Does What Officials Wear Actually Impact the Respect They Get on the Field?

[dumbdumb]

On 2/23/2026 at 11:18 AM, JonnyCat said:

This exactly. The only thing coaches are concerned with is if the game is going their way or not. They don't care about "getting the call right", or anyone's appearance, or if they are wearing matching uniforms, or if the the umpires are wearing their associations logo on their uniforms.

Coaches only care about winning. 

yep. (coaches only care about winning) just like in business, and those are the ones we are suppose to look up to (or we are the dweebs/losers on the outside looking in) winning isn't everything, it's the only thing.

and i see the old pictures of winners not losers in the day wearing suits and ties with crew cuts. now look at what winners wear, dress down Fridays, no jacket and tie, even the old at least a button down shirt gone,, are you kidding me mcenroe, and now the untuck it look, shirt and the length of their hair, (that doesn't mean everyone 100%) either. and of course its still the winners, not the losers, who get to call all the shots in life.

but baseball, it has stood the test of time (james earl jones speech here).

[Umpire in Chief]

On 2/20/2026 at 1:10 PM, grayhawk said:

This seems like creative spam. What umpire association orders uniforms for their members? Every association I have worked for expects the members to order and pay for their own uniforms. Sorry bro, you're not going to make "Fetch" happen.

Agree and with @DerekGDS too. The whole site this I removed the link to was AI created garbage.
But it's a good though provoking post. 

Someone did an awesome video covering this many, many moons ago...🤣

 

[BigBlue4u]

On 2/20/2026 at 2:43 PM, SeeingEyeDog said:

I'm going to sound 1,000 years old here but...the teenagers and college age guys who are becoming umpires now really don't have a proper appreciation for the importance of appearance. That's not THEIR fault. That is OUR fault. And when I say that's OUR fault I mean, the veteran umpires and assigners are simply not doing a good enough job across The Craft of holding the line

Excellent point!  I've seen umpires, just before the start of the pre-game meeting with coaches, put their mask on home plate.  (yes, really) or umpires dusting off home plate immediately after the third out.  Why do these things happen?  Because nobody has told them differently.)

[SeeingEyeDog]

49 minutes ago, BigBlue4u said:

Excellent point!  I've seen umpires, just before the start of the pre-game meeting with coaches, put their mask on home plate.  (yes, really) or umpires dusting off home plate immediately after the third out.  Why do these things happen?  Because nobody has told them differently.)

Yup...I had a rookie on a scrimmage who would fling his mask away on the ground ANY time he took it off...

I didn't rip him. Why would I? I just asked him about it and we had a calm, illuminating conversation about it. He simply didn't know and he was thankful I took the time to explain it to him. We don't know what we don't know...

Lol...I then contacted one of our trainers and made him aware we had someone come through our training and throwing their mask on the ground...mistakes were made, it's been addressed...

~Dawg

[johnnyg08]

On 2/22/2026 at 9:03 PM, andydufresne said:

I stopped umpiring (even after 32 years, I didn't "retire"; I just stopped doing it because assigners killed all the allure of self-employment as a sports official) ten years ago, but I used to have a lot of fun with that question. In the 1990s/2000s there was this huge emphasis on shined shoes. Most of my partners were on board. I thought it was silly.

At the plate meeting for the second game of doubleheaders, I used to do this: I'd tell the managers, "Before the first game, my partner and I were both here just like we are now. One of us had shined shoes, and one did not. Who had the shined shoes?"

Nearly every coach/manager passed on the question. "Who cares?" was the most common response. Some guessed. Nobody got it right because it was a lie. We both always had our shoes shined before game one. My point was that for all the big deal they made of it, nobody really cared, or even noticed.

 

 

I took a hit on one of the best evaluations I ever received. If I was going to get dinged on something, let it be my shoes. No one else noticed or cared. 

[BLWizzRanger]

Wait a minute....

Playing devil's advocate here, maybe, real life happenings....

While on a turf field, only, someone that will be nameless has been known to remove their helmet and mask and lay them down ever so gently, helmet on the ground and mask on top of helmet, squared up to each other, behind home plate (closer to the edge of the circle than the plate).

And this is frowned upon? I've got mixed feelings on this one.

Yeah, yeah, if the mask can be held and the helmet worn on a grass/ dirt field, why can't they do that on a turf field, you might ask. Sure, it can be and was done years ago. Just didnt know this could be a faux pas or unwritten rule by the Brotherhood.

Why is it one?