In the 20-plus years I have coached and the 10 I have umpired, I have seen a lot of baseball. The biggest thorn in my side is seeing the official umpires today ruin the game. Despite their training, they repeatedly disregard some vital rules, such as to keep the game fair and be professional.

There is a zone directly over the plate, from the letters to the knees, that is the strike zone. But today’s umpires squeeze the better pitchers, as if to facilitate the pitcher-hitter dynamic to make it a fair battle. If they all just called strikes according to the standard strike zone, the game would be fair for all players.

These umpires are getting paid good money to do what they do, and yet I have witnessed games where the home plate umpire will turn around and reply to a commentator in the crowd. One time, I heard the umpire reply with, “You didn’t like that call? Wait ’til the next!”

These umpires spend way too much time concerned about what is going on outside the fence rather than within it, and often lose track of their professionalism.

The zone becomes a guessing game for both the pitchers and the hitters. I hear the coaches say way too often to their pitchers, “The ump has a small strike zone so make it be right down the middle.”

There is a standard strike zone, and it’s not fair to any player when the umpires create their own.

Tim Williams, Norway