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A 2013 Sally League Umpire, Image Tug Haines As many fans view a game unfold on a professional baseball diamond, the most savvy watchers may feel as though they know everything there is to know about the team personnel on the field .  The year and round they were drafted.  What their educational background is.  The route they've taken to get where they are and the other teams they've played for.  But with that assumption by avid fans that they know everything about everyone on the field, how much do they really know about the other individuals that help execute the athletic competition by officiating each contest?  What do they know about the umpires? During the 2013 regular season I sat down with some pro umpires to learn more about their lives and what their paths to the major leagues are like.  Read ahead for a list of seven things that you very likely did not know about umpires. 1- Umpires in the minors are not just some local guys. ...

From time to time the writers at PhilliesNation.com collectively take on a pressing baseball matter and kick around their individual opinions. In the latest edition, the subject matter was the possibility of expanded video replay in Major League Baseball. Check out my input on the topic below and click this link to read the other writers' feedback and to join the discussion. The technology is there and it's helpful in ensuring the proper calls are made in others sports and in certain aspects of baseball, so let's get the appropriate changes in motion to give professional baseball the right results all of the time. The basis of arguments against replay in baseball is often that it subverts the legacy of the sport or undermines the umpires that are, for some reason, held so sacred, despite constantly being proven unworthy of support for having exceptional judgement. I don't know what the best methods for expansion of video replay in baseball should be, but wit...

A year to the day after they lost game 2 of the NLDS against the Rockies, the Phillies ended their losing streak in postseason series game 2's at 4. Thanks to some lucky calls, and some Reds miscues, the Phillies were able to walk away with a 7-4 victory on Friday night. In the 6th inning, with the Reds leading the Phillies by 2 runs, a pair of hit batters and a bases loaded walk to Shane Victorino closed the gap to 1. Then in the 7th inning, things really just fell apart for the Central Division champion Reds. With rookie phenom Aroldis Chapman and his 100+mph fastball on the mound, a high an inside pitch was sold by Chase Utley, as he immediately put his head down and took off for 1st base, and ruled a hit by pitch by the home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman. Ryan Howard followed Utley and struck out. Jayson Werth then batted, lacing a chopper toward Reds third baseman Scott Rolen, who chose to attempt the more difficult play to get Utley out at 2nd base. Utley was ruled safe by umpi...

It was surely a wild one that thousands of phans will remember for years and will still be talking about when Tuesday night's losing pitcher David Herndon's full head of dark hair resembles former Phillies reliever Larry Andersen's less than full head of greying locks. Another solid start by Cole Hamels (7 innings, 2 ER, 8 K, 1 BB) set the stage for some 9th inning heroics, when Jimmy Rollins slugged a solo homerun to deep right field that tied the game at 2 and sent things to extra innings. The bullpens battled it out, keeping the game locked well past midnight. Ryan Howard capped off the worst game of his career in the bottom of the 14th inning when, with the Phillies having used all their bench players and down to their last relief pitcher, Howard got ejected after he was rung up for his 5th strike out of the night by fill-in umpire Scott Barry. Howard had already stood with his hands on his hips after a check swing was called a strike by the third base ump, Barry, earli...

Joe Savery, former top draft pick of the Phillies out of Rice University, reigning Eastern League pitcher of the week and current star pitcher for the Reading Phillies, started the rain stopped game in Trenton last night. Savery, who had a 9-1 record and a 3.24 ERA heading into last night's start, was displeased with the umpires' decision to start the game at all, and especially took issue with the umpiring crew's attempt to start the bottom of the 2nd inning, with intense amounts of rain coming down. Moments later, the game was suspended and will be resumed today at 5:05, prior to tonight's regularly scheduled contest. As Savery's encounter with the umpire was ending, Savery threw a baseball over the screen behind the back stop and into the stands. The following are some of Joe's comments about the incident... It probably wasn't the brightest idea in the world to do what I did. I shouldn't have done it, but...ya know, you don't get many outings in a...

Tim McClelland, the Major League umpire famous from the George Brett pine tar incident, was the guest speaker at an Iowa baseball dinner last week and he had some interesting things to say about the steroids issue, in his sport. Here are some gems, from McClelland... "I'd like to see people kind of get over it. It was part of that era. In 2004, baseball instituted the ban on steroids. The previous 15 years, you just have to realize there were a lot of people taking steroids." "They used it to make themselves better. I can't fault a player for doing that." The Brett/pine tar incident was during a 1983 game with Brett's Royals visiting Yankee Stadium. While trailing in the 9th inning, Brett smacked a homer off closer Goose Gossage, and gave the Royals a lead. The Yankees knew of Brett's habits of adding too much pine tar (a legal substance used on bats for grip), too far up his bat. The Yanks chose a crucial time to point it out, and Tim McClelland rev...