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Strike force

MLB cracking down on umpires' differing strike zones

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Posted: Monday February 22, 1999 08:39 PM

Commissioner Bud Selig wants a uniform strike zone that will give pitchers the high strike. Jonathan Kirn/Allsport

NEW YORK (AP) -- Baseball is promising to crack down on differing interpretations of the strike zone, telling teams the official definition "will be more strictly enforced" by umpires this year.

The move was immediately attacked as "deplorable" by the head of the umpires' union.

In one of the first moves of the restructured commissioner's office under Bud Selig -- and one that could provoke anger among umpires -- the decision was made by Sandy Alderson, the new executive director of baseball operations.

The move appears designed to get umpires to call "high strikes." In recent years, umpires rarely call any pitch above the belt a strike.

"I don't see how anyone could say we're going to more strictly enforce a rule,' umpires' union head Richie Phillips said. 'The umpires enforce all of the rules. That's been their job for more than 100 years. It is deplorable for the commissioner's office to indicate that the umpires have not strictly enforced all of the rules."

In a rarity, the players' association backed owners.

"There never has been a good reason for why players should have to adjust to 32 different strike zones, so some effort to make the strike zone more uniform is to be welcomed," said Gene Orza, the No. 2 official of the players' union.

The existence of the memo, which was sent to teams Friday, was first reported Monday by the Los Angeles Times, and a copy of the memo was obtained by The Associated Press.

"This is to inform you that, at the direction of commissioner Selig, and after consultation with the league presidents, the 'strike zone' as defined in the official playing rules will be more strictly enforced in 1999 by umpires in both leagues," Alderson wrote to teams.

According to the rules, the strike zone goes from "a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants" to "a line at the hollow beneath the kneecap."

In the memo, which was sent to all managers and general managers, Alderson said that while the top of the strike zone is difficult to define, "the upper limit of the strike zone will extend two inches above the top of the uniform pants."

Criticism of the differing strike zones escalated after the 1997 NL playoffs, when a wide strike zone by Eric Gregg led to a 15-strikeout game by Florida's Livan Hernandez. AL umpires were criticized for several blown calls during last year's playoffs, one of the reasons Selig is trying to shift responsibility over umpires away from the leagues to Alderson.

"The strike zone is the strike zone," Phillips said. "Is there a different strike zone in the American League and National League? Definitely not. Some of them may see it different, but the strike zone is the strike zone."

The umpires' labor agreement expires after this season, and a confrontation between owners and umpires is expected. Umpires have been demanding more backing since 1996, when Roberto Alomar, then of the Baltimore Orioles, spit at umpire John Hirschbeck and was suspended for only five games. Alomar didn't service the penalty during the playoffs, rather at the start of the following season.

Since then, umpires have demanded owners and players agree to a "code of conduct." While there were several meetings two years ago, agreement on a code has still proved elusive.

Alderson's memo may heighten the tension.

"Neither the umpires or the umpires' association were consulted on this issue," Phillips said. "But I'm not surprised by what goes on in the baseball offices at Park Avenue."

 

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