How to Recruit (and Keep) Umpires for Your League

Every commissioner I’ve ever talked to has the same recurring nightmare. It’s Friday night, you’ve got six games on Saturday morning, and two of your umpires just texted that they can’t make it. Now you’re calling around, leaning on favors, and seriously considering putting on the gear yourself.

The umpire shortage is real, and it’s not getting better on its own. But here’s the thing I’ve learned running a church softball league for years: most of us spend all our energy on recruiting and almost none on retention. We treat umps like a leaky bucket — pour more in the top, ignore the holes in the bottom.

This post is about both. Where to actually find umpires, how to get them ready, what to pay them, and — the part nobody talks about — how to keep the good ones so you’re not starting over every spring.

Where to find umpires when you’re short

There’s no magic list. Recruiting umps is mostly about asking the right people in the right order. Here’s where I’ve had the most luck, roughly best to worst.

1. Your current umpires

Your best recruiting tool is the crew you already have. Good umps know other good umps — from other leagues, from their playing days, from the association banquet. A simple “Hey, we’re short for next season, know anybody?” goes a long way, especially if you sweeten it with a referral. Even twenty bucks or a free shirt for anyone who brings in a new ump who sticks around past their first month is cheap compared to the time you’ll spend cold-recruiting.

People say yes to people they know. A current ump vouching for your league beats any flyer.

2. Former and aging-out players

The player who just can’t run the bases like they used to but still loves being at the field is your ideal recruit. They already know the game. They know the rulebook better than most. And they miss being part of it.

Watch your own league for these folks — the rec-league veteran whose knees are done, the adult-league player who’s started coaching their kid’s team. Ask them directly. A lot of people have never considered umping because nobody invited them.

3. High schools and colleges

High school and college kids are an underrated pool, especially for youth games. They’re energetic, they need the money, and a teenager who grew up playing travel ball can absolutely handle a 10U game. Talk to:

• Athletic directors and coaches (they know which kids are responsible)
• The high school baseball/softball program — players in the off-season
• College kids home for the summer who umped in high school

Just be realistic: younger umps need more support, clearer rules, and a veteran nearby their first few games. More on that below.

4. Local umpire associations

If you’ve got a local or regional officials’ association, get on their radar. These are trained, certified umps — the gold standard. The catch is they’re in demand, they cost more, and they often prioritize school and travel ball over rec leagues. Use them where the games matter most and you can’t afford a blown call, and build your own bench for everything else.

5. The open-call channels

Last resort, but they work in a pinch: Facebook community groups, Nextdoor, the parks-and-rec bulletin board, your church newsletter, the local job board. You’ll sift through more no-shows and tire-kickers, but every season I’ve found at least one keeper this way. Be specific in the post — pay, time commitment, and “no experience needed, we’ll train you” pulls way better than a vague “umpires wanted.”

How to train the ones you find

Recruiting somebody is the easy half. If you throw a new ump behind the plate with no prep, they’ll have a miserable day and you’ll never see them again. That’s how the bucket leaks.

You don’t need a formal academy. You need a runway:

• Hand them the rulebook that matters. Not the full federation manual — the specific rules and local modifications your league actually uses. The mercy rule, the courtesy runner, your safe-base rules. One page of “here’s how we do it here” prevents most arguments.
• Pair them with a veteran. First game or two, put your new ump on the bases next to an experienced plate ump. Let them feel the rhythm before they own the strike zone. (This is exactly why crews matter — you can build a 2- or 3-person crew that carries a rookie.)
• Run a preseason clinic. Even a two-hour Saturday morning going over mechanics, positioning, and the three calls that cause 90% of the blowups (the bang-bang play at first, the dropped third strike, the check swing) makes a huge difference.
• Debrief, don’t dump. After a rookie’s first few games, ask how it went. Give one or two specific things to work on, not a list of everything they did wrong. New umps quit from feeling stupid, not from missing calls.

What to pay umpires

Pay varies wildly by region and level, so I won’t throw out numbers that won’t match your area. But the principles hold everywhere:

• Know your local rate and don’t lowball it. Ask other commissioners and the association what the going per-game rate is. If you pay noticeably under market, your umps will leave for the league that pays market the second they get the chance.
• Pay promptly. This is the single most fixable retention problem I see. An ump who has to chase you for three weeks to get paid forty bucks is an ump who’s already mentally quit. Pay same-day or set a fixed, reliable payday they can count on.
• Pay more for the plate. The plate ump works harder and takes more heat. A small bump for the plate position is fair and it makes the tough assignment easier to fill.
• Consider travel and doubleheaders. A small per-day or mileage bump for the guy driving 40 minutes to work three games keeps him coming back.

Money matters, but here’s the part that surprises new commissioners: pay is rarely the first reason umps quit.

Why umpires actually quit (and how to keep them)

Ask around and you’ll hear the same complaints over and over, and most of them have nothing to do with the rate per game:

1. They got abused and nobody backed them up. Verbal abuse from coaches, parents, and players is the number-one reason umps walk away — especially younger ones. You have to have their back. Enforce a code of conduct. Eject the parent who crosses the line and mean it. An ump who knows the commissioner will support them on a tough ejection is an ump who’ll stick around.

2. Their schedule was a mess. Getting assigned to a game they can’t make. Finding out about a game the night before. Showing up to a field with no second ump because someone double-booked. Driving across town to a game that got rained out and nobody told them. Chaos is exhausting, and it tells your umps the league doesn’t respect their time.

3. It felt unfair. When the same two umps get all the games (or all the good games) and everybody else gets scraps, people notice. So does the ump getting buried with five games a weekend while others get one.

4. Nobody said thank you. Cheap and underrated. A text after a well-worked game. A meal at the end of the season. Remembering their kid’s name. Umps are people who chose to spend their Saturday getting yelled at for your league. A little appreciation goes a long way.

Notice that three of those four are about communication and clarity, not money. Umps stay when they’re treated well and the assignments are clear. That’s the whole retention game.

Where good scheduling quietly does the work

This is where I’ll be honest about the tool I built, because it grew directly out of this exact problem. Half of why umps quit is fixable with better communication, and most of us are still running schedules on a spreadsheet and a group text.

A few things that move the needle on retention:

• Umps know about games instantly and clearly. When you assign someone, they should get the date, time, field, and teams right away — not a vague “you’re on this weekend.” We send an instant text and push notification the moment an ump is assigned, plus a reminder before the game, so nobody’s surprised and nobody’s chasing details.
• Fairness you can actually see. A dashboard that shows game counts per ump makes “it’s not fair” arguments disappear, because you can spread the work evenly and prove it.
• Let umps set blackout dates and claim open games. When umps can tell you up front when they’re unavailable and grab games they want, you stop assigning people to games they were always going to miss.

None of that replaces having their back when a coach goes off, or paying them on time, or saying thanks. But it removes the dumb, avoidable friction that makes umps feel like an afterthought — and that friction is what quietly burns people out.

Recruit hard, train them up, pay them fair and fast, back them up, and keep things organized. Do that, and you’ll spend a lot fewer Friday nights digging your own gear out of the garage.

If your roster’s about to turn over and you want assigning and reminders handled before next season, you can start a free trial — or just email us at hello@umpcrew.com and we’ll set your league up for you.