Okay, so I was digging around the internet, trying to figure out something totally random – how much do those guys in the black and blue (the umpires, not the players!) actually make in Major League Baseball? I always see them out there, taking heat from players and managers, and I got curious.
So, first, I just started Googling. You know, the usual – “MLB umpire salary”. I figured it’d be a quick and easy find, but boy was I wrong. There’s a bunch of stuff out there, but not a lot of it seemed super reliable. Some sites were saying one thing, others were saying something totally different. It was a mess!
Then I started looking at a few of the more “official-looking” sites. I figured the MLB website itself might have something, but no luck. Then, I checked around on some of the bigger sports news sites. I mean these sites employ some heavy journalists so I thought they must be reliable sources.
After reading a bunch of articles and forum posts (yeah, I even went down that rabbit hole!), I started to piece together a general idea. It looks like there’s a pretty big range, depending on experience.
Here’s the Gist of what I learned:
- Rookie Umpires:These guys are just starting out, so naturally, they’re at the bottom of the pay scale.I saw numbers suggesting they might make anywhere from $150,000 on annual salary.
- Experienced Umpires:As they get more years under their belt, the salary goes up, sometime up to $450,000.
So, that’s what I found out! It took a little more digging than I expected, but it was kind of interesting to see the range of salaries and how much experience plays a role. It definitely makes you appreciate those umpires a little more, knowing they’re not just out there for the love of the game (although I’m sure that’s part of it!).
