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| | | First of all, it took private evaluation from Major League Baseball and the computerized pitch-tracking system QuesTec to bring umpires' strike zones closer to the strike zone laid out in the official rules. Prior to stricter enforcement by the league and threat of demotion for consistently inaccurate strike zone calls, strike zones as defined by umpires diverged greatly from the official definition. Even after implementation of computerized pitch-tracking, different umpires still call different strike zones. Hence, a case can be made that umpires "make" their own rules with regards to defining the strike zone. | |
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< | Second, while rare, umpires do encounter novel situations in which they must lay down a rule on the spot. A couple years ago, an ambidextrous pitcher faced a switch-hitter in what was in all likelihood, an unthought-of scenario when the rulebook was written. Since generally a right-handed batter does better against a left-handed pitcher, and vice versa, the batter and pitcher repeatedly switched hands until the umpire issued a ruling favoring the pitcher: the batter has to first declare what side of the plate he will bat from, and then the pitcher declares whether he will pitch left- or right-handed. This went against the conventional rule of having the pitcher declare first, then allowing the batter to choose which batter's box to step in. The Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation later announced a rule that the pitcher is required to declare first. | >
> | Second, while rare, umpires do encounter novel situations in which they must lay down a rule on the spot. A couple years ago, an ambidextrous pitcher faced a switch-hitter in what was in all likelihood, an unthought-of scenario when the rulebook was written. Since generally a right-handed batter does better against a left-handed pitcher and vice versa, the batter and pitcher repeatedly switched hands until the umpire issued a ruling favoring the pitcher: the batter has to first declare what side of the plate he will bat from, and then the pitcher declares whether he will pitch left- or right-handed. This went against the conventional rule of having the pitcher declare first, then allowing the batter to choose which batter's box to step in. The Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation later announced a rule that the pitcher is required to declare first. | | | Third, umpires consider policy goals in their calls, something eschewed by advocates of judicial restraint. Take, for example, the "neighborhood rule" in baseball: in a double play attempt, if a fielder steps in the neighborhood of second base before throwing to first, the runner will be called out at second base even though the official rules say that to make a force out, the fielder with the ball must actually touch the force base. Although application of the rule is not wholly consistent (see, for example, game 2 of the 2009 Yankees-Angels ALCS in which the runner was called safe at second base even though the Angels' shortstop was certainly in the vicinity of second base with the ball in his glove), it has been traditionally applied at the professional level because frequently, in an attempt to break up the double play, the runner will slide into the fielder at second base, and allowing the first out of a double play to be made as long as it "looks" like an out decreases the risk of injury to the fielder. | | | Conclusion | |
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< | There are many other flaws in the judge-umpire analogy, including the different contexts in which decisions are made (judges have much more time to contemplate than umpires; and umpires see the facts for themselves as opposed to hearing or reading them, Scott v. Harris notwithstanding), different incentives (judges are more difficult to get rid of than umpires), and different sets of rules (there are fewer rules in any particular sport and there is generally a binary set of answers, for example, fair ball or foul ball). The judge-umpire analogy ill fits the realities of today's umpiring, and fails both as a model of judicial restraint and a model of impartiality. Although imperfect as well, perhaps a judge-Commissioner analogy is more appropriate. | >
> | There are many other flaws in the judge-umpire analogy, including the different contexts in which decisions are made (judges have much more time to contemplate than umpires, and umpires see the facts for themselves as opposed to hearing or reading them, Scott v. Harris notwithstanding), different incentives (judges are more difficult to get rid of than umpires), and different sets of rules (there are fewer rules in any particular sport and there is generally a binary set of answers, for example, a ball is either fair or foul). The judge-umpire analogy ill fits the realities of today's umpiring, and fails both as a model of judicial restraint and a model of impartiality. Although imperfect as well, perhaps a judge-Commissioner analogy is more appropriate. |
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