Bill Klem On Good Umpiring

A forgotten classic

Bill Klem On Good Umpiring

There’s a reason why some of us consider the archives of The Sporting News to be worth their weight in gold.

I came across this from the September 14, 1949 issue:

It’s always interesting to see these old sportswriter galas and the people that they would celebrate. There was a time when this sort of occasion was one of the highlights of the baseball year.

Anyway, here’s a reference to a guide on umpiring that Bill Klem wrote, which I haven’t found any other references to:

Yelling “all right, let’s go” at the conclusion of a half inning seems to have gradually fallen away from the game as time has gone on. Of course, when the television stations have commercials to sell, the incentives change somewhat.

Looking away from a player after calling him out is also a good idea. Make it hard for the argument to take place in the first place. In fact, I think all of us would be wise to walk away from arguments and keep on walking.

Making a call clearly and decisively right away (in this case, the fair or foul decision) is also key. I suppose the decisiveness is not quite as important in our age of video review, however.