* Bruce Weber offers a safe bet for an outstanding look at umpiring

April 10, 2009 · 1 comment

Would baseball fans want a world in which all the calls on the field could be made by Questec-type devices or the Cyclops machines used in tennis? Are umpires part of the game or outside it? Are they, as one baseball personality suggested, pieces of human equipment, like bases: necessary but not thought about that much.

Bruce Weber took more than a year to look for the answers in his new book As They See ‘Em: A Fan’s Travels in the Land of Umpires (Scribner). He enrolled in umpire’s school and conducted scores of interviews, discovering that the life is not a happy one, at least not on the way up. The training is stressful, as they learn not only the rules and the myriad interpretations, but also the mundane but essential practice of how to position themselves to make the call. The handful who graduate into the professional ranks have a long, arduous journey ahead of them, hoping to one day land one of less than 80 spots in the majors. In the meantime, they have to deal with low pay, poor working conditions, and a decided lack of respect which comes not from he layers, but from their own employers.

Weber spoke to the Bookshelf recently about the process of putting his project together.

The book came out of an assignment he did at the behest of the education editor for The New York Times. “I didn’t even know there was such as thing as umpire’s school,” he said. A long-time fan of the game, he quickly he learned he didn’t know much about the men who maintain order on the diamond.”I thought, if I’m surprised by this, a lot of other people will be, too.”

I was watching the Cubs-Astros game the other night. There was a bang-bang play at first base and the umpire called the runner out. The replay, however, clearly showed he was safe. Before I read As They See ‘Em, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought (after all, it’s not as though the call came against the Mets), but now, I don’t think I’ll ever watch a game quite the same. Weber’s is one of the best baseball titles of 2009 so far, and one of the best about the lot of an umpire, period.

Here’s the interview:

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