The summer boys in black. The four most hated guys on the baseball diamond. Six during playoffs.

The people you boo almost as a reflex action.

Yes I’m talking about baseball umpires. While those who call the plays are necessary in all sports you rarely see basketball or football officials booed to the level of baseball umps.

You may not realize that there are almost as may stats kept on umpires as there are on baseball games and players.

So what stats would really count to baseball aficionados and which ones would they need to know? Here are few.

Fun Facts About Umpires

  • If you were the home team this year then you want veteran umpire Gerry Davis behind the plate. Why? When Davis calls the balls and strikes the home team record is 20-3.
  • By contrast the road team wanted Mike DiMuro behind the plate because visiting teams would have a 17-6 record.
  • Are there stats to help you bet on your favorite team based on the umpiring crew? You bet (no pun intended) there are. Check out the Umpire Page.
  • What about umpire stats over several seasons? If you are a real number cruncher then you want cleanuphitter.com. That site will give you umpire stats for the past 8 seasons. For example when Mike Muchlinski is behind the plate home teams beat visiting teams by 1.51 runs per game. I wanna be like Mike.
  • If you are a pitcher you want Kerwin Danley calling the balls and strikes. According to Baseball Prospectus' umpire page Danley has the most friendly strike zone for pitcher resulting in a very respectable 2.80 Earned Run Average (ERA).
  • Umpire Brian Gorman averages 12.57 more strikeouts than walks. He averages 17.9 strikeouts per game. More than any other umpire working more than 20 games this year.
  • Who is the ejector of the year? That honor would go to Bill Miller who ejected seven managers or players this season followed by Dan Bellino with six working first base, and Toby Basner also with six. One at first base and five while working behind home plate.

Some Final Thoughts

Now that baseball has instant replay and super slow motion baseball umpires are being proven right more than they are wrong.

But there are experiments in minor league cities to have computers call the balls and strikes while human umpires will still call outs at the individual basis.

Have a favorite umpire story you’d like to share?

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