Umpires are baseball or softball rules officials. The umpires must maintain order on the playing field while also enforcing all official rules and penalties. The umpires play an important role in baseball games, because they must make calls on every single play. The official rules of Major League Baseball provide specific descriptions of the umpires' duties and responsibilities.
Authority
All players, coaches, managers, field or club staff, journalists, spectators or other persons on the field must follow the umpire's directions. The umpire oversees all these people and ensures that they act in a sportsmanlike manner and follow the official rules of the sport.
Ejection
The umpire can disqualify any players, coaches or managers for acting in an unsportsmanlike way or for using profanity. The umpire also can also eject disqualified players, coaches or managers from the field. The umpire can eject any grounds crew members, journalists or spectators from the field at any time if necessary.
Disputed Decisions
Many decisions that the umpire makes--such as calling a ball fair or foul, a runner safe or out, or a pitch a strike or a ball--require personal judgment. Though players, coaches or managers might disagree with the umpire's judgment, they must accept the umpire's decision as final. However, a manager can appeal an umpire's decision if he feels the decision contradicts the official rules of the sport. The umpire who made the disputed decision can consult other umpires about the relevant rules when deciding whether to change his decision.
Umpire-in-Chief
If a game has only one umpire, that umpire takes responsibility for managing all rules and conduct decisions. If a game has more than one umpire, one umpire takes the role of umpire-in-chief. The umpire-in-chief must stand behind the catcher. His responsibilities include calling and counting pitches as balls or strikes, calling batted balls fair or foul, making all calls regarding the batter and making all calls not specifically designated as field umpire responsibilities.
Field Umpires
If a game has more than one umpire, one umpire is the umpire-in-chief, and the others are field umpires. Field umpires stand on the playing field in a location that gives them the best view of the bases and the best ability to make rules calls. The field umpires' responsibilities include making all calls regarding the bases and the runners as well as assisting the umpire-in-chief on other rules calls.
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