I have never been and umpire and although I have had my fair share of interactions with the over the years I confess that understanding them fully has eluded me. A few days ago I saw some really interesting interactions that I will call "The tale of two catchers" For whatever reason the home plate umpire selected a day with 45 degree temperatures and 20 mph sustained winds to have an extremely tight and at times inconsistent strike zone.
Catcher 1 began by freezing boarder line pitches and allowing the umpire to make the call. Almost all went against his team (3 walks in the first inning) and so (being right at the backstop) I could hear as the catcher began to look over his shoulder and say to the umpire "little low blue?" and the umpire would nod..."missed out didn't we?" and the umpire would nod. In the second inning he froze all obvious strikes but stopped freezing close pitches and just tossed them back to the pitcher and he stopped asking the umpire. Third inning through the end of the game he began to start the freezes more and more to the corners and by the fourth was back out to the original freeze point but now getting almost all going his pitchers way.
Catcher 2 began freezing boarder line pitches with the same results. He began to shake his head...then after one pitch was called a ball (looked almost perfect from behind the plate) he stood up and looked at his dugout and threw his hands in the air. As the game went on his frustration as well as his coaches grew and grew until they were groaning or making gestures at nearly every call.
The more calls catcher 1 got the more upset catcher 2 and his coach became. So here is the crux. I do not believe that the umpire had any intention of treating the pitchers or their team or the coaches differently or unfairly. I believe at the end of the game he would have been adamant that he called the zone the same for either team. Sitting behind the plate I know that although the zones started the same as the game progressed they did in fact differ.
I grew up in the Earl Weaver kick dirt on the Umps shoes when you were upset and at the professional level I never saw those tactics help or hurt the Orioles. My question is...In HS and lower level baseball today where we live in a kinder and gentler world and the umpires are part time and vary in training and skill do the negative or demonstrative reactions of players and coaches ultimately hurt rather than help the teams?
