Play ball! Maybe. Umpires needed for baseball across Manitoba

The baseball season in Manitoba started just a couple of weeks ago, but the organization that oversees it is already down in the count.

For umpires, that is. 

Baseball Manitoba is about 50 umpires short of where the organization would like to be. Leadership is concerned about umpires getting burned out doing too many games, even in a single day, at tournaments and playoffs.

"A lot of our senior umpires have to do more and unfortunately, sometimes they just can't do more. So we just go down to one umpire [per game] for some age categories, which isn't benefiting anybody on the field at that point," said Ashton Liskie, vice-president of umpires for the organization.

Typically, a game would have an umpire behind home plate and one in the infield watching the bases.

It's easier to get by with a single ump at the younger levels, where the game is slower, but it's a challenge when players are older and more skilled.

Ideally, an umpire should be older than the players being officiated. There have been special circumstances where that hasn't been the case, but it's pretty rare, Liskie said.

In Manitoba, the minimum age for an ump is 12, because the 11U category (ages 10 and 11) is the youngest one to require umpires.

Kids in Manitoba can begin playing at age five, but those first years are all instructional, non-competitive programs.

The categories go up from there to 13U (ages 12-13), 15U (14-15) and 18U (16-18). Each of those have skills levels from beginner to intermediate to highly competitive — A, AA and AAA. Then there are junior and senior leagues.

Baseball Manitoba needs roughly 600 umpires each year. Before the start of the current season, the shortfall was much greater, but there was a spike in umpire registrations over the past month, Liskie said.

"So we kind of bounced back pretty good, but the older umpires, the more experienced, that's where we're really being hurt right now."

Although COVID-19 forced the cancellation of just one season of baseball in the province — 2020 — it still took a toll.

Some people who might have been thinking about registering turned their attentions elsewhere, while some of those doing it for a while decided it was a good place to call it quits. The break also hampered opportunities to recruit and mentor new umpires, Liskie said.

By the 2022 season, there was a shortage of about 150, he said.

In comparison, the 2023 season isn't as bad off — "for the most part we will get by," Liskie said — but it would be better if the various leagues weren't just scraping through.

"It would be a lot easier if we had  an extra five senior umpires in each region across the province. That would help with mentorship and hopefully retaining the young umpires," Liskie said.

"The pay per game for an ump ranges from $35-$50, and anybody can do it," said Liskie, who has been an ump since he was 13.

Baseball Manitoba provides a six-hour session to get a Level 1 certification. 

The commitment to officiating games is totally up to the individual, Liskie said.

"You don't have to give us five days a week. You don't have to give us one day a week," he said. "Give us whatever works in your schedule."

Michael Grenier said his son Evander, 12, decided to step into the role this season in Winkler "as a way to earn a few bucks and take on a new challenge."

Evander had some serious jitters to start and had to suppress some tears, but once he made a few calls and got comfortable, his confidence took over.

It seems it was harder on Grenier, who could overhear criticisms of Evander's calls from other parents. Even if they were quiet and respectful, it was difficult to hear, he said. 

"I was glad he felt comfortable, because it allowed me to take a walk to a quieter spot in the stands," Grenier said.

"Afterwards, when we talked about his first day, I got to express how proud I was of his work, how much he learned and that he did what most folks, including adults, are scared of doing: officiating a sport."

Umpires are one of three pillars, along with players and coaches, vital to making baseball possible. If one is missing it won't work, said Dan Cox, president of Red River Valley Baseball and chair of the Winnipeg Minor Baseball Association.

"As much as we feel like we could umpire our own games, we can't. So if there's no umpire, there's no baseball," he said. "We need a good base of young umpires because we need a good base as they get older."

The key to attracting and retaining umpires begins with coaches, who set the tone on the field. How they treat umpires is an example for players and, hopefully, parents watching from the bleachers, Cox said.

"We think we pay pretty well for two hours of work outside in the summer. But a lot of these umpires can easily find other jobs if they want," he said.

"It's up to coaches to make sure they're being treated respectfully and that will make them want to be there. It starts at the grassroots … so it's important that that dynamic is good."

In most sports, officials are often a target for abuse. In baseball, a young person umpiring a game alone can feel very vulnerable.

"Probably the toughest spot that a young umpire is in is having to control an adult and to potentially eject a player. Thankfully the players should be younger than them, but it's still a very intimidating situation," Cox said.

"Unlike hockey … the coaches are right there; they come on the field quite often. So it's a very up-close type of atmosphere."

Cox and others are starting to see umpiring become a family affair, with a parent and child officiating games in tandem. It's a way for the young umpire to feel more comfortable and for the two to spend some unique time together.

Cox knows it first-hand. He's doing it with his 13-year-old son this season.

"We both got our Level 1 umpiring and we're going to try to do a few games together and have fun," he said.