Major League Baseball proudly sent out a press release announcing that a woman will work a major league spring training game for the first time in two decades. I am not sure of what they are proud.
Women should be players in major league baseball -- I have little doubt that there are women out there right now who are more talented than many of the players on major league rosters. Twenty years I ago I fought my local little league organization and won the right of my daughter to play in the hardball league with the boys. I am certain that there are many other girls who have started their ball careers the same way over the last couple of decades. (Just a few years later, when my son began playing, it was common for most teams to have a girl or two.)
I have coached women's softball and boy's baseball at the high school level. The best players on the women's teams were better than most of the players in the boy's league. I have seen great college shortstops and pitchers on college teams who outperformed many on the bench on today's major league teams. So why aren't we seeing women on the field in pro ball?
When it comes to umpiring, I find it astounding that Major League baseball thinks it a proud moment that a 9-year minor league veteran will finally be tapped to crew in an exhibition game during the last week of spring training. The umpire is assigned to Double-A ball. Unless she is not very good at her job (which the assignment to the Major League spring training game would refute), then it would appear that she may have been held back artificially.
Umpires, like ballplayers, advance through the minor league ranks. Umpires start at the Single-A level, which itself has four levels. Generally, Umpires move up a level or so a year, with most getting to the Double-A leagues by their third or fourth year. They typically stay there about three years before being considered for advancement to AAA. By their sixth or seventh year, they should expect to be moving up to the AAA level.
At the AAA level they are eligible to be evaluated for openings at the Major League. AA umpires can only gaze with longing over that fence. The top-ranked AAA umpires are generally assigned to the Arizona league for spring training, where they work closely with Major League umpires.
The woman umpire touted by MLB spent four years at the Single-A level and is in her fifth year at Double-A. MLB reports that she is in line for the next AAA opening.
About time. But, why is she the only female umpire in all of pro ball?
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
MLB's Token Female Umpire Knocking on the Glass
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
It might go a long way toward improving what baseball has become.
Traditionally I have trouble with it, but sometimes tradition doesn't always mean everything.
I've grown somewhat tired of the high paid professional sports which puts the pinch on attendees wallets.
Please note that I will deny having said any of the above if word gets out.
I coach kids playing baseball. And on weekends, I spend either Saturday or Sunday playing pick up games with neighborhood kids once the team games are over. Those games are a lot more fun. We have players as young as 6 and as old as ... well, ... me. It is co-ed and I'm usually automatic pitcher. I say I'm trying to spend "quality time" with my grandson but in truth I love it. My grandson is just an excuse.
Two years ago, a 10 year old girl hit a line drive at the speed of light right at my chest. I evaded her first attack. But on her second trip to the plate, I wasn't so fast or lucky. I stopped the ball with my nose. She broke my frickin' nose! The kids loved it. About two weeks after that, she broke my finger. That's when I stopped pitching to her. My bones don't heal that fast anymore. She's the toughest hitter I've ever seen come out of Nazareth.
There's no doubt in my mind that females play ball as well as any man if they're so inclined. Most lose interest, and that's a shame.
Good post!
TRADITION??!! Dooooon't get me started on tradition blandly urbane . . . . being officially an old fart, I find the DH an abomination, interleague play a concession to the devil, and the wild card? Well, truth be told, the Wild Card is fine when it gets the Yankees into the postseason and is a stagerring cheapening of the game when it helps the Dred Sox. . . .
Bernie, I'm jealous. Wish I could find pick up games like that. But, listen old pal, there are some places in your little corner of paradise in which telling a story about a 10-year old girl breaking your nose would be an invitation to have the nose broken again . . . . just sayin is all . . . .
Baseball seems to be the one sports where the traditional arguments against allowing women to play with men would crumble. It's not a contact sport, so you can't argue that women are at risk against bigger, stronger men. Differences in speed aren't an issue either. A baseball player doesn't have to outrun anyone--you just have to outrun their throw to the base.
So as not to offend further regarding "tradition" consider anything you consider "traditional" about baseball the ones I am referring to;-)
Post a Comment