Vacation!?
It’s the dog days of summer, which means that relief umpires are covering major league games while the regular umps are on vacation.
Vacation!? How do these guys get vacation? They work six months a year and they’ve been able to negotiate a vacation? They work three hours a day and they get vacation?
I can just hear their arguments at the bargaining table.
Waahh! We have to work six days a week.
Boo hoo! We have to travel twice a week to a different city.
Poor us! We have to stand for the whole game.
The guy who runs the deli on my corner works seven days a week. Salesmen travel much more often than twice a week. And every waitress in America is accustomed to standing for a lot longer than 3 hours a day.
Major league umpires do a terrific job. They are correct more than 95 percent of the time, but people only notice the few occasions when they screw up. But vacations? Puh-leeze.
Vacation!? How do these guys get vacation? They work six months a year and they’ve been able to negotiate a vacation? They work three hours a day and they get vacation?
I can just hear their arguments at the bargaining table.
Waahh! We have to work six days a week.
Boo hoo! We have to travel twice a week to a different city.
Poor us! We have to stand for the whole game.
The guy who runs the deli on my corner works seven days a week. Salesmen travel much more often than twice a week. And every waitress in America is accustomed to standing for a lot longer than 3 hours a day.
Major league umpires do a terrific job. They are correct more than 95 percent of the time, but people only notice the few occasions when they screw up. But vacations? Puh-leeze.
posted by John Rosenthal @ 10:52 AM
2 Comments:
At 7:18 PM,
Anonymous said…
1. Do umpires really only "work" three hours a day? Don't they have to show up earlier? Stay after? Don't they have meetings? Training sessions? What about travel time?
2. Where do you get the "six months a year"? What about exhibition and post season? Don't they have to attend schools and league functions in the off-season?
3. There are very few salesmen (or truck drivers or anyone else for that matter) who spend only one night a week at home, week after week.
4. Just because there are some people somewhere who have it worse does not mean umpires aren't entitled to a break. By your reasoning, anyone in the workforce who is better off than the most oppressed and exploited worker anywhere has no right to bargin for anything better.
5. A game may only last 3-4 hours, but don't you think there is a lot of stress associated with being an umpire?
6. Maybe it's a good thing that the relief umpires get an opportunity to perform in the major leagues. Who are these guys? Are they younger umps from the minors who need the experience?
At 9:15 AM,
John Rosenthal said…
I'll grant you all of your points. But I still stand
by my outrage. Let's say they work six hours a day,
including preparation and meetings. Let's say they
work eight months a year including spring training and
postseason (only the top 50 umps work postseason).
Let's say umpires have it tougher than salesmen.
Let's say they have stress. They still have a lot of
nerve asking for vacation. Teachers have stress and
they only work nine months a year, but they don't ask
for vacation during the school year. Beat writers
work the same season that umpires do and they manage
to take their vacations during the winter.
It's fine to bring up minor league umpires as relief
for an umpire who needs a personal day. But vacation
is as ridiculous as heralding Cal Ripken for showing
up to work every day for six months a year.
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