rules and know how to stand their ground.

Instructions

1. Umpire youth league baseball games. These leagues for players who are age 10 and above offer many individuals who are interested in umpiring a taste of what it is like. While the competitive level is not very intense among the young players, it is once you start umpiring games involving teen-age players. Umpires get a taste of running pressure-filled games and can make a determination if they want to go further.

2. Get certified by your state high school association and start umpiring games at the high school level. Give it one or two seasons to see if this is what you want to do. High school players are fighting to get drafted and win college scholarships. Coaches need to win to keep their jobs. The pressure is high, and the baseball is high quality. If you can thrive in this environment, you have a chance to move on.

3. Study every aspect of the baseball rule book. This is the bible for umpires. You need to know every nuance of the rules, when to apply them and how to enforce them. You have to know the difference between rules such as interference and obstruction. When a baserunner runs into or gets in the way of the fielder, that is called interference. When an infielder who is not involved in a play blocks a runner from going around the bases, that is obstruction. The umpire has to understand these rules.

4. Enroll in the Harry Wendelstedt or Jim Evans Schools of Umpiring in Florida. Umpires who pass the rigorous tests at these two schools get offered minor league umpiring jobs. It's still a long way off, but you have to work your way up the minor leagues -- Rookie, Class A, AA and AAA -- before getting the call up to the major leagues. If you make a call that hurts a particular team, you have to be prepared to defend your call. You can explain why you made the call once, but then the argument must end. If the manager, coach or player does not act respectfully, you must impose discipline by throwing that individual out of the game and helping the game to proceed.

5. Enjoy your job. Umpires would seem to have a stressful job. Concentrating on every pitch when you are behind the plate is not easy, while being a base umpire requires you to pay strict attention even though you may go through several innings without having to make a call. This is not easy. However, to do this job, you must live it and love it.

References

• Minor League Baseball: Umpires
• MLB.com: Rules

Resources

• Major League Umpires: Umpire Schools