SABR 52: Listen to highlights from Umpires Panel with Jeff Nelson, Stew Thornley, Emma Charlesworth-Seiler, Bill Nowlin
On Friday, August 10, 2024, the SABR 52 Umpires Panel was held at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. Panelists included Emma Charlesworth-Seiler, Minor League umpire from 2017-2022; Jeff Nelson, Major League umpire from 1997-2023; and Stew Thornley, amateur umpire and official scorer. Moderator: Bill Nowlin, co-editor of The SABR Book of Umpires and Umpiring.
Charlesworth-Seiler spent six seasons as a professional umpire. She attended the Minor League Baseball Umpire Academy in 2017 and began her professional career the same year. She worked in the Gulf Coast Rookie League, Florida Instructional League, Florida Spring Training, Arizona Spring Training, Northwest League, and Midwest League. She also taught with Major League Baseball Umpire Camps and was an academy instructor for three years before retiring following the 2022 season.
Nelson was a major-league umpire for 26 years from 1997 to 2023. He called four World Series, nine League Championship Series, and two All-Star Games during his professional career. He served as a crew chief from 2014 until his retirement. He attended the Joe Brinkman Umpire School in Florida in 1989 before making his debut as a National League umpire in 1997.
Thornley is Minnesota’s foremost baseball historian and the inaugural president of SABR’s Halsey Hall Chapter. He is the author of many articles and books on Minnesota baseball history, including the award-winning On to Nicollet: The Glory and Fame of the Minneapolis Millers, The St. Paul Saints: Baseball in the Capital City, Holy Cow! The Life and Times of Halsey Hall, Minnesota Twins Baseball: Hardball History on the Prairie, and SABR’s Minnesotans in Baseball.
Nowlin is a prolific historian of the Boston Red Sox and a member of SABR’s Board of Directors since 2004. He is the author of Working a “Perfect Game”: Conversations With Umpires and more than 75 other baseball books, including dozens published by the SABR Digital Library. He has contributed hundreds of articles to SABR’s BioProject. He is also one of three founders of Rounder Records, one of America’s most successful independent record labels and a member of the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame. He was the 2011 winner of the Bob Davids Award, SABR’s highest honor.
- AUDIO: Listen to highlights from the SABR 52 Umpires Panel (54:19; MP3)
Here are some highlights:
ON YOUR UMPIRING ROLE MODELS
- Nelson: “If you know umpires, you won’t really make them your role models. But this is a profession that leans heavily on mentors. And I had good mentors. A man named Butch Fisher, a former minor-league umpire, he was phenomenal. In the major leagues, Joe Brinkman, Tim Tschida from St. Paul here. Then I had great crew chiefs: Jimmy Joyce, Dale Scott, Jeff Kellogg.
- Thornley: “I’m going to say my dad. He taught me at an early age don’t boo the umpires. And he supported the umpires. He came to a high school game I was in and he thought I was mad at the umpire. I was just mad at the pitcher for painting that outside corner twice in a row. … After the game, he said, ‘You know, the umpire got those right.’ I think about that — that was 50 years ago — and how a parent might react today if little Junior thinks he got hosed by the umpire. That wasn’t my dad. He was good and he taught me well.”
ON THE FUTURE OF UMPIRING
- Charlesworth-Seiler: “I think there are things about umpiring that you can quantify and that you can pull data points from … that are black-and-white. But there are so many elements to baseball that are not black-and-white, and that require you do have judgment. And judgment is not laid out in an extremely binary manner. So there could be multiple answers, or someone could interpret differently from someone else. … It’s way more complex than ‘I’m going to have a computer make a decision’ that a lot of people don’t realize. So I don’t think that umpires can effectively be replaced by robots.”
ON YOUR FAVORITE PLAYERS TO UMPIRE
- Nelson: “Well, they usually ask us who’s the biggest jerk! … There were several good guys. It’s a shorter list. Joe Mauer from here, he was the real deal. … I had Tony Gwynn at the end of his career, I was a young umpire. You remember the people who treat you well when you were young. … A lesser known guy for the Tigers was Brandon Inge. He was not only a nice guy, but a funny guy. He had a good sense of humor and was fun to work behind.”
- Charlesworth-Seiler: “You’ll be happy to know that (Minnesota Twins rookie) Royce Lewis was very nice when he was a first-round draft pick. I briefly got to work with (former Twins infielder) Tommy Watkins, he was very nice. Lance Parrish was a manager for a Detroit affiliate, and he could sometimes get a little worked up but he clearly respected what we were doing.”
ON FINDING UMPIRING EQUIPMENT FOR WOMEN
- Charlesworth-Seiler: “That’s one of those things people probably don’t think about. Most of the uniforms and protective gear, they are generally made for larger people. So for someone my size, or even smaller men, it can be difficult to find something that fits you. We have a new-ish clause in our minor-league union contract that allows for tailoring for female umpires, because they only offer men’s pants and uniforms. You are allowed to get those tailored and have those expenses covered.”
For more coverage of SABR 52, visit SABR.org/convention.
Originally published: August 27, 2024. Last Updated: August 27, 2024.