"An umpire is a loner. The restraints of his trade impose problems not normally endured by players, coaches, management, press and others connected with organized baseball. He is a friend to none. More often he is considered an enemy by all around him - including the fans in the stands who threaten his life." - Art Rosenbaum in The San Francisco Chronicle (1965)

"Despite all the nasty things I have said about umpires, I think they're one-hundred percent honest, but I can't for the life of me figure out how they arrive at some of their decisions." - Athletics Manager Jimmy Dykes

"I couldn't see well enough to play when I was a boy, so they gave me a special job - they made me an umpire." - President of the United States Harry S. Truman

"I know that if I bump (an umpire), I'm suspended for four games. If they bump a guy you never hear about it. If we curse one of them, we get thrown out of a game and fined. If they curse a guy, they don't get thrown out." - Terry Pendleton in The Seattle Times (Gordon Edes, 07/09/1995, 'Pendleton Wants Some Action Against Power-Trip Umpires')

"I think umpires have too much power, without any system of checks and balances and the more money a player makes, the more the umpire tries to show off that power to him. Unfortunately, since I signed my contract my strike zone has suddenly become a lot larger." - Hall of Fame Shortstop Ozzie Smith

"I've never questioned the integrity of an umpire. Their eyesight, yes." - Leo Durocher

"Let's face it. Umpiring is not an easy or happy way to make a living. In the abuse they suffer, and the pay they get for it, you see an imbalance that can only be explained by their need to stay close to a game they can't resist." - Bob Uecker in Catcher in the Wry (1982)

"Many baseball fans look upon an umpire as a sort of necessary evil to the luxury of baseball, like the odor that follows an automobile." - Hall of Fame Pitcher Christy Mathewson

"My favorite umpire is a dead one." - Hall of Fame Infielder Johnny Evers

"The job of arguing with the umpire belongs to the manager, because it won't hurt the team if he gets thrown out of the game." - Hall of Fame Manager Earl Weaver

"The umpire must be quick witted. He may not, like the wise old owl of the bench, look over his gold-rimmed eyeglasses, inform the assembled multitude that he will 'take the matter under advisement,' and then adjourn the court for a week or two to satisfy himself how he ought to decide. No, indeed. He must be johnny-on-the-spot with a decision hot off the griddle and he must stick to it, right or wrong - or be lost." - A.G. Spalding in America's National Game (1911)

"Umpires are most vigorous when defending their miscalls." - Jim Brosnan

"Umpires have the toughest job in baseball. Ever since the birth of the boos, they have suffered more abuse than a washroom wall." - Ernie Harwell in Tuned to Baseball (1985)

"Umpires, you see, have on flashing button. They don't like to be shown up. Push that button and you're pushing the button on your own ejection seat." - Jay Johnstone in Temporary Insanity (1985)

"Umpires would be natural Republicans — dead to human feelings." - George Will in Men at Work (1990)

"Wanting to be an umpire is tantamount to wanting to be President of the United States. I can admire their fierce sense of responsibility, whether they are right or wrong, but sometimes it comes down to being a thankless job; however, the job must be done." - Art Rust in Recollections of a Baseball Junkie (1985)

"Any time I got those 'bang-bang' plays at first base, I called 'me out. It made the game shorter." - National League Umpire Tom Gorman

"Fans and players boo and abuse umpires, but there isn't one umpire in the history of baseball who has ever been proved guilty of being dishonest. I've very proud to have been an umpire." - American League Umpire George Pipgras

"I can truthfully say that I never did like umpiring. I stayed with it because I had to eat." - National League Umpire Lee Ballanfant

"If they did get a machine to replace us, you know what would happen to it? Why, the players would bust it to pieces every time it ruled against them. They'd clobber it with a bat." - National League Umpire Harry Wendelstadt

"It isn't enough for an umpire merely to know what he's doing. He has to look as though he know what he's doing too." - National League Umpire Larry Goetz

"It's not easy to be an umpire and a Negro too. Maybe Sammy Davis would have a more difficult problem. He's a Negro too, but he only has one eye." - American League Umpire Emmett Ashford

"I've been hit with mudballs and whiskey bottles, and had everything from shoes to fruits and vegetables thrown at me. I've been hospitalized with a concussion and broken ribs. I've probably experienced more violence than any other umpire who ever lived." - American League Umpire Joe Rue

"One of the really wrong theories about officiating is that a good official is one you never notice. The umpire who made that statement was probably a real poor official who tried to get his paycheck and hide behind his partners and stay out of trouble all his life. Control of the ballgame is the difference between umpires that show up for the players and the managers." - National League Umpire Bruce Froemming

"The best thing about umpiring is seeing the best in baseball every day. The cardinal rule of umpiring is to follow the ball wherever it goes. Well, if you watch the ball, you can't help seeing somebody make a great catch... That's what makes umpiring so much fun." - National League Umpire Shag Crawford

"The worst thing about umpiring is the loneliness. It's a killer. Every city is a strange city. You don't have a home. Ballplayers are home fifty percent of the them, umpires are not." - American League Umpire Ernie Stewart

"They expect an umpire to be perfect on Opening Day and to improve as the season goes on." - American League Umpire Nestor Chylak

"Umpire's heaven is a place where he works third base every game. Home is where the heartache is." - American League Umpire Ron Luciano

"When I first went into the American League, Johnny Rice told me that the toughest call an umpire has to make is not the half-swing. The toughest call is throwing a guy out of the game after you blew the hell out of the play." - American League Umpire Bill Kinnamon

"Why is it they boo me when I call a foul ball correctly and they applaud the starting pitcher when he gets taken out of the ballgame?" - American League Umpire Jerry Neudecker

Quotations From & About Major League Umpires