Video - Looking Beyond an Online Umpiring Complaint

Everyone knows an umpire scapegoater. This video follows a fan's impassioned umpiring complaint after a pitch passed through the strike zone and was ruled a ball. We walk this upset chap through the boo MLB ump blame game, outline the umpire school and minor league development process, and investigate what exactly motivates umpires to take up the thankless chore of officiating in the first place.

In June, we evaluated the electronic strike zone concept in professional baseball and discovered the primary difference between MLB's private/internal/secretive claim that umpires are at least 97% accurate on ball/strike calls and MLB's public statistics used by fans to suggest that umpires are about 91% accurate on these same pitch calls.
Related Post: Podcast - Truth About Baseball's Electronic Strike Zone (6/5/19).

And this discrepancy due to different methods of accounting for error makes it that much easier for frustrated fans like that featured in our video to bash umpires.
Related Post: Gil's Call: The Blame Game (Umpire Scapegoating) (8/8/14).

We acknowledge that sometimes, things go wrong and umpires err—but fans shouldn't lose sight of the big picture: Umpires strive for impartiality and getting the call right, putting up with all the yelling, rules-illiterate players, fans, and coaches, unfriendly travel schedules, and gourmet fast food because at the end of the day, their love of baseball outweighs the negatives constantly thrown their way.

Oh, and Kershaw's pitch to Pillar bounced in front of home plate.

Video as follows:

Alternate Link: A Tutorial in Umpire Blaming - Origin of Ump Complaints (CCS)