Spartanburg, S.C. – Professional baseball players who have made it to the major league have beaten the odds. The same can also be said of the umpires who officiate those same major league games.
Few people realize that the selection process for major league umpires is as competitive and tough as it is, according to Fieldin Culbreth, one of only 68 major league umpires nationwide, who was a guest speaker at the University of South Carolina Upstate’s “Officiating of Sports” class on February 22. Culbreth is a graduate of Chapman High School in Inman.
Culbreth was invited to speak to the class and share his experiences and anecdotes of umpiring major league games for 11 years, to highlight little known career opportunities available in the field, and to discuss the pros and cons of life as an umpire.
After rotator cuff surgery ended his chances of playing professional baseball when he was a student at UNC Charlotte, he attended umpire school in Florida, with 500 other prospective major league umpires. He was one of only eight selected to join the major league umpire staff at that time.
Like professional ball players, says Culbreth, major league umpires are scouted, evaluated, and even released if their performance doesn’t measure up. Umpire evaluators attend 55 percent of major league games and examine close calls to determine whether plays were called correctly. Umpires also use a machine called Quest Tech to analyze pitches within the strike zone to within one one-hundredth of an inch.
“Out of 18,000 calls made by the umpires in major league games in a year, only 217 calls were found to be in error,” says Culbreth, adding, “That’s not bad… I do not miss many.”
“Confidence means everything when you’re officiating,” says Culbreth, adding, “I do not guess [at a call].” He says he relies not just on his eyes, but his hearing as well.
“I could umpire first base with my eyes closed because there it’s all about sound – the sound of the ball hitting the glove, the sound of a foot on the base,” says Culbreth.
During his question and answer period with the students, Culbreth encouraged students to take advantage of every officiating opportunity possible including those at the university as well as in a parks and recreation setting, not only to gain valuable experience but also to supplement their bank accounts.
“Everyone sees the glamorous side of major league baseball,” says Culbreth, citing adoring fans and seven-figure salaries that many players command. While he did not characterize his life as glamorous, Culbreth did say that officiating has “provided a good life” for him and his family.
“Major league baseball is a $5.7 billion business and umpires do get their cut of the pie,” he says.
Life as a major league umpire is not without sacrifice, however. Culbreth is on the road away from Spartanburg, where he lives with his wife and three children, for 200 days out of the year. Spring training is especially difficult because he is away from home for a solid month. He typically works 135 games during a season with the same four-man crew.
Being an umpire is also stressful, Culbreth adds, especially when he makes a call that huge amounts of fans disagree with. At any given game, he says, he “can only make 50 percent of the people happy.” He also says that since professional baseball puts heavy emphasis on players’ statistics, one umpire’s call can not only be the difference between winning and losing, but it can also make or break a career for a player.
“I used to have more hair and weigh 180,” Culbreth jokes.
Students in “Officiating of Sports” class are required to officiate intramural soccer, softball and basketball games on the USC Upstate campus, as well as run the scoreboard and keep the scorebook in those games, all in training to become better sports officials.
For more information on Culbreth’s visit to instructor David Lancaster’s class, please contact David Lancaster at dlancaster@uscupstate.edu or call (864) 503-5174.