Umpires are necessary evils. That's just the nature of the beast. For years, people have looked on umpiring as a job they could get any postman to do.

I've heard it said that umpires are necessary evil. Well, we are necessary, but we are not evil. We are hard-working and dedicated people whose primary interest is to make sure the game is played fairly. We are the integrity of the game.

I always told my young umpires, 'Don't get mad. Whatever you do, don't show it. But no matter how long it takes, get even.'

If you don't need umpires out there, and you can put robots out there, then why do we need ballplayers?

The integrity of the game is the umpires. Nobody else. The entire integrity of the game is the umpires.

That's just the nature of the beast.