Field of dreams? Fredericton native seeks umpire career in Florida

A Fredericton native is going into professional baseball as an umpire. But Matt Whipple still has a long ways to go before he can make it in the big leagues.

The 24-year-old recently graduated from the Minor League Baseball Umpire Training Academy in Florida, and now has a job with a minor league.

He said he decided to make it his career after umpiring a few local games with his dad as a teenager.

"I didn't want to flip burgers at McDonald's," he said. "So I figured being on the field is the best place to be."

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Umpire school

What do you learn at umpire school? Pretty much everything about being an umpire, he said.

"It starts with taking your mask off, day one," said Whipple. "By week five, or four, you're dealing with irate managers."

Not everyone who goes to the academy makes the cut. In fact, only 20 per cent of the 300 prospects do.

"The top 20 per cent from each school meet, then you go to an evaluation course, and then you have to graduate at the top 20 per cent of that," said Whipple.

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After all that, you hopefully get a job, he said.

Luckily, Whipple and one other Canadian did, in the Florida Gulf Coast League.

It's not the big leagues yet. In fact, it's the bottom rung of pro-baseball in the United States, he said.

"As umpires, we can't skip ranks like the players," he said. "So they start us all at rookie ball."

Now that he's graduated and found work, Whipple said it will take at least eight years before he ever sets foot on a major league field. And even that's not guaranteed.

"The odds are against ya as an umpire. It really is a fact of life," he said. "There's only so many jobs, there's not a lot of turnover."