There are around 4 umps who have strike zones that are known to not align with the one we think of (like I said somewhere else - it's a tenure track job). The rest might have off nights but on the whole maybe miss one or two calls out of ~75 in a game. That's incredible. I get testy about umpiring, because I umpired for a while at a local level -- teenagers for chrissakes -- and it was the hardest (most skill-needed) job I've ever had or probably ever will have. And I was treated like shit at least once a day. Which is fine, comes with the territory -- but the money does not come with the territory until you become one of the 100 major league umpires. So 99% of all professional umps are doing it essentially because they love the game. Read this. EDIT: I think Hernandez flipped on instant replay because he was vocally opposed in the past but according to a broadcast I caught the other day he has supported its execution this year.
Oh absolutely. I respect umps more than almost anyone. That's a tough as shit job that requires a certain amount of balls and an eye for details and I just don't have that and find it incredible. Certain individuals in the union just ruin things by their absolutes, and unfortunately they are the ones that get the attention; but when games are very well decided by their calls in many cases, it's important to hold them to a certain standard. Also, fuck every person who get bent out of shape and yelling at umps at teenagers playing the game. Things like that-- adults taking the game far more seriously then they should-- are what got me to stop playing sports entirely, and I'll never forgive them for ruining what should have been a happy, fun childhood memory and making it into a living hell.