Langdon: Five-minute call ends Marco's pro umpiring career

Umpire Chris Marco (Hamilton, Ont.) is refocusing on a career in law enforcement after 11 years officiating in the pro baseball ranks.

February 7, 2025

By Scott Langdon

Canadian Baseball Network

Chris Marco is one of the most decorated umpires in minor league professional baseball in recent years.

He is also embarking on a career change.

The Hamilton, Ont. resident, 34 years old and an 11-year veteran of umpiring in professional baseball, learned his contract would not be extended during a five-minute telephone call with two Major League Baseball (MLB) Umpire Supervisors last fall. He says he was “confused and upset” at the time, but the way his 2024 season ended had left him with a sense of foreboding.

“I had been selected to work playoff games seven times in the last nine years, including home plate assignments for key games such as the triple A League Championship in Las Vegas in 2022. I had also been selected to umpire Major League Baseball spring training games beginning in 2023 and worked 43 games in the last couple of years,” he explained.

“These high-level assignments mean your evaluations have placed you among the best umpires. It would be like a player being selected to an all-star game,” he added. “But I became concerned when I unexpectedly didn’t get a playoff assignment last season.”

He was promoted to crew chief for the first time in 2019 while working in the double A Eastern League, earned that promotion again at the triple A level in 2022 and continued in that role through the 2024 season.

Minor league umpires are evaluated about 20 times during a 150-game minor league season by a rotating crew of umpire supervisors. Effort and attitude, game and situation management based on an big-league standard, rules and interpretations, ejections and situation management, pace of game procedures, style and form of calls, field proficiency instincts and reactions, umpire mechanics, administrative procedures and fulfillment of office responsibilities are all reviewed.

Marco’s 2023 full-season evaluation, his final one, concluded: “Your performance through the 2023 triple A season was highly productive and you consistently met and even exceeded the standards established at this level. Your exceptional dedication and overall performance led to a well-deserved assignment to the League Championship series, highlighting your unwavering effort. The Supervisory staff unanimously commended your confident field presence, both on the bases and behind the plate and your mature demeanor surpassed expectations for someone of your experience. The Supervisory staff has high expectations for your continued growth and advancement in the coming year.”

He was assigned to work MLB spring training again in 2024, wearing an MLB uniform and being paid as an MLB umpire. He continued his crew chief duties throughout the Triple A season, working games in the International League and the Pacific Coast,.

But then in October, he became the third Canadian umpire to be let go in recent years after excelling at the Triple A level. Scott Costello (Barrie, Ont. )and Chris Graham (Toronto, Ont.) met the same fate. Stu Scheurwater (Regina, Sask.) and Alex Tossi (Markham, Ont) are the only two Canadian big-league umpires.

MLB has taken a more hands-on approach to the development of professional umpires in recent years. Prospects first must attend an MLB Umpire Camp. The best umpires there are invited to attend MLB’s Umpire Prospect Development Camp., a four-week, expenses-paid, training session. The first camp was in Vero Beach, Fla., in 2023.

Now, umpires can skip minor league levels if good enough, just as players can on their journey to the big leagues. But there are fewer than 80 full-time MLB umpire positions, with limited turnover every year. Reaching MLB can take up to a decade for minor league umpires and with so few positions at the top, the odds are long.

Cars, vans and airplanes

Marco was hired as a minor league umpire in 2014 following selection from an umpire school in Florida. He paid in the range of $3,000 for the four weeks of training with no guarantee of a job at the end. He was assigned to the Gulf Coast League (now the Florida Complex League) and was quickly promoted to the New York-Penn League, a class A short-season league that was eliminated when MLB restructured the minor leagues in 2021.

Class A umpires work in a two-person crew and are provided with a rental car to travel from location to location throughout the season. Six-hour drives immediately after a game are not uncommon. Sometimes, like in the double A Texas League, drives can be 12 hours between stops on the circuit.

Double A umpires work on a three-person crew and are provided with a rental van for the season. The same is true for triple A, but flying has become a necessity as umpires work games in both the East and West divisions of the realigned triple A level.

Minor league umpires are paid on a sliding scale based on their experience and level. First-year umpires in the then Gulf Coast League, the lowest rung on the minor league ladder, earned $1,900 per month during the season and a per diem of $42 when Marco started his career. After 11 years, he earned $4,682 monthly for a six-month season as a Triple A umpire with a per diem of $64 and a small bonus for umpiring championship games. He earned extra money for working MLB spring training games.

“I was paid $350 per game for MLB spring training with a per diem to cover hotels and other living expenses of $612. You’re also paid $175 for being on call on off days,” he said.

Minor league umpires pay three per cent of salary or in Marco’s case $100 per month for union membership. Their contract was re-negotiated with MLB in 2022 and expires next year. The current arrangement resulted in pay increases and the addition of some benefits including severance in the event of job loss. The severance maximum is $1,000. Marco became ineligible because he worked spring training games.

“The new contract did help in some ways,” Marco said. “Now umpires begin their careers at the lowest levels for the same money I made at double A just a few years ago. It called for upgraded accommodation from motels to hotels such as the Hyatt chain.

“But gone are the days of having a Chinese buffet for lunch and stuffing food into your jacket for dinner,” he chuckled.

Regrets? None

Marco became an amateur baseball umpire at the age of 11 when he filled in for an absent umpire at one of his brother’s games. He earned the opportunity to work at a top-level kids’ tournament in Cooperstown, N.Y. at the age of 18. He received so much encouragement he started to think seriously about being a professional umpire.

“Umpires are like the players. We have that dream to reach Major League Baseball. The compensation is poor, the benefits are few, the travel can be exhausting. Under the new system we now get Mondays off (the old system saw 14 off days in a 154-day season, but most of the off days were are spent travelling from city to city..)

“Some people might wonder why anyone would bother when there are only 76 jobs at the top of the rung. For me, and for many of us, it was the inexplicable, indescribable love of baseball and the carrot to make it to the big leagues.”

He has had time to think and reflect since receiving the five-minute call ending his career last fall. No reason for the decision was provided. Most of the five minutes were spent with Marco stating his interest for consideration to work World Baseball Classic games as a Canadian amateur. Umpiring in the WBC was one of his professional goals.

“When you are selected to work MLB spring training games and paid as such you know you are on the cusp of achieving your dream. You are one of a very few minor league umpires to get this far in your career. So, for me, if only in the spring, I umpired major league games, including calling balls and strikes. I am proud of that,” he said.

“I have zero regrets. I learned a lot and did everything in my power to make it to the big leagues. My number just didn’t come up,” he added.

He also has good memories and chuckles about being on the field when Angel Hernandez, a controversial MLB umpire often criticized by players, coaches and fans, made his final in-game ejection before leaving baseball in May 2024. Hernandez had unsuccessfully sued baseball in 2017, alleging that racial discrimination prevented him from being promoted and given plumb umpiring assignments.

“Angel is a nice man and a better umpire than people gave him credit for,” Marco said.

Law enforcement and other options

Marco also realizes he has learned transferable skills that will be attractive to potential employers as he embarks on a new career. He says some other former umpires have chosen to resume their careers in law enforcement. He has, too.

Crew chiefs learn leadership and supervisory skills, mastering of technical matters such as rules and regulations, mentoring, immediate decision-making in high stress situations, communication and conflict resolution, teamwork, administration and reporting and other skills.

“I’m in middle of the application process for the Ontario Provincial Police. I can see how umpiring provides some of the skills and experience needed to be a police officer. I’m encouraged,” he said.

He graduated from the University of Windsor with a BA, majoring in forensic science and criminology.

In the meantime, he continues to referee tier two Junior A and Senior hockey in Ontario, something he has done for years in the baseball off-season.

Marco’s experience and “inexplicable, indescribable” love of baseball will continue as he helps others who might have the same dream he had when unexpectedly filling in on a Southern Ontario sandlot more than two decades ago.

He has enrolled in the Baseball Ontario/Baseball Canada Senior Course Conductor pathway to stay involved in umpiring and to be certified to supervise umpires at national championships.

“We’re thrilled to have Chris involved with our program. You must be a very good umpire to reach the triple A level as Chris did. Not many umpires get that far,” said Chris Wilhelm, supervisor of umpires, Baseball Ontario.

“He started in and came up through the Baseball Ontario system before his professional career and it’s terrific that he wants to give back. He will be able to help younger, less experienced umpires build the confidence and ability to manage a game,” he added.

Also, Canadian Baseball Network readers will find Marco’s umpiring insights and knowledge in a new column being finalized.

Police officer, amateur umpiring mentor, columnist. Strike three…but not out. Instead, a beginning.