Officials

Donald Jensen was struck on the head by a thrown bat while umpiring a little league game in Terre Haute, Ind. He shook off the blow, and finished working the game, but that night he went to a hospital with head pains. While being kept overnight for observation, the umpire wrote the following letter to parents of Little Leaguers everywhere.

“I’m an umpire. I don’t do it for a living, but only on weekends for fun. I’ve played baseball, coached it and watched it, but somehow nothing takes the place of umpiring. Maybe I feel deep down that I am providing a fair chance for all kids to play the game without disagreements and arguments.

But, there is one thing that bothers me about my job. Some of your folks don’t understand why I’m there. Some of you feel I’m there to exert authority over your son. For that reason, you often yell at me or encourage your son to yell when I make a mistake. How many of you really understand that I try to be perfect? I try not to make a mistake. I don’t want your son to feel he got a bad deal from an umpire.

Yet, no matter how hard I try, I can’t be perfect. I counted the number of calls I made in a six-inning game today. The total number of decisions on balls and strikes or safes and outs was 146. I tried my best to get them all right, but I’m sure I missed some. I could have missed eight calls today and still got 95 percent right. In most occupations that percentage would be considered excellent.

Let me tell you more about my game today. There was one close call that ended the game. A runner for the home team was trying to steal the plate on a passed ball. The catcher chased the ball down and threw to the pitcher covering the plate. The pitcher made the tag and I called the runner out.

As I was getting my equipment to leave, I overheard one of the parents comment, ‘Its too bad the kids have to lose games because of rotten umpires. That was one of the lousiest calls I’ve ever seen.’

Later, at the concession stand, a couple of kids were telling their friends, ‘Boy, the umpires were lousy today. They lost the game for us.’

Well, I heard that and felt terrible. Those kids had made a lot of mistakes, which had cost them runs. A parent or adult leader who lets a child blame his failures on an umpire is doing the worst kind of injustice to that youngster. That irresponsibility is bound to carry over to future years.

As I sit here writing this letter, I am no longer upset, as I was this afternoon. At one point, I wanted to quit umpiring behind that plate for a pitcher who pantomimed his displeasure at any close call. One could sense that he wanted the crowd to realize that he was a talented player who was doing his best to get along, and that I was a black-hearted villain who was working against him.

This kid continued for two innings at the same time yelling at his own player’s mistakes. For two innings the manager watched this. When the kid returned to the dugout to bat in the top of the third, the manager called him aside.

In a voice that I was able to overhear, he said, ‘Listen son, it is time you made a decision. You can’t be an umpire, an actor or a pitcher, but you can be only one at a time when you are playing for me. Right now it is your job to pitch and basically you are doing a lousy job. Leave the acting to the actor, the umpiring to the umpire, or you won’t do any pitching here.

Needless to say, the kid chose the pitching route, and went the game. When the game was over, the kid followed me to my car. Fighting back tears, he apologized for his actions and thanked me for umpiring the game. He said that he had learned a lesson that he would not forget. I can’t help but wonder how many more young men are missing their chance to develop into outstanding ball players because the parents encourage them to spend time umpiring, rather than working harder to play the game.

The following morning, Donald Jensen, part-time umpire, died of a brain concussion resulting from the blow by the thrown bat. Please pass this on to any and all who might get something out of this. It is a good letter that really shows the reality of today’s youth sports. Being around sports as much as I am, I see stuff like this all the time. Not only in baseball, as this story depicts but in all sports. We all could learn a lesson from the story.

Remember this: Youth sports builds good character, only if the adults show good character.