A message from Billy Cunha August 3, 2010 In January I decided to

A message from Billy Cunha
August 3, 2010
In January I decided to hold off on my second round of medical school
applications and take a shot at becoming a professional baseball umpire. To do
this, I needed to attend professional umpire school in Daytona Beach FL in
January for 5 weeks (Jan 3 to Feb 9) where we were taught all about umpiring
from the ground up. My 10 years of previous experience helped me out a lot
here, but there was still mountains of information to learn. There are only two
legitimate professional umpire schools in the world which can initiate your path to
Major League Baseball: The Wendelstedt Professional Umpire School, and
the Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring. During the schooling process
the other 125 students (at each school) and I were being evaluated by the
instructors. At the end of the 5 weeks they would select the top 18 students from
each school to move on for Minor League Baseball Tryouts in mid March. I was
selected among the top 18 from Wendelstedt.
Next stop was a 10 day evaluation course in back in Florida before the Minor
League Umpire Supervisors. The 18 students from my school, along with 18 from
the other school and a handful of returners from last year who were close to
getting hired into Minor League Baseball combined to make 43 candidates. Here,
they evaluated us umpiring full college level baseball games, gave us critiques,
and ranked us. At the end of the 10 days they hired 20 new umpires to start their
professional careers in Minor League Baseball. I was one of these 20 umpires
and now I am in Phoenix AZ in the middle of my first season in the Arizona
Summer League. All new umpires start out in Rookie ball, which is short season:
June 21st, through August 29th. There are six levels of Minor League Baseball
(Rookie, Short A, Long A, Advanced A, AA and AAA) and umpires must go
through every level. We umpire all season in hopes to get a high evaluation
rating from our supervisors and get promoted to the next level as quickly as
possible. After 5-10 years of Minor League Baseball, one can hope to be in
a position to start working Major League Baseball as a fill in umpire. And maybe
one day, get the full time contract that hundreds of umpires in the minor leagues
are striving for every year. With only 68 Major League Umpires (some working
well over 20 years) there is not much turnover. Therefore, any rookie umpire has
very low odds of seeing any time in the Major Leagues, much less earning a fulltime contract.
That being said, I'm having a great time and wouldn't trade it for anything else. I
encourage anyone who loves to umpire to go to umpire school, young or old,
short or tall. It is a great experience that gets you closer to the great game of
baseball. Even if you have no interest in joining the minor league ranks, you can
learn the teachings of professional umpiring and become the best umpire you
can be.
The Daily Grind: Here in the Arizona League, all games are played at 7pm, to try
to avoid the heat. This is little help, but it's better than day games. 7pm start
times often yield game time temperatures of around 110 degrees. You and your
partner (We use the two man umpire system up until AA) drive from the hotel to
the ballpark and arrive no later than one hour before game time. Once we arrive
at the ballpark, we find the umpire's locker room and unpack our gear. About 4
dozen baseballs will be waiting with "Lena Blackburn Rubbing Mud" which we
need to rub up as part of our pre-game routine. Then we finished getting dressed
down and hit the field, starting the plate meeting with both managers for the
lineup exchange no later than five min before game time. Ground rules are
discussed, then the home team takes the field and the fun begins. After the game
is over, we head back to the locker room, shower, and eat a home team provided
meal. Then we head back to the hotel, getting there around 11 (or later) and
head to bed to start the whole thing over the following day. With the 70 day short
season, we only get 3 days off all summer. There is no shortage of baseball
packed into 2.5 months.
I can't wait to get out of Phoenix and back to the wonderful SF weather. I'll be
back around September 1st, and able to work NCUA games during fall and
winter, and depending on next year's assignment, I may be able to work some or
all of the High School season. See everyone soon!
Billy