Planet of the Umps: A Baseball Life from Behind the Plate

Kaiser's anecdotes are often funny and very revealing of the umpire's job. He dispels many ideas of how an umpire makes certain calls. Much of these myths are voiced by sportscasters/writers who like to sound as if they know the inside scoop of the game including the mind of the umps.

I knew of Kaiser's name when he umpired, but I was mostly neutral about him, unlike my positive thoughts about the delightful Ron Luciano, or the less happy thoughts of someone like Rich Garcia. His stories also make clear that what some believe as the self importance of the current umpires is nothing new to the game, but their working conditions have certainly improved.

The book ends sadly, though, with Kaiser an apparent victim of the Richie Phillips led union. Don't get me wrong, Kaiser is a big fellow and capable of making up his own mind, but the former union's advise was equaled in absurdity by the former air traffic controllers union. The result was predictable and the game is not better off. Kaiser deserves much credit for providing a well articulated defense of the umpire's job, his tributes to Ron Luciano, the Ripkens and his blasts at Earl Weaver, sports journalists, and the baseball hierarchy.


Good stories but skewed viewpoint   December 20, 2003
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

The best parts of this book are the stories about what it was like to be a minor league and major league umpire. The worst parts, from my perspective, are in Kaiser's biased views about the umpires' labor problems and the quality of umpiring in the majors. Kaiser goes on at length about how every umpire has his own strike zone, and complains about the attempts to standardize it. While it's true that calling balls and strikes is very difficult and that absolute standardization is probably impossible, it's also true that several umpires' strike zones had gotten completely ridiculous (Eric Gregg would regularly call strikes on pitches several inches outside, for example).

Kaiser says he trusted union head Richie Phillips too much when he agreed to resign along with most other major league umps. The problem wasn't just one of trust - it was one of arrogance. The umpires thought they were bigger than the game, that a mass resignation would force the owners to come crawling. They also failed to consider whom they were dealing with. Sandy Alderson accepted the mass resignation. This is the one time in labor history that a union broke itself. Major League Baseball owners have historically been poor labor negotiators, but they finally ran into a group of people who were worse. Kaiser doesn't face up to any of this, in my opinion. He admits it was a mistake to sign his resignation letter, but apart from that he seems to see himself as a victim.

I think the book is worth reading, as long as one takes some of Kaiser's views with a grain of salt.