You Be the Ump

[DocTee]

Today's New York Times has a cool interactive game. I got 5/7 correct. Tell me how you did:





https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/sports/baseball/umpire-pitch-ball-strike-game.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/sports/baseball/umpire-pitch-ball-strike-game.html

[Ceetar]

I got 5/7. interesting little thing.

[kcmets]

4-7, I was robbed on the Seaworld pitch but thasah baseball...

[MFS62]

IIRC, a You Be the Ump- type question used to be a regular feature on one of the old baseball mags. Baseball Digest?



OE: The one in BD was a rules interpretation ("If a batted ball hits a penguin in the outfield, is the batter out?") type of quiz, not interactive.



Later

Edited October 27, 2022 by Guest

[Benjamin Grimm]

I got four correct. Was told I need to spend some more time in the minors.



This thing shows a three-dimensional strike zone. I think I read that the robo-ump only sees a two-dimensional strike zone, a vertical plane at the front of the plate. I hope that's not true.

[cal sharpie]

6 outta 7 for me. Perfect til the last one.

[Edgy MD]

Paul Sewald and Joe Musgrave fooled me.



I should've had Musgrave's pitch correct, but I lost my confidence and flipped my call.

[TransMonk]

cal sharpie wrote: 6 outta 7 for me. Perfect til the last one.

Me too.

[Fman99]

Got em all. Missed my calling apparently

[Edgy MD]

There's this weird misunderstanding that the text of that interaction perpetuates, suggesting that umps do well because they get 93.8% (or some similar figure) of their calls correct according to computer analysis. But is this an impressive figure? My assumption is that the greater amount of these calls are grossly obvious.



If 75% (for the sake of argument) of calls are obvious balls making the catcher dance or right-down-the-pipe strikes for which the catcher doesn't move, then their umperial expertise is only really needed on 25% of the ball-strike calls. Suddenly, that 6.2% that they are missing isn't 6.2 out of 100, but 6.2 out of 25, or 24.8% wrong, and that's not a figure that inspires confidence.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I got 6 of 7 and should have swept but thought thrrecwas a trick question on pitch 3

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

cal sharpie wrote: 6 outta 7 for me. Perfect til the last one. Me too.

Me as well.

[Methead]

7 for 7



Thought I needed new glasses but based on the results of this exam, I'm fine

[kcmets]

I'm too conditioned to umpire with a catcher in front of me. I need him

to move balls into the strike zone for me because we all know it isn't where

the baseball crosses the plate but rather where the catcher moves his mitt.



I hope MLB takes that into consideration if and when moving to robots.

[A Boy Named Seo]

4/7. I booed myself.

[Centerfield]

5 of 7. But I took like way to long to make the calls. If I had to call it immediately I'd be just guessing.



I've had to do it a few times. For me, it's impossible. When I'm not making the calls, I think I'm pretty good at calling them in real time. The minute that responsibility falls to me, I can't see a damn thing. Every close play becomes a blur and I'm basically guessing.

[The Hot Corner]

I got 4 of 7. I apparently don't don't give pitchers the high strike. Both of the letter high strike I called a ball.

[Edgy MD]

Remember when the high strike was the province of the American League and the bottom of the knees belonged to the Senior Circuit?

[Benjamin Grimm]

I remember there was a theory that it had something to do with the chest protectors that AL ump wore.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

The burgundy unis belonged to the AL

[Edgy MD]

Other differences:

• National League home plate umpies wore their chest protectors under the shirt or jacket, while ALers had the big foam shield. (I might have that backwards, but I don't think so.)


• One circuit routinely positioned the second-base ump on the infield grass on one knee, just inside the dirt, and the other kept him behind second, near the outfield grass.

This may be my prejudice, but the National League ump roster was full of bigger characters with more authority, who were less likely to indulge arguments, tossing the manager and walking away early in a dispute. American league umps were more likely to go jaw to jaw with the managers for a few minutes (as if Billy Martin or Earl Weaver were somehow going to calm down as you heard them out), and these umps wouldn't toss them until a few minutes in after there was a bump or a line-crossing word, which was pretty much always "**********."

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: Other differences: National League home plate umpies wore their chest protectors under the shirt or jacket, while ALers had the big foam shield. (I might have that backwards, but I don't think so.) One circuit routinely positioned the second-base ump on the infield grass on one knee, just inside the dirt, and the other kept him behind second, near the outfield grass.

You've got the chest protector thing correct. As Grimm noted, that the AL umps used the big shield prevented them from crouching as much as their NL counterparts and, therefore, was

seen as the origin of the low-strike/high-strike gap.

Don't remember about the 2B ump but that may be correct.

This may be my prejudice, but the National League ump roster was full of bigger characters with more authority, who were less likely to indulge arguments, tossing the manager and walking away early in a dispute. American league umps were more likely to go jaw to jaw with the managers for a few minutes (as if Billy Martin or Earl Weaver were somehow going to calm down as you heard them out), and these umps wouldn't toss them until a few minutes in after there was a bump or a line-crossing word, which was pretty much always "**********."

Keith swears to this day that the NL had the better umps in his day and going back to before it as well, both in the nuts and bolts area as well as general deportment.

Not sure how universal/provable/testable that theory is but one of the reasons behind the '90s era umpire movement when many would openly admit that they didn't call the rule book strike

zone was that MLB had no right to control them because they weren't hired by MLB they were hired by either the AL or the NL and therefore weren't answerable to the commissioner's office

as Selig sought to complete the slow-motion merger of the two halves.

Still not sure why they thought a mass resignation was a good strategy for fighting their battle but, safe to say, it didn't work and wound up making Sandy Alderson a very happy man.

[DocTee]

Umpire Pat Hochberg called a “perfect game” last night



All 89 of his called balls and all 40 of his called strikes were accurate per stat cast

[Frayed Knot]

btw, one of the ways they've been using ROBO-UMP in the Fall League (and at least some of the other minors) is as a challenge system. The HP Ump still calls balls and strikes but the pitchers and batters in the game -- and ONLY them -- have a total of three challenges each where they can question the just made call. The result is then shown on the video board 'Tennis style' and that graphic is used to overturn, or not, the call.



Not sure that this will be better than just turning it over to Robby Robot entirely. But maybe it's the transition folks need before they'll accept it.

[Edgy MD]

If there's gonna be review, I certainly prefer the challenge made on the field without first calling the replay guy in the dugout.



Of course, the likelihood of the batter or pitcher getting a signal to challenge from somebuddy with quick access to video review (or statcast data) is high.





Congratulations to Hockberg though. That's kind of great.

[Gwreck]

It's Pat Hoberg. He also had a game earlier this year where he missed only 1 pitch, and was rated as one the very best all year. Good to see performance rewarded with the WS assignment.

[Edgy MD]

Good to see that the guy is so good at what he does and we get his name wrong twice.