Why are baseball umpires almost all white males?

[srf1957]

sekker wrote:
[quote=chopper]
I wonder if they just hired the most qualified people for the job?

Why would being a white male be an advantage? Lots of non-white baseball players.

And I'd think women would have great eyesight, too. No they hired the guys who couldn't make it as players; and couldn't give up the game. . African Americans don't play baseball as a #1 sport now as when back in the Negro Leagues times . Umpires are hired for MLB out of the minor leagues . So tge pay down there is probably not very good so you have to be a masochist to preservre .

[Article Accelerator]

chopper wrote:
I wonder if they just hired the most qualified people for the job?

Apparently not.

[DP]

Jeez, does everything have to racial?

[GuyGene]

DP wrote:
Jeez, does everything have to racial?

:agree:

[sekker]

GuyGene wrote:
[quote=DP]
Jeez, does everything have to racial?

:agree:
I was asking the same thing, and not trying to be political.

I think Speedy has the best answer.

[3d]

Why are nurses mostly female?
For whatever reason, not many men choose to study/train to be a nurse. There are male nurses. Just a very small percentage in the hiring pool.

[NewtonMP2100]

DP wrote:
Jeez, does everything have to racial?

....if you are white, then no...but if you are not then yes.....because that is reality....

[apocketfulofwry]

Worst umpires:

C.B. Bucknor
Laz Diaz
Angel Hernandez

Case closed.

Oh, wait.

Joe West is just as bad.

I guess you'll have to ask the Good Ol' Boys Network for the real answer.

[sekker]

3d wrote:
Why are nurses mostly female?
For whatever reason, not many men choose to study/train to be a nurse. There are male nurses. Just a very small percentage in the hiring pool.

That's a circular argument.

Nursing has never locked men out of its club; the history of nursing is tied to everything from nuns and the lack of opportunity for women to be physicians.

[sekker]

I also realize that the umps in the post season are there due to seniority. Hence, they are older - and the demographics were likely highly skewed when their cohort started in baseball.

This article from 2007 says the reason almost all umps start with little league etc, and those are almost all men:

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_p...black.html

More from 2010:

https://www.sbnation.com/2010/5/18/14780...rican-male

2015 - the NFL named its first female ref. Baseball is still years away:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/1...64220.html

Women have only been allowed to be considered to be an ump since 1972, when a woman named Bernie Gera won that right via a lawsuit.

Bottom line: I expect to see white males as umps for the 'World' Series for most of the rest of my life.

Interesting.