Pro Baseball Umpires Work Hard to Keep Cool

Painful Overtime –

On April 12, a match between SK and Samsung, which ultimately ended in a tie, 1-1, in the 12th inning, continued for four hours and 14 minutes. A total of 11 pitchers from both teams threw 372 balls toward their respective catchers.

Such a day is as painful to umpires as to players. They have to pay attention to every ball for over four hours.

The plate umpire wears a steel mask, a chest protector, and shin guards as well as a holder with seven balls. These armors weigh four to five kilograms.

Kim Poong-ki, a 100-kilogram umpire, said, “On a hot summer day, I lose two kilograms during a game.”

Training Continues after Season Ends –

There are 48 pro baseball league umpires, ranging from a 26-year-old beginner to a 52-year-old senior. They are all former baseball players.

Umpire Chief Kim Ho-in used to be a player of Hankook Cosmetics, a business team, and then of Sammi in 1982, when the Korean pro baseball league was inaugurated.

He said, “I toured as an umpire from 1987 to 2005. I could not leave because of my affection for baseball.”

A game has a team of five umpires, including one ball umpire and three base umpires. The extra umpire replaces the ball umpire, whose job is most exhausting, on the next day’s game.

Umpires have a break only in December and January. Even after the pro league ends, they have to tour training camps to practice umpiring.

Retirement Age of 57, Team Chiefs Receive 80M Won –

Umpire school for candidates is held at Seoul High School for one month every November. The candidates learn the basics of umpiring, rules, and the sense of instant judgment. Every year sees about 200 applicants, but only one or two pass the exam. Even after passing, they have to umpire in the minor league for some time before advancing to the major league.

Umpires make an annual contract and retire at the age 57. A beginner receives about 20 million won, which rises to 30 million won when he umpires in the major league. A team chief with a 10-year career receives 70 to 80 million won.

Each Umpire with his own Gestures –

Each umpire makes a different gesture when a hitter strikes out or gets out in his run toward home plate. The basic gesture involves lowering the right hand in the direction of the mound. Some umpires shake their hands toward the hitter, lift their hands upward while twisting their bodies, or stretch their hands toward the first base. These gestures show their personalities.

One Mistake may Lead to Lifelong Stigma –

The strike zone was changed this season; it was shortened horizontally and lengthened vertically. This makes it harder for umpires to judge the boundary between a strike and a ball and between being out and being safe. Their judgments are sometimes protested by the other team and by spectators. A hitter or pitcher who commits a mistake can make up for it the next game, but an umpire’s mistake follows him like a stigma.

Kim said, “An umpire is a human being. He cannot make perfect judgments 100 percent of the time. He only tries to be as fair as he can.”

beetlez@donga.com