OTTAWA - Stu Scheurwater has been a professional umpire for the last four seasons. The Regina, Saskatchewan native is one of only four Canadian umpires in Minor League Baseball and is the only one officiating games in Double-A, receiving a promotion from Class-A for this season (the other three are still in Class-A).
Scheurwater is a product of the Canadian development program for umpires. He began his umpiring career at the local level at the age of 14 simply because he was “a terrible baseball player” he says.
“I always enjoyed the game and I enjoyed playing, but the weird thing is I really loved umpiring,” explains Scheurwater. “I was playing football also back in Saskatchewan and eventually the two started overlapping and I had to choose one or the other, and I noticed that baseball was taking me in the right direction. Add that with my love of the game and my decision was easy.”
Part of that decision was helped by joining the national umpiring program in 2000. He quickly rose through the ranks and by 2005 was officiating in his first Baseball Canada National Championship, the Baseball Canada Cup in Medicine Hat, Alberta. The following season he was assigned to the Junior National Championship in Guelph, Ontario.
Now 27-years-old, Scheurwater is one of the rising stars of umpires in the minor league system as he currently patrols the Double-A Texas League, working a two-game series in Midland, Texas as of today. But he admits that a professional career was not a career he had envisioned.
“A couple of gentlemen who had gone down to (professional) schools in the past and they told me that I should try and go professional,” remembers Scheurwater. “I never really thought about it before, so I looked into it and I thought why not give it a try.”
“People liked what I was doing, so why not go pro,” he adds with a laugh. “I always thought that would be a great thing to do, so why not.”
Scheurwater is quick to credit the Canadian umpiring program for his success in professional baseball, calling it his foundation for the skills he has acquired as an umpire.
“I owe a lot to that program and a lot of the things that are thought in the Canadian program are what we’re teaching in professional baseball. So I owe a lot of my success to the Canadian program.”
But officiating at any level is not simply just showing up and calling balls and strikes, safes and outs. Similar training that an athlete goes through to get to the professional ranks is what an umpire must endure as well to move up in their pro careers.
“They’re steering away from the reputation of the ‘big old umpire.’ We need to stay in shape,” clarifies Scheurwater. “The game is getting bigger, stronger, faster. Some of these athletes are phenomenal. Some of these guys are freaks. So to keep up with the pace of the game, they need us to be like those guys as well. So you need to go to the gym and keep working to be in the best possible physical condition.”
He adds: “A lot of it is repetition as well. Just like a hitter, for him to get his swing down, he’s going to swing at baseballs 300 times. It’s the same with umpires; you’re going to call that same strike the more you see it. You’re going to know where to position yourself in different systems the more you do it. It all comes to repetition and that comes with time.”
The lifestyle of professional umpires is not all fun and games either. Umpires must endure similar travel schedules than the players in the minors, which mean many long road trips on little rest to get to work the next day.
“It’s definitely one of those things that not everyone can do it, the road life,” says Scheurwater. “The Texas League encompasses eight teams in four different states. We have travel days that will see us leave the park at 10:30, 11 at night, drive 800 miles and then work a game the next day. You may get in the next town at noon or 1 o’clock the next day, grab a quick nap and you’re back at the ballpark.”
A professional umpire’s schedule mean a lot of time away from family and friends. A strong support system has been crucial for Scheurwater in his pursuit of a big league job.
“Some guys have wives and kids and the travel will draw them away from the game simply because it takes too much time away from their family. Luckily I have a great supportive family and girlfriend at home that let me do what I’m doing.”
And at only 27, Scheurwater recognizes he has the world ahead of him while he enjoys the here and now… even in Midland, Texas.
