Schmidt heeds calling as a man in 'blue'

Tyler Schmidt will probably be the first to admit that his baseball skills were never meant to set the world on fire.

The proof, perhaps, coming in that the 2008 Cheney High School graduate played just one year of ball for the Blackhawks.

But the 26-year-old Schmidt still wanted to stay connected to sports and has seemingly found that opportunity as the guy so many of us love to hate. He's a baseball umpire.

And not only has Schmidt taken more than a passing fancy with calling balls and strikes, fair or foul balls and when runners are safe or out on the base paths, he's "tripled down" so to speak by deciding to take his officiating skills to the basketball court, and football field, too.

It's baseball, however, where he's been putting the bulk of his energy, and the effort has been paying off with Schmidt recently being named crew chief in last month's American Legion Baseball AAA state championships in Yakima.

He got to call the balls and strikes leading the six-man crew in blue.

Schmidt worked 10 games in the tournament and after a couple of days he and another handful of umpires were chosen to work the games that led to crowning a champion.

"I actually got to do the championship game, behind the plate," Schmidt said. "That was fun, other than the 104-degree temperature for the first pitch."

It's just another stepping stone and keeps him moving up with professional baseball his ultimate goal.

He's worked his way up the ranks from Little League and this past spring was tabbed to umpire junior college baseball on a circuit that included trips to Walla Walla, Wenatchee, Yakima and Tri-Cities.

"I'm hoping to get into D III next year, some Central, Whitworth and all that," Schmidt said. It is all about making connections, he said, and people throwing his name around.

The college baseball door was opened when Schmidt attended what he called a "Black and Blue" camp in California. Not only did he learn new skills, but relationships, too.

"Somebody down there talks to a guy up here and that's how I got into college baseball," Schmidt said. "It was just kind of word of mouth, 'Hey you should give this guy a chance.'"

He's looking at possibly attending a professional umpiring camp that he hopes might pave the way to a true career.

As a fallback, however, Schmidt was busy last week inquiring how he could return to college. He attended two years at Eastern Washington University and would like to return to finish off his degree, most likely in education with teaching at the elementary level a possible goal.

As a football official he's worked varsity games from 2A to 4A. But that, he does more the money than for the love of the game. Schmidt will concentrate on officiating love No. 2, basketball as his offseason fix when it comes to being the arbitrator.

"Basketball is definitely my second favorite and coming up pretty quick," Schmidt said.

It was, for a lot of reasons, a good spring and summer for Schmidt, who only took up serious officiating five years ago. "I was lucky, I didn't have any ejections this year," Schmidt said.

But he's learned that different levels of play require similarly different amounts of patience.

He relayed a story where earlier this year a protesting coach dropped 10 F-bombs on a fellow ump. But none were personal so the coach was never got the heave-ho.

"The key words are 'you and you're,'" Schmidt said.

"When they start getting personal and it's directed towards you, that's when the ejections happen."

One of the keys to Schmidt being thought of as the go-to-guy he is, and working some 200 games this season, is his mastery of the rulebook.

"In basketball you know the basic travel and fouls," Schmidt said. "In baseball there are so many intricate rules," and an incalculable number of situations that require a thorough knowledge of multiple rulebooks.

Which makes him appreciate the opportunities to return to his umpiring roots from time to time.

While Schmidt likes doing as much high-level baseball as possible, he also likes working Pony League and other similar levels.

"You can have fun out there with them," Schmidt said. "The giving back time is doing those tournaments."

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.