Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor hail will stop them from their appointed rounds. There’s baseball to play!

THIS Is the Land of the Umpires!?

By Rick Roder

It might snow on any given day between September and May. Welcome to Michigan – a sportsman’s paradise – land of ice fishing, snowmobiling, deer hunting and, of course, umpiring.

Yes, you read that right. A state that’s lucky to get two month’s worth of summer and virtually no spring or fall is home to one of the largest concentrations of successful baseball umpires in the world.

The only states claiming more active major league umpires are California and Ohio, yet no regional concentration comes close to matching the relatively small geographic section of southern Michigan. With Kalamazoo, Lansing and the Detroit metro area serving as the outlying points, it forms a sort of reverse Bermuda Triangle that instead of mysteriously swallowing airplanes just as mysteriously spews out men in blue.

An incredible seven MLB umpires were raised in the "valley" formed by Interstates 96 and 94 on the Lower Peninsula. Mike Reilly, a 26-year big league veteran, hails from Battle Creek, and he might be called the "grandfather" of a long list of active professional umpires hailing from the region. Tim McClelland was born and raised in Jackson. Rick Reed and Paul Emmel represent the Detroit metro area – as does Rocky Roe, who recently retired. And a whopping three MLB umpires, Tim and Bill Welke and Jeff Kellogg, are all from Coldwater (population 9,607!). In addition to the big league arbiters are eight umpires from the region working in the minor league system, vying to join them.

"There’s a real passion for baseball – and all sports – in Michigan," says Reilly. "And I believe you have to love the game of baseball before you ever become an umpire."

The professionals are only part of the story. Michigan has been integral in supplying umpires to the College World Series and many big college conferences. And the state is also prominent nationally in the evaluation, supervision and assigning of umpires. Mike Fitzpatrick of Kalamazoo is the executive director of field supervision for the Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation, which oversees minor league umpire development. Mike Felt, one of his supervisors, is from Lansing. And Rich Fetchiet, former NCAA baseball rules editor, is a retired NCAA arbiter from Ann Arbor, who supervises umpires for six NCAA conferences, including the Big 10.

So where does all that over-achieving come from? How does a state with a nine-month frostline give birth to so many guardians of the nation’s favorite warm weather pasttime? Is it the mist from the Great Lakes or something more tangible?

Colleges Make Pros

A study naturally begins with the senior and most successful umpires; in Michigan’s case there are four major league crew chiefs to pick from. Their careers, and those of umpires and supervisors like Fitzpatrick and Fetchiet, had their beginnings in the 1970s. A common denominator quickly emerged: the strong influence of both intercollegiate and intramural athletics in Michigan’s colleges and universities.

Reilly, McClelland and Tim Welke were all raised on Michigan’s rolling hills west of Detroit, and all three gained an interest in officiating during their college years. Reilly was a freshman physical education major at Kellogg Community College, Battle Creek, in 1970 when he took an officiating class and began to referee basketball. "I absolutely loved officiating and I was playing baseball, so I naturally got into umpiring. I took a semester off to attend umpire school in 1972. It turned out to be a little more than a semester." A short five years later Reilly signed a major league contract. He worked his first World Series in front of his home state in 1984 when Detroit beat San Diego in five games.

Reilly and McClelland pulled a switch of sorts; Reilly was born and lived briefly in Iowa, and McClelland, raised in Jackson, Mich., now resides in Des Moines. McClelland, a 20-year MLB veteran, got his Masters degree in Intramural Administration from Michigan State University in East Lansing before heading off for a professional umpiring career. "I worked most sports in the intramural programs and that was the beginning of my love for officiating. It all helped boost my lifelong love of baseball, and the result is my career in the major leagues."

Tim Welke, who has received MLB postseason assignments in six of the last eight seasons – including the 1996 and 2000 World Series – got started officiating as a 19-year-old student at Glen Oaks Community College in Centreville, Mich. "I loved umpiring because I loved sports and it was a job you could do outside. I wasn’t very good at it, but I wanted to be, so I went to umpire school. I went there without any concept at all about umpiring professionally."

Rick Reed, who became a crew chief in 1999, attended umpire school with the sole aspiration of becoming a Big 10 umpire. Born and raised in the Detroit metro area, he took an interest in collegiate umpiring while attending Eastern Michigan University (EMU). "We were constantly going to sporting events. I’d done some Little League baseball and decided I wanted to get Big 10 games. It didn’t hurt that I aced an officiating course that Ron Oestrike, the EMU baseball coach, taught. You tend to remember and like the courses that you ace."

Tim Welke believes that Michigan’s umpires come from a vein that runs much deeper than the collegiate level. "I think the high skill level of amateur baseball leagues has led directly to the large number and high quality of baseball umpires. Baseball is a priority (especially when there’s not a whole lot of opportunity to play in any given year). Take my town of Coldwater. We had a beautiful high school ballpark that was already lighted by the early- to mid-1970s, back when I am sure most high school parks in the nation were not. It’s a supply and demand thing."

Once the Ball Starts Rolling …

Kellogg, a 10-year MLB umpire, also got his start in Michigan’s collegiate athletics, but an added incentive was the visibility of Welke. "I officiated intramurals at Central Michigan and Ferris State (universities) and enjoyed it. I had never done baseball, but I knew it was full-time, unlike football, and I didn’t want to pursue basketball. Then one day I was watching the Game of the Week on TV and there was Tim working the plate. I graduated (high school) with his sister and wrestled with one of his brothers in Coldwater. I knew he was umpiring professionally, but had no idea he was in the big leagues. I thought that was great, had been thinking about it, and decided to pursue it."

Out of all of Michigan’s big leaguers, Kellogg perhaps best exemplifies the independent spirit of umpires. "Even though I knew Tim I didn’t call on him for advice as I went through the minor leagues. I wanted to make it on my own." On that note, Kellogg adds, "No matter who these Michigan umpires are looking up to, it’s pretty obvious they are not afraid to take the risk and pursue their dreams at the umpire schools."

McClelland concurs on the visibility factor. "Don’t underestimate the impact of media coverage. The publicity an MLB umpire receives can have a big impact in the city and area where you live. A kid will see that a local man worked the plate in the World Series and he’ll say to himself, ‘Maybe I can do that, too.’ Next thing you know he’s in the profession."

Tim Welke was the first of the present Michigan MLB umpires to have relied on a mentor from among the amateur ranks in his climb to the top. The relationship, like many between umpires the umpires of Michigan, was very close. "John Lewis (a local umpire) was 10 years older than me and helped bring me along into umpiring. We became great friends and supported each other. After I was in the big leagues, John became sick with cancer. I sent him the plate shirt I wore when I worked Game Four of the 2000 World Series. From then on he wore it whenever he went in for radiation, says it uplifted him. I was humbled by that. People like John touch our lives. We sometimes forget that we can touch theirs, too." Lewis was put to rest wearing Welke’s jersey.

All in the Family

Part of the reason for Michigan’s concentration of umpires is the Welke family’s concentration of umpires. When Tim’s younger brother, Bill, signed an MLB contract in 1999, he became only the second brother of an MLB umpire to make the big leagues as an umpire himself (the other brother pair – John and Mark Hirschbeck – is also active). Thus, Bill naturally had a built-in mentor from a young age. "Tim left for umpire school when I was eight. From then on I rooted for umpires. I never watched the team or players." Bill was born on the day before Tim’s 10th birthday. "Out on the field the players will ask if I am related to Tim and I’ll say, ‘Distantly.’ They’ll say, ‘How distantly?’ and I tell them, ‘There’re five kids between us.’" Bill obtained used umpiring equipment from Tim and took up the avocation in college. "I talked to him about going into professional umpiring, but Tim said to finish college. I did that and went back to him and told him I was still interested. I think he was surprised."

Having a big league brother brought Bill some advantages and some challenges that he turned into advantages. "Tim was instructing at the (Jim) Evans umpire school. I had talked about going to the (Joe) Brinkman school under a made-up name. But I decided against that." Welke attended Evans’s Academy of Professional Umpiring with another student who had like concerns. "Mike DiMuro’s dad was a big league umpire and his older brother Ray was already in the minor leagues. We looked at umpire school realistically. We both knew there were targets on our backs from the start. And we were tested. But I felt like the adversity made me stronger. I worked extra hard to be my own person." During his minor league years, Bill was able to consult with his brother. "He didn’t tell me how to be a major league umpire, but how to be a quality minor league umpire. He reminded me of the work ethic I needed to have. It was ‘big brotherly’ type advice that just happened to come from a big league umpire."

The relationships between Michigan’s MLB umpires don’t end with the brotherhood of the Welkes. Bill is married to Theresa Kellogg, Jeff’s sister. "I didn’t go out of my way to tell umpires about that during my minor league years," Welke says. "Some good friends in the game didn’t even know. I just figured why should I paint a second bullseye on my back?"

Reilly, who relates that Kellogg is his best friend in the game, says that the personalities and work ethic of the MLB umpires from Michigan give some indication of the reasons for their success. "There’s not a better bunch of guys in the world. Jeff and the Welkes came to help me with a benefit umpire clinic last winter and wouldn’t take a dime. If you walked in and saw them with those amateurs you’d never guess by their demeanor that they were big time officials. They treated the students as equals, got right in there and worked hard with them. That says a lot."

Michigan has received outstanding representation on two World Series umpiring crews. Reilly and McClelland were Series crewmembers in 2002 for the matchup between Anaheim and San Francisco. In the 2000, "Subway Series" between the Yankees and Mets, half of the six-man crew was made in Michigan – McClelland, Tim Welke, and Kellogg.

Still Coming Up

Fitzpatrick cites the expanding horizons of professional baseball within Michigan as an impetus for umpire aspirations. "We live in a sports hotbed. The enthusiasm has continued to grow and in the 1990s alone three professional baseball teams entered the state," he says, referring to the West Michigan White Caps, the Lansing Lugnuts and the Battle Creek Yankees of the Single-A Midwest League. "The escalation of professional baseball in Michigan and the success of these teams has been phenomenal. And the visibility certainly encourages amateur umpires to consider a professional career."

Brian Reilly, Mike Reilly’s nephew, is one of the eight minor league umpires from Michigan. He stated without equivocation that familial relationships influenced his career decision. "My dad was a Big 10 umpire. With he and Mike to look up to, I’ve always known this is what I was going to do." Brian is working on the Single-A level in the Midwest League. Scott Barry of the Double-A Eastern League is trying to become the fourth MLB umpire to come from the vicinity of Coldwater. Brent Rice of Jackson is striving to follow in the footsteps of McClelland. Bobby Price is from Ann Arbor, Scott Walendowski represents Detroit metro and D.J. Reyburn and Steve Bretz the Lansing area.

For those Michigan umpires taking the amateur road, the mentoring aspect has been the lynchpin of umpiring success. Guys like the late Doug Cossey, who worked six College World Series from the ’60s to the ’80s, and Dick Runchey, now retired from umpiring, were vital cogs in a system of mutual assistance that goes back several decades.

Runchey, whose professional and amateur career dates back 30 years, worked five College World Series. He says, "Umpiring in Michigan has never been a cutthroat thing. Older umpires are willing to help younger umpires along, take them under their wing, spend the time to sit down and talk. We have a great fraternity among umpires and you pass your success on down the line." Runchey added, "And don’t rule out the Midwest work ethic. Sometimes that boils down to not having any distractions like beaches."

Mark Uyl, 28, a younger collegiate umpire, relates that the tradition has continued. Uyl is an assistant principal and athletic director at Thornapple Kellogg High School in Middleville, Mich. "In working with officials from different sports through my job, I definitely see a stronger brotherhood among the baseball umpires. Veteran guys will go out of their way to help less-experienced umpires, and they have their eyes open for talented guys they can help along. I think basketball referees are much more protective of their turf. They’re reluctant to give up what they know in fear they’ll start losing assignments."

Mark’s younger brother, Dave, is a minor league umpire in the class A California League. The Uyl’s father was a high school official who ran the local youth sports program, so Mark and Dave were often called upon to fill in as officials.

Fetchiet, like Runchey, recently retired after 30 seasons and three College World Series. As a college assigner, he says there’s one other aspect of umpiring that is normally not taken for granted in Michigan. "I believe that our success is the direct result of umpires willing to pay their dues. It comes from way back, from the old school guys like Cossey and Runchey. Cossey was like the godfather. He’d make you work your way up, starting with the jucos. Runchey was a mentor of mine. There was a pipeline with those guys and you had to respect that and pay your dues."

While the Southern Michigan triangle has yielded a great many successful umpires, it has failed to produce one particular reason for that success. Rather, the unparalleled success of those regional umpires seems to be a non-specific expression of all the qualities that make an umpire great: The presence of role models and mentors, training, risk taking, loyalty, an independent spirit, paying one’s dues, good baseball, a strong work ethic and – perhaps most of all – a love of the game.

Rick Roder is a freelance writer who lives in Remsen, Iowa. A former pro umpire, he operates www.rulesofbaseball.com and is the author of several books on baseball rules.