BASEBALL
EDITOR: SCOTT TITTRINGTON
stittrington@referee.com
RULES, MECHANICS, TECHNIQUES
SO YOU SAY YOU WANT GAMES? Make Your Assigners’ Life Easy and You’ll Stay Busy By Jon Bible
If he wants to continue to receive a solid schedule of games, umpire Santana Tafoya of Albuquerque, N.M., knows he must not just take care of business on the field. He also has to prove his value to the assigners who decide which umpires work which games.
66 | REFEREE October 2021
spent years as an umpire assigner from Little League to major college and, of course, I worked for my fair share. All have pet peeves and most have the same ones. I’m sharing some today because I’m not sure that all umpires know what they are. First, a few words about assigners. Most of those I’ve known were fair, but not all of them. Some had favorites to whom they gave the best games. Some ran things like a fiefdom. Some charged fees for assignments. A couple who were still working on the field held back newer umpires with potential whom they saw as threats. I hired two such up-and-comers in a collegiate conference in which I was coordinator, and both made the College World Series. They needed a break and weren’t going to get it locally. So you need to figure out who you’re dealing with. Attitude matters. In one college game I asked a young umpire to switch with a crewmate with a health issue and take the plate. He grudgingly said OK but made a big deal of the fact he had worked one of the teams from behind the plate three times that season. I thought fine — if you want to balk, I’ll ask someone else. Another crew member — a veteran with years in pro ball — said no problem (good answer). When he heard about this, the younger guy said he’d do it, but I said too late — I had asked someone else and, by the way, he switched without complaint. Was I trying to send a message? You bet. I didn’t expect people to kiss my rear, but it did bother me when someone did something I asked them to do or accepted an assignment
VICTOR CALZADA
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