As They See 'Em: A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires

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As They See 'Em: A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires

3.73 of 5 stars 3.73 · rating details · 615 ratings · 101 reviews

Millions of American baseball fans know, with absolute certainty, that umpires are simply overpaid galoots who are doing an easy job badly. Millions of American baseball fans are wrong.

As They See 'Em is an insider's look at the largely unknown world of professional umpires, the small group of men (and the very occasional woman) who make sure America's favorite pastim

...more

Millions of American baseball fans know, with absolute certainty, that umpires are simply overpaid galoots who are doing an easy job badly. Millions of American baseball fans are wrong.

As They See 'Em is an insider's look at the largely unknown world of professional umpires, the small group of men (and the very occasional woman) who make sure America's favorite pastime is conducted in a manner that is clean, crisp, and true. Bruce Weber, a New York Times reporter, not only interviewed dozens of professional umpires but entered their world, trained to become an umpire, and then spent a season working games from Little League to big league spring training.

As They See 'Em is Weber's entertaining account of this experience as well as a lively exploration of what amounts to an eccentric secret society, with its own customs, its own rituals, its own colorful vocabulary. (Know what a "whacker" is? A "pole bender"? "Rat cheese"? Think you could "strap it on" or "take the stick"?) He explains the arcane set of rules by which umps work and details the exasperating, tortuous path that allows only a select few to graduate from the minor leagues to the majors. He describes what it's like to work in a ballpark where not only the fans but the players, the managers and coaches, the announcers, the team owners, and even the league presidents, resent them -- and vice versa. And he asks, quite sensibly, why anyone would do a job that offers the chance to earn only blame and never credit.

Weber reveals how umps are tutored to work behind the plate, what they learn to watch for on the bases, and how proper positioning for every imaginable situation on the field is drilled into them. He describes how they're counseled to respond -- or not -- to managers who are screaming at them from inches away with purposeful inanity, and tells us exactly which "magic" words result in an automatic ejection. Writing with deep knowledge of and affection for baseball, he delves into such questions as: Why isn't every strike created equal? Is the ump part of the game or outside of it? Why doesn't a tie go to the runner? And what do umps and managers say to each other during an argument, really?

In addition to professional umpires, Weber spoke to current and former players including Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Tom Glavine, Barry Zito, Paul Lo Duca, Kenny Lofton, Ron Darling, and Robin Yount, as well as former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent, Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox, Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland, and many others in the professional game. He attended the 2006 and 2007 World Series, interviewing the umpire crews who called those games and who spoke candidly about the pressure of being scrutinized by millions -- maybe billions! -- of fans around the world, all of them armed with television's slo-mo, hi-def instant replay. As fans know, in 2008, a rash of miscalled home run balls led baseball, for the first time, to use replay to help big league umps make their decisions.Weber discusses these events and the umpires' surprising reaction to them.

Packed with fascinating reportage that reveals the game as never before and answers the kinds of questions that fans, exasperated by the clichés of conventional sports commentary, pose to themselves around the television set, Bruce Weber's As They See 'Em is a towering grand slam.

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Hardcover, 352 pages

Published March 17th 2009 by Scribner (first published 2009)

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Feb 10, 2012 Eric_W rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was a FIFA and NCAA soccer referee for eight years, and when I watch a match now I spend more time watching the officials than the players, their positioning, their interactions with the players, their decisions, etc.

“The impetus for this book was a visit I made in January 2005 to the Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring in Kissimmee, Florida, in order to write a story for the New York Times, where I work as a reporter. I thought it would be a lark, a chance to talk baseball rules and ba...more I was a FIFA and NCAA soccer referee for eight years, and when I watch a match now I spend more time watching the officials than the players, their positioning, their interactions with the players, their decisions, etc.

“The impetus for this book was a visit I made in January 2005 to the Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring in Kissimmee, Florida, in order to write a story for the New York Times, where I work as a reporter. I thought it would be a lark, a chance to talk baseball rules and baseball trivia—I’m the kind of baseball fan who has never gotten over his boyhood obsession, who reads the sports page before the front page and pores over box scores as though they were hieroglyphic finds—not to mention a chance to wear short sleeves in midwinter. But what I found there in three days of observing—the whole course of instruction runs five weeks—was weird and intriguing, an amalgam of strict vocational...came away convinced that a land of umpires exists, that it has citizens, laws, and a culture, and that it is exotic enough—both in the context of baseball and the context of, well, the known world—to warrant further exploring. Indeed, the presumption of this book is that professional umpires are an unusually isolated and circumscribed group, sort of like the inhabitants of a remote country that few people have ever visited, and that I am the sociologist who was dispatched to send back word of what life is like there.

Weber is dead on in his description of the attitude of umpires toward the game. Officials really do not care who wins; they care about the game. All officials really want to get it right and anyone who has been an official realizes how little the fans know of the game, some of the arcane rules, and the often subtle differences between high school, college, and professional rules. (A simple example, in high school a player can touch the line with his foot during a thrown-in; in college not. Whether a throw-in is given to the other team if it doesn’t enter the field differs by age group even. And we won’t even begin to discuss the ramifications of the offside rule and how it’s applied.) As Weber notes regarding professional baseball umpires, “But I never saw any umpire do anything that made me question his on-the-field integrity. It bears acknowledging that in 130 years, only one major league umpire has ever been accused of professional dishonesty, and that was in 1882. “The integrity of the game is the umpires,” Doug Harvey said to me. “Nobody else. The entire integrity of the game is the umpires.”

Officials form their own unique clique. They are routinely despised by management, players, and fans so it’s natural they, much like cops, see the world differently.

I’ve always thought it would be great if everyone in fan-dom were required to referee/umpire several games. They would develop a greater sense of respect for what these underpaid folks do (the pay for a minor league umpire is $1,900 per month—for five months—and the pay scale doesn’t exactly shoot up from there. If you prove to be an exemplary minor league umpire and rise from level to level with regularity, you may reach Triple A in six or eight years, at which time, at maybe thirty, thirty-five, or even forty years old, you’ll be making about $20,000 annually.) The myriad mistakes players and coaches make during a game are rarely blamed for a loss. It’s always some perceived error by the ref that’s always at fault. The most vociferous and loudest critics of decisions would never switch positions. A job description for an umpire/referee might read: “If you like having every close decision you make criticized, if you like doing your job surrounded by thousands of people ready to blame you for mistakes other people make, every one of them believing they can do your job better than you can, and if you don’t mind the only response you get for a job done absolutely perfectly being silence, then maybe you would like being an umpire.”

The school, a requirement for anyone ever wishing to even think about becoming a professional umpire, a goal achieved by an even smaller percentage than professional players, lasts five weeks and there are only two that are sanctioned by the major leagues. Above all they teach the rules -- and baseball is filled with bizarre and arcane rules, many of which are explicated here -- and technique. That’s another thing fans never consider: position. We harped on that in soccer referee school. You had to be in position to have the best view and baseball is no different. How you move your feet, where to move your eyes, what to concentrate on. All those things have to become second nature. The school the author attended even focused on how to salute the flag for the national anthem because it helped act like a switch. OK, now the game has begun and the little petty annoyances that might have occurred before the game and might affect one’s attention are put aside.

There was a lesson in this for me, though, namely the difference between calling plays and umpiring. Just having to be in the right place at the right time was intimidating enough, and I was surprised at the energy, both physical and mental, that I had to spend just to keep up. Staying aware of your precise location on the field and knowing where everyone else is as well; keeping in mind the situation and the possibilities for action, both likely and not so likely, these things are energy-sapping. At one point, with a man on second, I was so intently focusing on the pitcher in his stretch and the possibility of a balk that I barely moved."

As FIFA/NCAA officials, we used to have a little mantra. The presence of referees permitted everyone to go home happy: the officials were happy because they got paid; the winning team was happy because they won; and the losing team was happy because they could blame the referees for their loss.

Referees and umpires suffer from inherent contradictions: "Major leagues umpires are driven and aggressive men, goal-oriented and highly competitive, which is why it’s so odd—poignant and odd—that they’ve chosen a profession in which literally they can’t win and figuratively they don’t, in which not only does disappointment always threaten but triumph is almost always bland. Listening to Everitt, I had to wonder when he’d begun to understand this, when any umpire does, and what does he then make of a professional life where at any time the agony of defeat is, in Ted Barrett’s words, just one play away, and where the closest you get to the thrill of victory is getting to the end—of an inning, of a game, even of a career—without ruin."

Probably not a book for everyone but highly recommended for those interested in the culture of officiating (that’s me) or baseball in general (most other people).(less)

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Apr 01, 2013 Mike Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sports

It was a little hard for me to divorce my feelings about the professional umpire establishment from Weber's. For most of the book he takes a very pro-umpire standpoint, but I think his obvious favoritism and occasional mistakes in the details hurt the credibility of his arguments. However, I found the conclusion of his afterword redeeming. With the exception of his stance on replays overturning calls, I think he nailed how baseball needs to improve the quality of umpiring: better pay and trainin...more It was a little hard for me to divorce my feelings about the professional umpire establishment from Weber's. For most of the book he takes a very pro-umpire standpoint, but I think his obvious favoritism and occasional mistakes in the details hurt the credibility of his arguments. However, I found the conclusion of his afterword redeeming. With the exception of his stance on replays overturning calls, I think he nailed how baseball needs to improve the quality of umpiring: better pay and training at the minor league level, statistical rankings on a variety of skills, and more fluid promotion and demotion of individuals matching how players bounce back and forth between levels.
But I do think instant replay has a place in gameplay. Weber thinks using replay to correct calls will eventually eliminate umpires. He uses tennis as an example, but this has not happened in the NFL or any other sport. Umpiring, like officiating in most sports, cannot be boiled down to a set of observations to be recorded. It requires judgements that use skill beyond simply being able to say what happened. The infield fly rule is a perfect example of a rule that will always require umpires (and, yes! They got it right in last year's playoffs!) Weber fails to recognize this and in his nostalgia misses the final piece of how MLB should improve umpiring. Each crew simply needs a member watching the live video feed. They should employ a standard where the video umpire only overturns calls that he can see need overturned in the sequence of play. It must be an umpire because of the judgement and knowledge of the rules required. It's not a matter of being able to go to slow-motion replay to disect every close call. The goal should be to fix the egregious misses that are instantly observed by all and do the most damage to the umpires' collective integrity.
On a side note, I loved the anecdote about Denkinger's conversation with Gene Larkin at the plate before the last at-bat of the 1991 World Series. (less)

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Mar 23, 2012 James rated it 5 of 5 stars

As impossible dreams go, the odds for minor league umpires are significantly longer than those overcome by the 1967 Red Sox. With virtually no turnover at the major league level, even the most competent aspiring arbiters are generally dismissed after 8-10 grueling years climbing the ladder.

Their journey begins at umpire school, where Bruce Weber got to know many dreamers, as well as the more experienced umps on hand to train them. Weber, on assignment for the New York Times, visited the Jim Evan...more As impossible dreams go, the odds for minor league umpires are significantly longer than those overcome by the 1967 Red Sox. With virtually no turnover at the major league level, even the most competent aspiring arbiters are generally dismissed after 8-10 grueling years climbing the ladder.

Their journey begins at umpire school, where Bruce Weber got to know many dreamers, as well as the more experienced umps on hand to train them. Weber, on assignment for the New York Times, visited the Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring in Kissimmee, Florida, four years ago. After writing several pieces for the paper, he became fascinated with the umpiring community and decided it warranted more than he could cover in the Times. Thus, “As They See ‘Em” was born.

Weber returned to the Evans Academy, this time as a student in the school’s five-week program. His 120 classmates included an ex-marine recruiter, a painting contractor, a cattle rancher—men from a wide variety of backgrounds, many looking to start over on a career that paid next to nothing. Six days a week they spent mornings in the class room, followed by an afternoon on the diamond as instructors tested the students with simulated plays to help them master positioning, timing, and knowledge of the rulebook.

The cream of the crop from the Evans Academy, as well as a school run by former umpire Harry Wendelstedt, advanced to an audition for the Professional Baseball Umpiring Corporation. PBUC oversees the progress of minor league umpires, grading them as they climb from rookie ball to Triple-A, where evaluations are taken over by Major League Baseball. Most umpires don’t have many kind things to say about PBUC or the minor league presidents who rule their worlds. Weber recounts a handful of stories from umps who felt pressured to return early to work following injuries or family situations. Current big league umpire Bill Miller received a major league reaming by International League president Randy Mobley after he was robbed at gunpoint in his hotel in 1995. An emotional wreck in the aftermath of that stressful ordeal, he went AWOL, incurring Mobley’s wrath.

Mobley is one of at least a dozen folks who aren’t painted in a flattering light by Weber. It’s a good thing he said all he has to say on the subject, because many of the people he interviewed aren’t likely in a hurry to talk with him again. Many of them were reluctant to talk with him the first time around. Weber found major league umpires especially reserved, though he spent enough time traveling with them that he collected plenty of interesting tales.

One of the more fascinating chapters—of Weber’s book as well as recent umpiring history—deals with the umpires’ union and its suicidal decision to resign en masse in 1999. With the basic agreement governing the umpires’ relationship with Major League Baseball set to expire after the season—and doubting the legality of a strike—union leader Richie Phillips concocted the resignation scheme at a meeting during the all-star break. When the union splintered, the strategy backfired, with baseball accepting the tendered resignations. Many of the men who quit were never welcomed back. Ten years later there are still hard feelings on all sides.

One of the saddest stories of that episode belongs to Jeff Nelson, who recalled feeling bullied by Phillips and some of the veteran umpires. Nelson had just reached the majors after 10 years in the minor leagues. After sacrificing so long to make it, he was suddenly out.

Nelson’s sacrifice was one most of us wouldn’t–or couldn’t–choose to make. For as little as $1,800 a month, aspiring umpires travel the minor league circuit, often in a vehicle they themselves must provide, driving several hundred miles in a day to be cursed and vilified by players, managers, and fans alike. The abuse wouldn’t be worth it for twice the money. Of course, if they overcome the odds and reach the brotherhood in the big leagues, that all changes.

Major league umpires make on average more than $200,000 a season. They travel first class and stay in nice hotels. Their lives are completely different than they were on the way up. But along with the rewards comes tremendous pressure, especially in the harsh glare of the postseason. Weber talked with several umpires who unwillingly became the center of attention for a call made in October. Some, like Larry Barnett, who ruled there was no interference on Ed Armbrister’s bunt in the 1975 World Series, received death threats. And his call was correct.

Imagine how Don Denkinger felt. He blew a key call in Game Six of the 1985 World Series that helped shift momentum to the Kansas City Royals. No St. Louis Cardinals fan is likely to ever forgive him. Denkinger knows now it was the wrong call, and he explained to Weber how the play unfolded, and just how it was that he called Jorge Orta safe at first. Time has helped heal some of that hurt, but you know he wishes he could have a do-over on that call.

Weber’s immersion into the world of umpires resulted in an insider story that most insiders couldn’t share without fear of being blacklisted. “As They See ‘Em” is an entertaining and informative book that will affect the way you look at the judges on the field.(less)

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Apr 28, 2009 Beth rated it 5 of 5 stars

Did you know it's more difficult to become a major league umpire than to become a major league baseball player, based on the number of slots available -- and once someone rises to the majors, he holds onto the position like a supreme court judge? NYT reporter Bruce Weber covers all aspects of umpiring--from myths to history to politics--like an anthropologist, even going so far as to attend one of the two grueling 5-week umpire schools in the country to round out dozens of interviews with hired,...more

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Apr 08, 2013 Marc rated it 3 of 5 stars

If you've ever wondered what it's like being an umpire in professional baseball, this book will give you a good idea of the long hours and serious dedication required to make it to the major leagues. It's filled with lots of anecdotes from former and current umpires, so you definitely get an idea of the umpire mindset. They definitely are a determined lot (after reading what they have to go through to make it all the way, you'll understand this much better) who have an aura of "us v. them" when...more

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Jul 18, 2009 Desiree Koh rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: playball

Baseball fans love the minutiae of logic, the extrapolation of emotion, the magic of the moment and the nudge of nostalgia. And that's why if you love being wedged on a pew in the church of baseball, holy water in a plastic cup and communion with relish on top, you'll really enjoy this book.

Sports reporters can tend to be beautifully verbose and master of the simile, and I love all that. I've never read any of Bruce Weber's baseball writing for the New York Times, but in this book, he sits himse...more

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Jul 27, 2009 itpdx rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

As They See 'Em is not JUST for baseball fanatics. This interesting and well-written account will appeal to anyone with a basic knowledge of baseball. Bruce Weber weaves his experiences at baseball umpire school, umpiring non-professional games and, even, umpiring a few innings of a major league intra-squad spring training game with lots of interviews. He interviewed major league and minor league umps, players, managers, and officials. The stories are peppered with humor and tension. He includes...more

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Jun 09, 2012 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fun-reading, history-and-biography

If you like baseball for the sport itself, if you believe in the baseball codes, if you feel that baseball more than any other sport relies on it's rule enforcers for fair play I think you will love this book. It's main premise seems to be that umpires are thought of by most fans and baseball coaches/managers/ administrators as a neccessary evil and that simply isn't true. Umpires endure rigerous ttraining for very little compensation. This book will show you how diffuclt their job is, the obsta...more

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May 11, 2011 Phyllis rated it 5 of 5 stars

Well, I went into the book as a bit of a baseball umpire fan. I've been fascinated by the people who can best be described as having done a terrific job if nobody remembers they were there. And yet, there they are--every game. Sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes four or six people, covering more of the field than Garry Maddox. (Look it up.)

Bruce Weber writes well and has done a good job of telling the story of the occasionally haughty and often underappreciated men (sigh, Cortesio and...more

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Aug 14, 2012 Jer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sports

Good style, good content. While you read it you really feel sympathy for those guys on the field we love to hate. You end up taking that sympathy to the ballpark with you and start to think sensitively toward the men trying to bring order to the game...until you see that first bad call against your team.

The life of a baseball umpire, from their start at a school through their big league career is well documented here; as is the stiffly competitive environment within their profession. Terrific a...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Jeff rated it 3 of 5 stars

An interesting look at life from the other side of the mask. Weber tells about the struggles through the minor leagues, the abuse from the fans, the average umpire's "us against them" mentality, and even some very interesting perspective from the umpires involved in some of the most memorable and controversial calls in history.
About halfway through the book, the focus turns to the business side of baseball and it's attitude towards umpires, including the ill-fated mass retirement in 1999. This w...more

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May 21, 2012 Tom Gase rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book was okay. Anyone who reads this should have a new respect for umpires, but I already did. What they go through everyday is brutal when you think that the best umpires you rarely hear about because they do nothing wrong. I thought the research in this book was okay, but the book seemed to be all over the place. Some parts with the labor talks with umpires and all the stuff that occured in 1999 was just flat out boring. Still, there are some interesting things I learned in this book, suc...more

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Jan 06, 2012 Jerry Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sport, 2011-read

Thoroughly entertaining account of what it takes to be an umpire in the pros. Basically spends a lot of time on what it takes to make it to the majors and the long (very long) odds of doing so.

What comes across is that umps are certainly no saints but are badly put upon by the league and generally fair game for criticism (sometimes even life threatening!) from fans and managers and pretty much anyone. The overriding question is: "Why would anyone want to do this?" Weber does an excellent job of...more

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Aug 24, 2009 Sebastian rated it 3 of 5 stars

As They Seem 'Em provides some level of insight into an aspect of sport that is often overlooked -- the development, life, history and challenges of umpires in professional baseball. While the book is often interesting, at times it is tediously over-wordy and slow moving. It could probably stand to be edited and slimmed to some extent.

Weber ranges from his own experiences in umpire school, to the wretched lives of umpires working through the lowest levels of minor league baseball, to the compl...more

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Oct 06, 2011 Luke rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a terrific book. Really gives you a sense of the struggle and the burden of being a MLB umpire. Having read the book, I would never dream of pursuing that goal. It's helped me view baseball games in a different light, and I'm trying to be easier on the "men in blue" (which, according to the book, is a moniker they despise). Weber is a funny, self-deprecating sports fan who does a fine job of humanizing the umpire - instead of just crapping on him like most everyone else (myself included...more

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May 06, 2012 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Linda by: Author interview on Fresh Air - http://is.gd/umpire

Shelves: baseball, non-fiction

When Bruce Weber talks about traveling in "the Land of Umpires", he's not merely engaging in creative metaphor for effect. As his excellently detailed book ably demonstrates, the world of umpires and umpiring is something of a closed society, with much of its inner workings shrouded from public view, and like any closed society, what is known about it by outsiders is more mythology and misunderstanding than fact.

Weber's book is as much a guidebook to this world of umpires as it is a travelogue...more When Bruce Weber talks about traveling in "the Land of Umpires", he's not merely engaging in creative metaphor for effect. As his excellently detailed book ably demonstrates, the world of umpires and umpiring is something of a closed society, with much of its inner workings shrouded from public view, and like any closed society, what is known about it by outsiders is more mythology and misunderstanding than fact.

Weber's book is as much a guidebook to this world of umpires as it is a travelogue of his own visit. He describes not only the ins and outs of his training at a professional umpire academy, but also umpires' long slog to recognition up the career track, the interplay between officials and players and on-field staff, and the fraught relationship between the umpires and "baseball", that is, the baseball power establishment, with the conflicts, some more spectacular than others, between umpires and baseball, that have frequently flared up over time. Fervent baseball aficionados will relish the details that Weber provides, but even casual fans will be fascinated by this inside look at baseball from a rare and unexpected perspective.

It won't be surprising that what emerges is a decidedly sympathetic portrait of umpires as a class. But it's deserved. The reader quickly learns of the difficulties umpires face in their chosen career. It's one of hard, generally undervalued work, low pay, constant abuse from fans and disregard, at best, from management. The career path itself is a punishing one, from the daily ignominies of the most junior umpires at the bottom of the minor league hierarchy, to the relative comfort that comes with making it to triple-A life, to the much-wished for perks of the major league, to the ultimate pinnacle of the post-season.

To be sure, umpires are not angels -- there is some legitimately bad behavior that is tolerated, much, again, a result of the closed clubbishness of the job. Also, the lack of racial diversity in the umpire ranks, and the bald-faced opportunism of management in putting a diverse face on the post-season crews, is shameful. And the treatment that the very few women umpires that have come through the staff have faced is nothing short of appalling, a shocking outpost of neanderthalism in the 21st century.

Having said that, though, I gained a new respect for umpires through this book. The professionalism with which they, as a whole, approach their work, and their commitment to protecting the integrity of the game, is genuinely admirable. And no amount of instant-replay or on-field technology can overcome the fact that umpires are indispensable. They are an inextricable part of that amalgam of skill and history, tradition and chance, that beloved drama that is baseball.

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May 12, 2011 Reenie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: baseball, non-fiction

An absolutely fascinating book, which almost - but not quite - could stand alone as an interesting tale of a very weird profession without requiring a reader to be a diehard baseball fan. In the end, I think the details of calling strikes and balls and look back at famous plays and calls would drive you to stick this book at the back of a dusty shelf if you're not the kind of person who would willingly watch 20 hours of Ken Burns & friends reminiscing about ballplayers (err, yeah, that would...more

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Jun 21, 2010 Saxon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Weber delves into the secretive, close-lipped, often overlooked fraternity of baseball umpires. Weber covers everything from the lives single-A umps, the politics between baseball owners and umpires, gender and race barriers that are still a huge factor, umpire school and discrepancies in the rule-book. All of this Weber does in a quick and witty journalistic style that makes this 430+ page book on umpires actually really, really fascinating.

In a way, Weber is a bit of an umpire apologist, defen...more

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Jun 03, 2010 Paul Hamilton rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, sports

There is a key lesson within Bruce Weber's book about baseball umpires, As They See 'Em: The lesson is that no matter how avid a fan of baseball you may be, it is highly likely that you take for granted the arbiters of the game's rules. In fact, there is a telling portion near the beginning of the book where Weber carefully reveals that even lifelong fans of the game aren't all that familiar with the rules themselves.

Of course, because the baseball umpire is ubiquitous both in the pastime of the...more There is a key lesson within Bruce Weber's book about baseball umpires, As They See 'Em: The lesson is that no matter how avid a fan of baseball you may be, it is highly likely that you take for granted the arbiters of the game's rules. In fact, there is a telling portion near the beginning of the book where Weber carefully reveals that even lifelong fans of the game aren't all that familiar with the rules themselves.

Of course, because the baseball umpire is ubiquitous both in the pastime of the baseball fan (casual or hardcore), and in fact is symbolic in its own right as a result of its association with that profoundly American activity, but is often unconsidered the book holds a particular fascination found in the unveiling of the secret worlds behind everyday things we take allow to exist below our fields of view.

Weber is an excellent tour guide in this arena. He covers the ground from umpire as a symbol of authority, umpire as denigrated root cause for the woes of the sports fan, umpire as the unheralded guardians of the integrity of the game, and even umpire as the men (and women) behind the masks. Granted, Weber is sort of aimless in his approach to the subject, preferring to loosely connect a sort of stream-of-consciousness flow that wanders between personal experience (he attended umpire school and subsequently umpired a few amateur and semi-pro games), anecdote, journalism and contextualization.

A lot of the book is devoted to trying to understand where umpires fit into the sports fans' worldview and why: Weber discusses historically significant controversial calls and relates how the umpires involved viewed the incidents as well as providing context for the circumstance itself and the subsequent fallout. There is also a lot of discussion about the trials of becoming a major league umpire and the history of umpiring's often contentious relationship with baseball bigwigs.

What comes through most potently is that Weber, by the time he sat down to write the book, felt a new appreciation for umpires. You get the clear sense that he admires and respects the incredibly, impossibly difficult and certainly thankless job they perform. He stumbles a bit when trying to ask the questions of why someone would want to do this for a living or what it might take to improve their public relations perceptions though he gamely stabs at the subjects. In the end, the irony is that it seems (for me at least) umpires really just needed a light shone on them to illuminate what they do and what their value is to baseball. My perception of the game is changed, perhaps subtly, but definitely for the better.(less)

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Aug 25, 2009 Amanda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: baseball

Stellar book. Well-written and fascinating. Weber attended the Jim Evans umpiring school in Florida and did extensive interviewing and research in an effort to bring fans inside the life and mind of a Major League umpire. I don't think reading this book will get anyone to go easier on umpires in the heat of the moment, but it will certainly help you after the fact when you think about what it is they do, exactly, without help from slo-mo television cameras and countless replays of every moment o...more

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Mar 20, 2010 Stephen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: baseball, non-fiction

I have to confess, I picked this book up mostly because it sounded vaguely interesting and I was starting to get a serious jones for the upcoming baseball season. My intention, more than anything, was to quickly skim through the book, reading only sections of interest and pick up a few interesting tidbits and maybe a funny anecdote or two.

What I ended up with was something else entirely. Weber does an excellent job of quickly making you realize that you don't know the first thing about umpiring....more

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Sep 02, 2010 Nathan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nashville-library

This is, in the purest sense, a book about baseball. Or rather, it's a book about baseball in its purest sense. Weber knows his audience and his subject equally well, conversing naturally and easily in the unique idiom of baseball. His style is a product of his subject; this isn't much better or worse, stylistically, than your average Sports Illustrated article. Lucky that the handling of the subject material could easily carry this book. It will make you appreciate the qualities that make baseb...more

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Mar 10, 2009 Vince Darcangelo rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviews, nonfiction

This review originally appeared in the ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

As They See ’Em: A Fan’s Travels in the Land of Umpires

Nonfiction. By Bruce Weber. Scribner, $25. Grade: B

Book in a nutshell: For the past 25 years, Bruce Weber has graced the pages of the New York Times, writing obituaries, critiquing books and theater, discussing sports and explaining, once and for all, that he’s not that Bruce Weber (the big-shot photographer).
This Weber gets behind the plate with his new book, which, just in time for...more This review originally appeared in the ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

As They See ’Em: A Fan’s Travels in the Land of Umpires

Nonfiction. By Bruce Weber. Scribner, $25. Grade: B

Book in a nutshell: For the past 25 years, Bruce Weber has graced the pages of the New York Times, writing obituaries, critiquing books and theater, discussing sports and explaining, once and for all, that he’s not that Bruce Weber (the big-shot photographer).
This Weber gets behind the plate with his new book, which, just in time for Opening Day, explores the secret society calling the balls and strikes for the boys of summer: umpires.
Perhaps the most hated figure in sports, the umpire has an unenviable job. So what would possess one to choose this career path?
There are many reasons, as Weber learns when he attends umpiring school and meets with former and current umpires. Wealth and respect are not among them in a profession where to be noticed usually means living in infamy after a blown call at a critical moment.
Weber briefly inhabits this insular world and discovers a unique breed of men for whom adjudicating the national pastime is a passion bordering on self-loathing obsession. Some call umpires a necessary evil. Others call them names unfit to print. Weber finds them to be hard-working, dues-paying dreamers who get no respect—and aren’t too far off from being a cult.

Best tidbit: “Is there another line of work—prison guard, maybe?—where the workplace is so steeped in hostility? Or where being right is no defense against attack? For most of us, an argument is something out of the ordinary and something that we try to win, but umpires go to work expecting to be derided and disdained.” (97)

Pros: The book is filled with great sports anecdotes, from death threats to famously blown calls to Matt Holliday’s controversial play at the plate in the 2007 “play-in” game between the Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres.

Cons: Weber attempts to tell three stories in this book: his first-person account behind the mask, the travails of minor-league umps and the history of umpiring. At times this was confusing, and the historical sections were often dry and repetitive.

Final words: Readers will walk away with a newfound appreciation for the men in blue.
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Jul 24, 2009 Robert rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was an eye-opener for me. Weber does a great job explaining all the different things that umpires need to do while working a game. A lot of stuff that I never realized, and will now cause me to try to actually watch their movement as gameplay takes place. It is rare to hear umpires speak candidly but you get a fair amount of that in here too, especially about the famous umpire walk-out that cost a bunch of umpires an early retirement and a loss of years on their pension. Weber's attempt to...more

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Jun 22, 2009 Stan rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is quite intresting, and pretty depressing. It shows the umpire's lot, especially below major league leavel, as being absolutely awful. And by the time they make the majors, the umpries seem like a bunch of maladjusted egotists. I read it with a combination of fascination and disappointment. But it doesn't make me like baseball any less! If you're a hard-core fan, interested in behind the scenes, it's worth the read.

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Aug 16, 2009 Dawn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, knowledge-nf

Very interesting and well-done. I'm a casual fan of baseball, but I never really gave much thought to the umpires, both as people and what they actually do. I have much more respect for them after reading this book.

Parts of the book were a bit too detailed. I was hoping the author would move on and cover something else. The last chapter especially should have been broken up into a couple of chapters, or some of the umpires' stories should have been left out. For the most part though it combined...more

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Mar 30, 2011 Joann rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. After getting to know a couple Umpires during our Spring training Trips, it was really interesting to see just what goes into becoming a MLB Ump. Weber's writing style is easy to read, at times laugh out loud funny. It was also nice that this was not a "tell all", sordid gossip had no place in this book. I was surprised at how quickly I got through it, and I was actually a little sad it ended.

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Aug 29, 2009 Ty rated it 3 of 5 stars

At first I thought this book was a waste of time, but Weber makes a good case that even the most rabid baseball fans know almost nothing about umpiring, despite the fact that umpires are at the heart of the game. As a baseball nerd I enjoyed the different perspectives on famous incidents (Robby Alomar spitting on an ump, George Brett rushing one in the Pine Tar game) but I doubt most folks will love this book.

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Sep 05, 2010 cheeseblab rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An insightful, sympathetic account of what it is to be one of the men in blue, looked on as a necessary evil by fans, players, managers, and even the baseball administration. Weber went to umpiring school, then spent a chunk of a season with minor league umpires as well as interviewing many who made the long, arduous climb to the bigs (some only to be broken on the wheel of labor-management strife).

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Apr 19, 2010 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Really engrossing... until it isn't. This is a nice look at a baseball subculture, frequently ignored even by the 'heads, but once Weber delves into the minutiae of the game itself... BORING. Interesting for the personalities, but learning the mechanics of what to do in the top-half of the seventh with runners on first and third and a left-handed hitter at the plate with two strikes and... you get it.

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