quick question about family as sports officials?

Question

need it for this paper. i need to know if family members are allowed to referee/empire games that another family member is in. example..... ken griffey jr plays baseball, would ken griffey sr. be allowed to umpire a game he played in? the point i am trying to make in my paper is that it wouldnt be fair. i just need confirmation on whether this is illegal or not. thanks.

Answer 1

Yes, but I believe the umpire will not call balls and strikes. I don't believe there is a rule in baseball stating that and I also believe this has actually occurred in the past, I will try to get you some names.

Answer 2

At many levels, even professionally, there is not a written policy regarding umpires and relatives who play on one or more teams. Major League Baseball does not have an official stance on the issue, since it usually does not come up, but generally speaking, the only time a restriction might be placed is when a relative is a pitcher, such as Randy Wolf, pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers. To date, Umpire Jim Wolf has not called an MLB game as the Home Plate Umpire when his brother was the Starting Pitcher. Indeed, Major League Baseball has identified this potential conflict of interest; Wolf only worked one series in 2007 in which the Dodgers were one of the teams playing (LAD @ COL, a two game series, April 18-19 2007, series was split 1-1, with COL winning the Apr 18 game that Wolf was HP Ump for, 7-2). When Randy Wolf was on the Phillies prior to the Dodgers, Jim Wolf only officiated 2 PHI series in 2006, 3 PHI series in 2005, none in 2004, none in 2003, none in 2002, none in 2001, and none before that time when he was a AAA call-up umpire.

But, no, there is no written rule in place against such an event from occuring; MLB or other assigning organizations or officials associations discourage officials officiating their relatives' contests, and for the most part, the officials are very cooperative to that end in 'blocking' certain teams from their schedules when possible, or at least officiating them very sparingly.

This is only the second time a player-umpire brother combination has appeared in the same game in the history of Major League Baseball. The first was the Tom / Bill Haller combination. Bill Haller worked as an umpire in a July, 1972 series while his brother, Tom, played as a catcher for the Detriot Tigers. Bill was indeed the Home Plate umpire for the July 14 contest. His brother, Tom, was 1-4 that game, while the Tigers lost, 1-0, to the Kansas City Royals. Though Bill umpired the entire series, Tom only played during that July 14 game.

Answer 3

Yes.Randy Wolf's brother is an umpire in the National League and he has done a few of his games.

Answer 4

It is allowed. There was one game this season where the pitcher's brother was an umpire for the game. I don't remember too well but I think they mentioned that he couldn't be the plate umpire while his brother was pitching.