As They See 'Em As They See 'Em

As They See 'Em

A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires

    • $18.99

Publisher Description

Named One of the Best Baseball Books Ever Written by Esquire

An insider’s look at the largely unknown world of professional umpires, the small group of men (and the very occasional woman) who make sure America’s favorite pastime is conducted in a manner that is clean, crisp, and true.​

Millions of American baseball fans know, with absolute certainty, that umpires are simply overpaid galoots who are doing an easy job badly. Millions of American baseball fans are wrong.

Bruce Weber, a New York Times reporter, not only interviewed dozens of professional umpires but entered their world, trained to become an umpire, then spent a season working games from Little League to big league spring training. As They See ’Em is Weber’s entertaining account of this experience as well as a lively exploration of what amounts to an eccentric secret society, with its own customs, its own rituals, its own colorful vocabulary. Writing with deep knowledge of and affection for baseball, he delves into such questions as: Why isn’t every strike created equal? Is the ump part of the game or outside of it? Why doesn’t a tie go to the runner? And what do umps and managers say to each other during an argument, really?

Packed with fascinating reportage that reveals the game as never before and answers the kinds of questions that fans, exasperated by the clichés of conventional sports commentary, pose to themselves around the television set, Bruce Weber’s As They See ’Em is a towering grand slam.

GENRE
Sports & Outdoors
RELEASED
2009
March 17
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
352
Pages
PUBLISHER
Scribner
SELLER
Simon & Schuster Canada
SIZE
1.2
MB
The Baseball Codes The Baseball Codes
2010
Season Ticket Season Ticket
2013
The Umpire Strikes Back The Umpire Strikes Back
2022
Five Seasons Five Seasons
2013
I'm Fascinated by Sacrifice Flies I'm Fascinated by Sacrifice Flies
2016
Off Speed Off Speed
2017
Life Is a Wheel Life Is a Wheel
2014
The Listener The Listener
2023
Wandering in the Gardens of the Mind Wandering in the Gardens of the Mind
2003
Frontiers in Resource and Rural Economics Frontiers in Resource and Rural Economics
2010