Hi Beaks, good to see you again sir.
Stalking the Umps began back in the early 2000's, blankets days (where yes, I was once a moderator. I guess they called it a linesman there)
Mikesy, Shortline, myself and a dedicated group of maybe a dozen others would sit and wait for the announcements of the home plate umpire for the first game of the series.
Friday is the most popular day for that, followed by Mondays/Tuesdays. Most series are 3 games, and the umpires rotate clockwise from the plate. The first base ump goes behind the dish the next day, etc. The umpires move to a different town after each series, and almost never ump the same team they just got finished with. Some ump crews might only see a team once a year.
There are certain umpires who call more balls than strikes. We used to have a criteria for that. If an ump had a strike count over 63 percent, he was an OVER ump. If he called less than 60 percent, he was labeled an UNDER ump. With the steroid era gone and pitchers more dominant in recent years there have been some changes implemented.
The SSAC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSnVmwX3F_Y gave us a bit more info this year regarding good OVER and UNDER umps from last year (yes, Ron KULPA, I'm looking at you).
See page 7
http://www.sloansportsconference.co...st-Who-is-responsible-for-a-called-strike.pdf
Anyone who has more advanced ump stats, by all means, feel free to share. Shortline might or might not be around this year; he mentioned burnout and/or being tired of the daily grind. He had the best excel sheet at tracking these guys.
STALKING the umps became 'en vogue' because we would make jokes about putting on camouflage and waiting in the bushes for them to "come out". The reference was to MLB.com, which was our only source back then of finding out where they were. I think at one point, we had a guy who knew an ump and his flight schedule etc., so we would know where his crew was going. The umps work in crews of four, with an alternate always available the next day in case one get injured.
Hope this helps some; I'll make constant references all year to "The Stalk" and the regulars know what it means. Hopefully, the "noobs" do now also, and chime into this thread when they deem fit and have good info.
:shake:
