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Umpire shortage hits Portland-area baseball leagues

Baseball leagues across the metro area are having trouble finding enough umpires to meet the uptick in player registration.

BEAVERTON, Ore. — Former umpire Steve Weidmann called baseball games for 30 years in the Portland-Vancouver area. He’s now the commissioner of the Portland Baseball Umpires Association (PBUA), which serves 56 high schools in the Portland area by providing umpires for baseball games.

“We do it because we love to watch kids play baseball,” he said. “The more opportunities we can provide for them to play, the happier we are.”

If your own baseball-playing days are over, Weidmann said becoming an umpire is a great way to stay in the game. This year, unfortunately, area leagues are facing tough calls with fewer umpires.

“This year, we're all back to normal game-wise,” said Weidman. “We've had about 1,600 games, and we've only got about 110 umpires. So we increased the number of games by 60%. We’ve got 10% more umpires.”

Credit: PBUA

Northwest Youth Baseball Umpires Association (NYBUA) president Dave Kuhns is seeing the same difficulties.

“All the nights that it takes to put together a baseball team and have them play well, it's the same with umpires,” he said.

NYBUA primarily serves 14 and under leagues, like Murrayhill Little League in Beaverton. Jeremy Cowan is the league’s umpire in charge. 

“If you love the game and you care about kids and their experience, this is a great way to go out and participate,” Cowan said. “Baseball is one of those great sports, America's pastime, right? Where kids want to get out and play, and part of that is having skilled individuals behind the plate so the games are officiated fair, they move along.”

Credit: NYBUA

Without enough umpires to work, games are sometimes rescheduled to different days or times — a tricky shuffling act when late games happen on school nights.

Kuhns said NYBUA will work 3,000 games this year. He’d love to have about 50 more umpires.

“In games where we would normally require two umpires, in a lot of cases we're only able to provide one and that makes it difficult for the umpire,” said Kuhns.

Depending on the league and level, you can earn anywhere from $55 to $70 per game, or simply volunteer. You just need to know how to put on a hat and a face mask.

Credit: Dave Kuhns

“It's easy and it's fun and we’ll teach you everything you need to know," said Weidmann.

Umpires go through trainings and clinics and eventually, a test. 

“We'd love to have the community engage and be involved,” said Cowan. “And we welcome people that maybe aren’t as experienced, and they want to be trained or they want to get a shot. It's all about building and developing not only kids but volunteers as well.”

If you are interested in signing up to become an umpire, visit juniorbaseballorg.com, murrayhilllittleleague.com or pbua.org

    

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