Why do major league home plate umpires wear their chest pads under their shirts? It gives them a decidedly Frankensteinian look, and it seems like it would be uncomfortable. Why don’t they wear them on the outside, like the catcher?
They used to. Fashions change.
The inside chest protector was invented by famed National League umpire Bill Klem, who said it gave him more ability to get down low and close behind the catcher.
To elaborate, umps pads back in the day weren’t much more than a kapok filled mini-mattress worn to spread the blow of an errant ball or tipped foul.
I’d bet these days they have light Kevlar, or something similar, to do the same job and better at it to boot. Unlike the catcher they don’t have to take off their armor each inning. Nicely form-fitting and light I bet it ain’t a big deal.
There was a period, IIRC, where the National League umps wore the inside protectors, which allowed them to get down lower, but because they stayed to the batter’s side of the catcher, caused them to grant the pitcher more leeway on the outer corner of the plate, which they couldn’t see as well; the American League umps still used the old-style exterior protectors, which looked like a huge heart-shaped pad, which forced them to stay more upright, so they remained higher and centered. Thus, the difference between the National League strike and the American League strike.
wrong information
I think the under-the-shirt protection gives them more of a detatched, “authority figure” look - and maintaining the appearance of authority at all times is a key aspect of their job - here’s a short quote from a recent book about the world of MLB umpiring, you can find an interesting interview with the author on Fresh Air here.
AL umps used to wear a big “balloon” type chest protector, but they switched to the NL look sometime in the 90’s. Allegedly this affected the strike zones in both leagues, with the AL apparently giving a higher strike, due to the reason put forth in post #3.
Here is a great picture of Emmett Ashford wearing the old American League outside chest protector. The AL went to the inside protector for new umpires in 1977, with serving umpires allowed to keep the balloon if they wished. The last to do so was Jerry Neudecker, who retired in 1985.
Note that Ashford’s balloon protector is more than just a catcher’s protector. The umpire, with his more vertical profile, is in some ways even more exposed than the catcher, and that big of a protector did make it hard to get down and dirty and call the low strike.
Freddy, another interesting thing about abolishing the balloon chest protectors was that it changed the calling of the strike zone.
If you watch a ballgame, every so often they will graphically “show” you the strike zone. Typically, it gets shown with the top being at the batter’s belt line. The real strike zone is from the armpits to the top the knees.
With the old balloon protectors, umpires were more upright and hence the true, higher strike got called. Now, I’ve seen pitches at the batter’s ankles get called strikes. Not to mention, because the umpires were centered and not looking over the catcher’s right shoulder, they could see the actual width of the plate much better.
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Please note that this thread dates back to 2009. Under our current way of doing things, this is better suited to the Game Room.
Moving thread from General Questions to The Game Room.
One important point not mentioned 6 years ago, when discussing the differences between the catcher and the umpire, is that the catcher needs to take his chest protector off and back on several times a game, when he bats. That alone makes it impossible to have an inside chest protector.
The umpire, of course, has no such need, so he can wear it inside a shirt.
Except for
Oops. :smack: