I’m asked all the time, “How did you get started?”
It’s simple. I was forced into it.
In 2013, I decided to try my hand at managing a Little League baseball team. It seemed like something fun to do in my spare time. How hard could it be? Fill out a lineup card, make some substitutions, and teach the kids everything you know about baseball. If they can play with the same knowledge of the game as I have, we should rack up the wins. Well let’s just say it’s not as simple as that.
At my local league, all managers must umpire for the other age group. Yet again, I foolishly thought to myself, “This should be easy. I know the rules and the strike zone”.
I quickly learned there was a whole lot more to this umpiring thing than meets the eye. The finer details of officiating a game, such as uncommon rules and positioning, are usually over looked by the average fan. However, once I got a taste of it, I couldn’t stop going back. This was the best seat in the house, and I wanted it for as many games as I could get.
After that first season, I gave up coaching to focus on umpiring. Over the next 7 seasons, I’ve done my best to study the rule book inside and out as well as fine tune my mechanics. Becoming an umpire has probably been the best thing that could’ve happened to me as a fan of the game. I now look at the play on the field in a whole different perspective, and being knowledgeable of even the most rarest of rules allows me to enjoy the game without getting upset with the umpires. Believe it or not, professional umpires get the call right almost every time. You just have to see it the way they do
The Umpire Strikes Back 