I’ve wondered this for a while, and only now remembered about it while actually in a position to post the question.
How is it possible for an umpire to be unbiased in a call during a baseball game? It seems that someone who likes the game so much would have a favorite team they would be biased towards - or at least have some preference as to who he’d like to see win.
I know some calls are black and white and there is really no room for misjudgement. But there are plenty of potentially game changing calls (is the base stealer out at second, or was the tag a hair late?) where everything happens in a split second that it’s hard to believe that they actually get the call right most of the time (based on the instant replay you can see on TV).
Umpires are unbiased (more or less) the same way judges are. That’s their job. They get paid pretty well (on the major league level) to be unbiased.
Some umpires, like some judges, may be bad and may look biased. However, I think there are probably many, many, many, many more cases of judges being accused and convicted of corruption than an umpire being accused of such.
I believe in major league history, only one umpire has ever lost his job for corruption and that was back in the 19th century. Some umpires have lost their jobs for being too closely involved with gamblers, but no official corruption was ever proved.
I umpire in all levels of ball from Division 1 down to 10 & Under, and I can tell you that in my experience it’s too much trouble to be biased against one team or the other. You’re trained from day one to call what you see. You practically blurt out the call without thinking about it. Furthermore like it was mentioned above, we’re professionals, and our avocation is officiating. I’m not going to risk cheating on a game matchup it probably took me years to get assigned to otherwise it wouldn’t be worth cheating on!
Now that I’m on my soap box on that, let me say I would agree that there is probably unintentional bias that occurs. For example if a coach is on my ass from the first pitch, and doesn’t let up, then starts asking for help on a call or something else, I would imagine it might be tougher to get that call if the umpire is defensive from having his ass chewed all game. On the other hand, if I’m dealing with a coach who shows some decorum, knows how to call time and ask for help, I’m going to be more apt to give it to him because I won’t think he’s trying to beg a call.
Let me end this by saying… I always go to my partner for help if I feel the situation merits it… even if the request is coming from a coach who’s been a dick the entire game.
Philadelphia Phillies’ pitcher Randy Wolf’s brother is an umpire. He is allowed to umpire games when his brother pitches, but he is not allowed to be the home plate umpire.
Catcher Tom Haller (late 1960s-early 1970s) brother was an AL umpire and he was not assigned to games involving his brother after Orioles manager Earl Weaver complained.
Wrestling ref checking in. I hope I’m not overstepping myself, but with the international styles there’s quite a bit of subjectivity as well as the split-second calling involved in baseball, so I think I can offer something here.
It’s only hard to be unbiased at first. As Enright3 mentioned, as you get more experience the calls start coming almost automatically or by reflex. You see it, you call it, and… this isn’t good, but sometimes I’m working so automatically on the mat that I can’t immediately recall the situation to explain it to an irate coach who either doesn’t understand the rules or is just trying to get me to favor his kid.
There’s a big problem with younger refs being biased against kids on their own team. There’s a shortage of good refs and so if we get one who wants to learn, it’s pretty much inevitable that he’ll work a match with one of his teammates in it. Because they don’t want to appear biased, the close calls go against their teammates.