Before Balls and Strikes, Umpires Make a Call to Pray

But on a day-to-day basis, umpires are among baseball’s most isolated figures. Increasingly removed from an era in which umpires were often men with hard-charging lives, some of them haunted by war, the full-time umpiring staff of today includes just 76 men who travel the country in crews of four and keep a distance from the players and managers they govern. Their lives can feel like blurs of airports and fastballs and hotels and brightly lit ballparks, punctuated by calls home to their children and hollers from the dugouts.

Their spiritual traditions can serve as anchors, with the lessons and lives they find in Scripture showing them a way forward on the field and away from it.

“Jesus would have been a great umpire because he wasn’t a milquetoast where he would have allowed himself to get run over,” Barrett, who has been the officiant at some umpires’ funerals, said in an interview in Chicago. “You see him standing up to the Pharisees. He would have been able to give it right back on the field.”

He paused and smiled.

“Of course, he would have been perfect.”

Would “Robot Umpires” Reduce Discrimination? Measuring Racial Bias in Major League Baseball Umpires

Utilizing thirteen years of Major League Baseball pitch-tracking and play-by-play data (all the data that is publicly available), this study investigates racial discrimination by umpires when making pitch calling decisions.

Bottom line?  White umpires show a statistically significant bias towards white hitters and pitchers.  Black umpires a smaller level of bias, Hispanic umpires a small reverse bias.

Controversial call at home plate gives Phillies 7-6 win over Braves

The Philadelphia Phillies escaped Truist Park with a slight win on Sunday night.

Yet many watching at home, and even the Atlanta Braves, were confused with what appeared to be a missed call in the ninth inning that pushed the Phillies to their 7-6 win.

Phillies shortstop Didi Gregorius hit a fly ball to shallow left field in the top of the ninth inning, which prompted Alec Bohm — who doubled and then made it to third off a bunt — to break for home to try and take the lead.

Braves left fielder Marcell Ozuna made the catch and threw home to catcher Travis d’Arnaud. Bohm, after sliding in around the tag attempt, was called safe.

Though the call looked solid at first glance, replay showed that Bohm’s foot appeared to miss the plate completely.

Alec Bohm is ruled safe live despite that his foot did not appear to actually touch the plate…the play was reviewed and upheld to give the Phillies a 7-6 9th inning lead pic.twitter.com/ySTQts8Dmb

— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) April 12, 2021