Recently, MLB reporter Benjamin Hill wrote a great article, “Umps Follow Same Road as Players” on the path umps take to get to the Majors. Check out his full article on MiLB.com. If you’ve ever wondered how Big League umps become Big League umps, Hill’s article is a great place to start.

As the article explains, umpires are on a development track through the minor leagues that is similar to the trek players make. Few people realize the stress and pressure it takes to get through this system. The misconceptions on this life are amusing for those who know how it really works.

For instance, fans often think my husband works all of the games for our local minor league team. NO!!!! While at one point he did get to work a few local games that was because he was assigned to the same league. The fact of the matter is that most umps work in leagues far from home depending on how they are assigned, ranked, promoted, etc. Actually, this season my husband makes only one trip into our home state.

I’ve been pretty sick with a bad respiratory infection for a while now, so people often ask when my husband will get to come home to be with me. Again, NO!!!!! It just doesn’t work like that. There is much sacrifice that comes with the baseball life, especially in regard to family. While players are often far from home, they are at least based in one city for half their games. Umps travel from city to city throughout the season. For example, a Texas League ump will travel, by van with his 3-man crew, from Corpus Christi to Midland for 3-6 games then travel to Little Rock for another 4 games then onto Springfield for 4 then back down to Frisco for 6, etc, etc.

There are few off days in the minors and for umps those days are often spent travelling. Living out of a suitcase going from hotel to hotel for 6 months is strenuous. You can’t go see your family, family comes to you which is expensive, especially on a not so lucrative minor league salary.

But hey, it’s for the love of the game….we make it work.