How Much Do MLB Umpires Make
We all love the MLB and the game of baseball. We admire the skills of the players, the athleticism and the achievements the best of them make, but we never wonder what the entire organization looks like.
Baseball has been played for more than 150 years in the US, and although it was purely amateur at the beginning, it has grown into something much more. What started as fun in the streets of the big cities turned into a multi-billion business that makes everyone rich while keeping fans entertained.
For one game to be possible hundreds of people must do their jobs. We don’t see them on the pitch. They are behind the scenes – in the locker rooms, in the corridors, around the arena, but there’s one person who is right there – we see them all the time, and they are part of the organization, yet, they do not belong to any of the teams. These people are the umpires.
Who are the Umpires?
There are four umpires on the field while the game is played. There’s the home plate umpire, which is considered the most important one, and three more on each base. They are responsible for making decisions on different parts of the field, but they all have the same level of authority. No umpire leads the game.
However, the one on the home plate is considered the most important one because he has a pinch more responsibility as most of the game happens right there. The battle between the batter and the pitches is something they can severely influence. They can really affect the MLB BvP stats by calling shots that favor one over the other. This is why most arguments between players and umpires happen right there.
Unlike the players, who are paid a minimum of $720,000 annually, the umpires make way less. All four of them make the same amount, regardless of their position, but the salaries differ depending on their experience and time spent in the league. Rookie umpires make less than veterans. So, exactly how much do MLB umpires make?
Average MLB Umpire Salary
The minimum wage of MLB players is much higher than the wage of the most experienced umpires. The most experienced ones make around $500,000 annually. Veterans make between $350,000 and $400,000, while entry-level umpires will make somewhere between $120,000 and $150,000.
Based on everything above, we’d say that the average MLB umpire salary is around $325,000, which is an amazing amount compared to the average US salary in different working sectors. Working the job you love and getting a tremendous paycheck is something many dream of. These numbers are still far from what professional baseball players make, but umpires are not bad either.
Considering the tough calls they must make every game and the pressure they feel from the players, the staff, and the media, this amount might not be as high as it should be. They should be making at least as much as the most inexperienced players in the league because they are also part of the game and create the image of the MLB.
Do umpires get paid for extra innings?
Umpires do get paid extra for innings that go beyond the ninth. This is considered as a time that umpires work outside their regular agreement, so it’s fair to give them compensation for the hours spent on the field that was outside the official part of the game.
This fact often makes fans speculate about the fairness of the umpires’ calls. If their team loses, fans and media sometimes call out umpires for making wrong decisions because they “dragged” the game into extra innings. They think this is done to postpone and make the game go into extra innings so they can make more money.
However, no facts can support such claims, and no umpire has ever been officially sanctioned for something like this. Umpires are true professionals who make calls based on their experience and personal opinions, which sometimes affect the outcome of matches. That doesn’t mean they are intentionally sending games into extra innings.
Conclusion
No matter how paid umpires are, they will always make calls that affect games. Fans will always be disappointed when their teams lose and blame it on the umpires. Sometimes, speculations go as far as entire franchises being labelled as hated by them. When a team continuously misses to make it into the playoffs, umpires are the ones who often get the blame for it.
If you know that umpires have little to no influence on teams making it into the playoffs, you’ll know that at least the wild card spot will be safe for them. How does the MLB wild card work, you may ask? That’s a topic we talked about previously, so feel free to check it out and read more about MLB.