The Umpire Strikes Back

It was a state high school championship game. The kid stood out right away. “He was a man playing the game among boys”, said the umpire, reminiscing. “Every time he swung the bat and made contact, you just knew that ball was getting near the fence. It was incredible to watch this kid.”

The kid was Minnesota Twins star Joe Mauer, then at Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul. The umpire was Inver Grove resident Bill Ryan, who has seen his share of future stars (and flame-outs) in his two decades working every level from Little League to Division I college ball.

As an NCAA umpire Ryan (44), who played his own college baseball at Concordia University in St. Paul, works Divison I, II and III games. He is a regular fixture in the Summit and Horizon Leagues, and the Big 10.

His current season started a few weeks ago. “Every year, this time of the year, when you see your first pitch at the Metrodome, you get that kind of rejuvenated feeling,” he said. “You feel like spring is here. It makes you feel like you’re starting all over again.”

Ryan is one of the few people who will miss the Metrodome when the Vikings stadium deal gets done once and for all, and a new football arena replaces the old multi-use stadium. “I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to work early games,” he said. “Some guys don’t get to work until the snow clears. Up here in the Midwest, we’ve been blessed with the Metrodome.”

Ryan got a taste of life without the Dome last year, after the roof collapse. “I started out at the University of Nebraska, Kearney. The first day it was 65 degrees. The second day it dropped down to 55. As we walked off the field the temperature was dropping down into the 30s. When we made it back through Iowa, me and my partner, it was in the teens.”

The Gophers, deprived of their home field at the Metrodome, played a number of spring games at Target Field. Ryan got the call. It was far from the only big-name ballpark he has seen in his career, and he still gets a kick out of it. “It’s like, I can’t believe I’m here.”

“I started umpiring baseball during my senior year in High school. I did little league, and I’ve been lucky to be around some really good mentors. I started with the Northwest Umpires Association. You go to clinics. You take a lot of tests, and then you get observed and move up. In college baseball, what keeps you in the game, is your work ethic on and off the diamond.”

What makes a good umpire? “Hustle,” said Ryan. “You don’t just stand there. You get out from behind the plate. You get in position. You’re not lethargic on the field. Being approachable is really big in college baseball. You’re not in the coach’s pocket, but you’re willing to take criticism and improve yourself. And availability – being able to go to Nebraska.”

“What I learned from my mentors, is never take our eye off the ball. It could be a bad day, but you act like you’re enjoying it out there. Especially out here in the Midwest. It can be just awful weather. The thing is, you’re going to get through it, and the sun will come out tomorrow.”

And the best days? “I’ve been honored enough to do three Division III national championship tournaments over in Appleton, Wisconsin,” Ryan said. “Also, working my first plate in the Big 10, back in 1993, in Iowa City.”

After 20 years on the diamond, Ryan can tell anecdotes for hours. “I got to do the University of St. Thomas versus the university of Havana, Cuba, when they were up here in ’94. They played a game right before the Twins played the Cleveland Indians. That’s where a lot of my superiors got to see me nationally, and said, ‘Yeah, you can work.’ The Cuban pitcher threw a one-hitter. The guy who got the hit was Joe Mauer’s brother Jake, who coaches in the Twins minor league system now. One of the Cuban guys defected, and signed with the University of Miami in Florida.”

Ryan, who is an assistant special needs teacher at the Alliance Education Center in Rosemount, works games as far afield as Ohio. He often takes off for assignments on Friday nights, and doesn’t come home until late Sunday night. Combining is job, his two teenage children and his love of the game is often a balancing act, he said. “I work with a great bunch of educators – they’re understanding.”

Still, you can’t make a living as a college baseball umpire. “If I had to do it all over again, I’d go to pro school right out of college,” Ryan said.

Making the jump to the pros, where umpires move up through the ranks mainly due to “retirement, injury or death,” according to Ryan, would be a very tall order. He’d have to start at the bottom of the heap, live out of a suitcase for years, and make his way up though the minor leagues.   

That’s something you do as 24 year-old, but not at 44, as a father of two, said Ryan. “I’m way too old now.”

Ryan’s daughter Ellie (19) is a freshman at Winona State University. Last year she was the captain of the varsity girls softball and hockey teams at Simley, and won the Hobey Baker High School Character Award. His son Jackson (15) is a member of the high school's famed wrestling team.

School athletics have a lot to offer for kids, said Ryan. You learn discipline, team spirit, and how to deal with competition. You have a positive peer group. You become a leader.

But having seen the ups and downs of high level sports up close, there’s another message Ryan conveys to his kids: Seize the day. “It doesn’t last long,” he said, “So enjoy it while you’ve got it.”