This isn't a blog about the validity of unions, in general. Rather it's a call to get rid of one, specific, and way too powerful union: The World Umpires Association.
It's not a movement most of us think about too often, though last night, I was again reminded how ridiculous it is the Major League Baseball can't easily fire its worst umpires. Yesterday, home plate umpire Bob Davidson blew an obvious call, declaring that Nyjer Morgan leaned into a pitch and wasn't eligible to take first. Cocky and confrontational, he first tossed the fiery Brewers' fiery hitting coach, Dale Sveum, then ejected the level-headed skipper Ron Roenicke.
Davidson looked like he was enjoying it. Smirking and taunting, he was picking a fight.
It's widely regarded that "Balkin' Bob" is a horrible umpire. He's blown big calls in both the MLB and the World Baseball Classic, and last year, he led all umpires in 10 ejections. He calls balks with propensity and seems to engage in theatrics just to attract attention to himself. He was also the guy who ejected a fan from Miller Park in 2010, which isn't an authority that is his.
He was also one of the umpires who resigned in 1999 as a tactic of labor negotiation (it didn't work). Unfortunately, MLB let Davidson ump his way back through the minor leagues so he can ruin rallies and disrupt more games in the majors.
Last night, he usurped Phil Cuzzi as my least favorite umpire.
The World Umpires Association, not coincidentally, has Cuzzi on his board, and is the union that replaced the Major League Umpires Association, which organized the mass resignation.
The starting salary for major-league umps is about $90,000 and it tops out for veterans at $350,000. I don't know how much guys like Davidson make, but whatever it is, it's too much.
MLB occasionally fires bad umpire supervisors; it did so in January of last year, canning three after the 2009 playoffs showcased several blown calls. But you sure don't see a lot of umpires getting fired for just being bad.
To me, that's a union with too much power. And please don't draw any parallels to teachers or government workers or teamsters. I'm just talking about baseball, which basically makes its own business rules regarding labor, drug testing and monopolies, anyway.
Davidson isn't the only reason the Brewers lost last night, but he didn't help. When they're doing their job, umpires are supposed to be invisible, and apparently, Davidson rarely is.
He, along with the other tenured umps who are barely fit to call a little league game, must be replaced.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
