Top 40 Umpire Quotes

Most of the umpires, it’s amazing: 98 percent of them will not hold a grudge. I always felt a couple of them did. I never wanted to argue with an umpire in my life.

Our students learn more in 30 days than one could learn in 30 years without our training. To really maximize your potential as an umpire, you need to get a solid foundation as soon as you can.

When asked what he was fighting for, General Washington, in writing to General Thomas, said the object was ‘neither glory nor extent of territory, but a defense of all that is dear and valuable in life.’ He must have been an umpire. That’s what umpiring is about.

No one respects the umpire’s job more than I do; but, if I were a manager, I would probably be ejected three or four times a season fighting for my team.

Chemistry is really about two people who like to act together, I think. It’s like tennis in the most cliched way. It’s like if you hit the ball, they hit the ball back, and they don’t hit it into the stands, and they don’t put the ball in their pocket and walk off – and they don’t argue with the umpire, you know?

You had to pitch in and out. The zone didn’t belong to the hitters; it belonged to the pitchers. Today, if you pitch too far inside, the umpire would stop you right there. I don’t think it’s fair.

As we all know, Cooperstown is the home of baseball. One of the many duties of the home plate umpire is to make sure that the runner touches home. Well, if you’re a true baseball fan, you need to visit Cooperstown. This is home.

I was a great base umpire, but I was the most mediocre plate umpire to ever come into the major leagues.

There was something special about watching a manager and umpire both convinced they were totally right, but knowing that one had to be wrong. As an ump, those moments made my job fun, and getting ‘nose-to-nose’ was part of my job description.

I want you to know that I am one of the more fortunate people in life. There aren’t too many of us that somebody selects and says, ‘You know, that guy ought to be an umpire.’ That’s what happened to me.

Whoever has not experienced the pleasure of taking a young lady to her first game of ball should seize the first opportunity to do so. Her remarks about plays, her opinions of different players and the umpire, and the questions she will ask concerning the game, are all too funny to be missed.

A Treasury Secretary or a President should be out here not fighting S&P, not grabbing the other coach and slapping him around, taking the umpire behind the barn. He should be getting the team psyched to overcome.

Judges are like umpires. Umpires don’t make the rules. They apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules. But it is a limited role. Nobody ever went to a ballgame to see the umpire.

Stay in college, kids. Otherwise, you may become an umpire.

I didn’t mean to hit the umpire with the dirt, but I did mean to hit that bastard in the stands.

It became the joke of the neighbourhood. If the umpire ruled me out on a bad call, I’d take the fake eye out and hand it to him.

Some guys, first pitch of the at-bat gets called a strike – maybe it’s a ball off or below their knees, and it gets called a strike – and then the next two pitches, they swing at balls in the dirt, and all of a sudden, they’re yelling at the umpire about that first pitch. You just swung at two balls in the dirt, buddy.

Sometimes you’ve just got to let an umpire know that you’re not satisfied with his decision. That they’ve missed the play in your opinion. Not that it’s going to do you any good, but you’ve got to let them know.

Anyone who votes for McGowan is 100 percent right. He was a great umpire. He belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Stay in school kids or you’ll end up being an umpire.

The pitcher has the ball, and nothing happens until he lets go of it. So as the batter, I felt I had to fight for any bit of control I could get. I expected the umpire, the catcher, and the pitcher to wait on me. I wanted to get ready on my time.

Anyone interested in becoming a professional umpire and becoming eligible to work in the minor leagues must attend one of the two umpire schools sanctioned by Major League Baseball.

In the head of the moment after losing a game, I lost the control of my emotions and hit the ball with an intention of hitting out of the court. Unfortunately and absolutely unintentionally I hit Mr. Arnaud Gabas, the chair umpire.

To me, there is no more conscientious umpire in the Major Leagues than Jim Joyce. He gives you a hellacious effort every time.

There was a line call that didn’t look so great. I went ballistic. Called the umpire a jerk. Whacked a ball into the stands. Then smacked a soda can with my racket, and got soda all over the King of Sweden, who was sitting in the front row.

The public wouldn’t like the perfect umpire in every game. It would kill off baseball’s greatest alibi – ‘We was robbed.’

Your job is to umpire for the ball and not the player.

Football has end zones and goal posts; basketball has the hoop, and hockey the goal cage. Baseball is the only game with an imaginary box: the strike zone, which the umpire determines at his own discretion.

I never questioned the integrity of an umpire. Their eyesight, yes.

Some fans have a mistaken opinion of the average umpire. He is human, all reports to the contrary. Every fellow who is successful is conscientious to almost a fault.

A bowler should be allowed to point out to an umpire that a batsman is backing up, leaving the officials to watch what is going on.

I am primarily a lawyer. I would rather play in the game than be the umpire.

Professional managers, coaches, and players have a right to question an umpire’s decision if they do it in a professional manner. When they become personal, profane, or violent, they have crossed the line and must be dealt with accordingly.

As a whole, the managers today are different in temperament. Most have very good communication skills and are more understanding of the umpire’s job. That doesn’t mean they are better managers. It just means that I perceive today’s managers a bit differently.

I am deeply saddened and shocked at the loss of umpire Wally Bell.

Do you have to be like a second-grade dropout to be an umpire? Did you go to school until you were 8 years old? I think you quit school before you were 10. Stay in school kids or you’ll end up being an umpire.

I must admit, I was born to officiate; I was made to officiate. I miss it. I knew why I was doing it. God made me to umpire.

When I stepped into the box, I felt the at-bat belonged to me. Everybody else was there for my convenience. The pitcher was there to throw me a ball to hit. The catcher was there to throw it back to him if he didn’t give me what I wanted the first time. And the umpire was lucky that he was close enough to watch.

I was correct in every call I made, regardless of what managers, players or replay may have said. To me, that’s the reason I’m in the Hall of Fame. If I didn’t umpire with conviction, I wouldn’t have made it for long.

If either player abandon the game by quitting the table in anger, or in an otherwise offensive manner; or by momentarily resigning the game; or refuses to abide by the decision of the Umpire, the game must be scored against him.