Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Baseball/Umpires task force

Task force in template
I created an edit request here. If for some reason it gets closed as not having consensus, please leave your support there. I'll begin creating categories. Ryan Vesey Review me!  03:31, 22 June 2012 (UTC)
 * So, I went ahead and created the categories. Something like 24 categories.  I also created a redirect from WikiProject Umpires to this task force.  It makes it a little easier to find.  The categories I created are listed at Category:Umpires articles.  I won't be active in article work with this project, but I can help with any behind the scenes thing.  I can work on some tagging later, once the template is modified per the edit request.  If anybody notices any problems (i.e. the pages being added to nonexistent templates rather than the ones I created) let me know.  In addition, we should make sure that the category pages and template pages are added.  Ryan Vesey  Review me!  04:08, 22 June 2012 (UTC)

Consensus to add this task force to all umpire related articles
If consensus is created, I'd like to submit a BRFA to use User:Ryan Vesey Bot to add this task force to all of the articles in Category:Baseball umpires. I won't do any importance tagging, that would take some more manual edits. Ryan Vesey Review me!  04:32, 22 June 2012 (UTC)
 * This sounds like a good idea to me. Might be worthwhile to do it for Category:Major League Baseball umpires as well, in case there are some umps that aren't listed under both categories. Delaywaves  &bull;&#32; talk  04:54, 22 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Yep, I actually have the stubs in there as well. Ryan Vesey Review me!  05:11, 22 June 2012 (UTC)
 * That would certainly be a time-saver. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 13:48, 22 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Just to let people know, I finished my trial period, you can view my first 25 edits at my bot contribs. In addition, it would be good to go through those to assess for importance. Ryan Vesey  Review me!  01:48, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
 * I believe they have all been assessed. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 02:03, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

Edit request went through
You can see the first article I tagged here. It might be useful to start on something other than tagging, at least until I've run through them all with AWB. Perhaps someone can start WikiProject Baseball/Umpires task force/Missing articles. Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Baseball/Umpires task force/Missing articles should redirect here in my opinion. Ryan Vesey Review me!  13:52, 22 June 2012 (UTC)

Article alerts
Can someone set up an article alert? Ryan Vesey Review me!  20:30, 22 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Jprg1966 did here. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 00:58, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

Emmett Ashford assessment
Judging by the criteria I have provided, Ashford would be either a mid or low importance page. However, he was the first black umpire in the MLB, so I have decided to ask for some other opinions on what assessment should be given. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 01:39, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
 * I reclassified it as start rather than stub, I also added it to high importance, I think that being the first black umpire in the MLB is a big deal so it should be of high importance to this project, in addition it is rated mid importance for WikiProject baseball. In addition, I think a good rule of thumb for when we're confused, it would make sense for us to be one level of importance higher than the total wikiproject importance (again, that should only apply in borderline cases). Ryan Vesey  Review me!  01:46, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Thank you for taking care of that. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 01:47, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
 * I agree with that as a rule of thumb - when in doubt, err on the side of higher importance. - Jorgath (talk) (contribs) 04:59, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Er, after viewing Andy Cusick it made me realize that my rule for thumb was for people known for being umpires. I think for people known for being players they will generally be equally or less important in this project. Ryan Vesey  Review me!  16:28, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
 * On another note, how common is it for an umpire to ump in the world series? Would it make sense for former umpires who umped in one or more World Series to be labelled high importance? Ryan Vesey  Review me!  16:32, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
 * It is common enough that I don't believe it should influence the assessment. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 00:10, 24 June 2012 (UTC)

Importance criteria
The importance-tagging criteria looks great, except for one thing: current minor league umpires are listed as Mid Importance. Personally, I don't know of a single article on Wikipedia devoted to a minor league umpire, and I'm not sure they are notable enough to deserve articles. If this is the case, are we sure they deserve a Mid Importance tag? Delaywaves &bull;&#32; talk  03:30, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
 * I think you misread it, the way I understood it, mid-importance are former major-league umpires who are currently umping in the minor-league. Ryan Vesey Review me!  03:34, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
 * By minor league umpires, I was referring to umpires currently serving as call-ups. In other words, they are officially not on the Major League staff, and are used as vacation relief or injury replacement. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 00:05, 24 June 2012 (UTC)

Bot additions done
I added 200 some articles to the task force. There is a chance that some slipped through, but I believe that every article listed in Category:Baseball umpires, Category:Major League Baseball umpires, Category:Minor league baseball umpires, Category:19th-century baseball umpires, and Category:American baseball umpire stubs. The majority of the articles haven't been assessed for importance and can be found at my bot's contributions or Category:Unknown-importance Umpires articles. I'll try to help out there when I get a chance. A less important task force tagging job that can be done over time is tagging files that should be part of the task force. Ryan Vesey Review me!  08:42, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

Improvement needed
I created WikiProject Baseball/Umpires task force/Improvement needed. Do we just want to link that from the main page, or transclude it? Ryan Vesey Review me!  16:42, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
 * I would just link to it on the main page. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 00:09, 24 June 2012 (UTC)

I'll be gone
I likely will not be available to work on this again until the 29th. I just wanted to make it clear that I fully intend to be back and haven't left permanently. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 02:14, 25 June 2012 (UTC)
 * I have returned. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 15:38, 29 June 2012 (UTC)

First career ejection
I don't know how anyone else feels about this, but it is my opinion that an umpire's first MLB ejection is significant enough to be included on his page. I would however, like to hear what the rest of the task force has to say. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 15:38, 29 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Note Be sure to see and/or take part in the discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Baseball. There's a decent discussion going on there. Ryan Vesey  Review me!  21:23, 29 June 2012 (UTC)

Chris Conroy
I'll hopefully write that article on Sunday. Electriccatfish2 (talk) 21:18, 29 June 2012 (UTC)


 * Sounds good. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 21:35, 29 June 2012 (UTC)


 * What is his status (current, part-time, retired)? Thank you, Electriccatfish2 (talk) 21:38, 29 June 2012 (UTC).


 * He is a minor-league call-up umpire. In other words, he serves as vacation relief/injury replacement. I believe there are about 20 such umpires, and it is from this pool that new full-time umps are hired. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 21:42, 29 June 2012 (UTC)


 * Thanks! Electriccatfish2 (talk) 21:43, 29 June 2012 (UTC)


 * 2 Issues:


 * The article has been deleted twice already.
 * Although I have created 3 articles, none are BLPs. What intro should be used for a BLP about an umpire? Thanks, Electriccatfish2 (talk) 21:47, 29 June 2012 (UTC)


 * When I created the Mark Ripperger page earlier today, this was my intro, "Mark Anthony Ripperger (born August 6, 1980) is a Major League Baseball umpire. He made his Major League umpiring debut on September 30, 2010. His uniform number is 90." I have created eleven pages and ten of them are about umpires. You can find a link to each of them on my user page, and feel free to borrow formatting you find there. As for the previous deletions, it appears that the one in 2009 was actually written about a boxer. The one in 2008 might not have been about Conroy either, seeing as his MLB debut didn't come until late September 2010. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 22:08, 29 June 2012 (UTC)


 * Thanks! Electriccatfish2 (talk) 22:29, 29 June 2012 (UTC)


 * No problem! AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 22:32, 29 June 2012 (UTC)


 * Where do you find his middle name and birthdate? MLB.com only has his uniform number (98). Electriccatfish2 (talk) 19:22, 1 July 2012 (UTC)


 * His Retrosheet page is a very helpful source. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 19:42, 1 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks so much! Electriccatfish2 (talk) 19:55, 1 July 2012 (UTC)


 * You are welcome! AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 20:03, 1 July 2012 (UTC)


 * ✅ Thanks again for all of your help! Electriccatfish2 (talk) 20:11, 1 July 2012 (UTC)

Good work. I cleaned it up a little, but thanks for taking the initiative and creating it. Having a lot of that kind of experience will come in handy at your RfA. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 20:33, 1 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks! Electriccatfish2 (talk) 23:19, 1 July 2012 (UTC)

Sandbox
I have created a sandbox page for this task force. In the sandbox, I have provided a very basic outline for an article that I intend to call "Major League Baseball umpire controversies." This article may take some time to develop, and anyone who is interested is more than welcome to contribute. Just please remember that most umpire arguments aren't noteworthy. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 02:06, 6 July 2012 (UTC)
 * I moved the sandbox from WikiProject Baseball/Umpires task force/sandbox to WikiProject Baseball/Umpires task force/Major League Baseball umpire controversies. This is better from a page history point of view, making sure we don't need to worry about doing a history merge or partial deletions. Ryan Vesey  Review me!  02:43, 6 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Okay, sounds good. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 02:45, 6 July 2012 (UTC)

Note: The article work detailed above was abandoned long ago. AutomaticStrikeout (T • C • Sign AAPT) 01:03, 8 May 2013 (UTC)

Are new articles news?
I have been listing new articles in the recent project news section on the task force page. I'm not really sure this is necessary and I'd like to know what the other opinions are. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 00:43, 8 July 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm fine with either way. The issue may take care of itself; I just don't think there are a lot of articles left to create. A lot of the remaining red links on the MLB umpires list are people who have questionable notability under the "regular league staff" standard. EricEnfermero  Howdy! 01:26, 8 July 2012 (UTC)
 * I think that from now on, I'll just leave it up to the article creator's discretion. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 01:28, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

Help on project
At this point, I guess it would be a good idea to ask for some help on this prospective article, which could actually wind up being considered a rather important one for this task force. I just want to request that if anyone makes a contribution based on content from another article, will he or she please name the article in the edit summary? AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 21:46, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

Article for improvement
If nobody else in the task force objects, I would suggest that we tab a weekly umpire article for improvement. We can informally choose one article here at the start of every week to be collaboratively improved. Of course, this doesn't mean we can't work on other articles, but maybe this type of emphasis on individual articles will help get us some more featured content. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 15:22, 14 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Sounds good. EricEnfermero  Howdy! 15:47, 14 July 2012 (UTC)
 * If nobody objects to the idea, I would suggest we choose an article each Saturday for targeting throughout the next week. For this week, I would nominate Jerry Meals. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 18:19, 14 July 2012 (UTC)
 * It appears there is no disagreement with the nomination. However, I will be away from Wikipedia this week, so if it is preferable that someone else choose this week's article for improvement, that is fine with me. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 17:02, 15 July 2012 (UTC)
 * I thought that Meals was a great suggestion. I added some early career info. I haven't dealt with the undue weight given to the bad call in the game that went 19 innings. EricEnfermero  Howdy! 00:19, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

Jerry Meals and the next AfI
The Meals page did see some slight improvement during the past week. It might not have been huge, but it would likely not have happened at all if not for the new Article for Improvement (AfI). As for this week's page, I would suggest Gerry Davis. He has umpired in parts of 30 MLB seasons, so I'm sure we could find some material to help in expansion. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 16:30, 22 July 2012 (UTC)

Chris Conroy
I know I'm a couple days late for this week's AfI, but I will nominate Chris Conroy. Also, Eric Enfermero and I have selected Joe West as an article we are trying to promote to GA status. AutomaticStrikeout (talk) 20:46, 31 July 2012 (UTC)
 * I'd like to help with the Joe West GA. Electric Catfish 23:44, 7 August 2012 (UTC)
 * By all means feel free. I probably should be pitching in also, but I've been trying to get involved in some other areas, like CSD (and you saw where that got me). AutomaticStrikeout 23:55, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

A Featured List Drive?
I think it would be good progress for this task force if we could collaboratively make List of Major League Baseball umpires a Featured List. AutomaticStrikeout 16:26, 5 September 2012 (UTC)

Playoffs-related vandalism
A notice to all fellow task force members (and anyone else reading this): Please be aware that with the postseason now upon us, the umpires will be under much more scrutiny and any controversy has the potential to spark vandalism of umpire-related pages, among others. As many of you may have noticed, Sam Holbrook's article has already experienced plenty of this, enough so that it has been semi-protected (Jeff Nelson (umpire) also saw some misdirected vandalism regarding Holbrook's call as Nelson was the 3B Ump, Holbrook the LF one). I imagine that before it is all said and done, we will see plenty more of this, so feel free to keep your eyes out for a significantly greater level of umpire-page vandalism than usual as this is the season for such vandalism in much greater numbers. A helpful page to use to keep an eye on things is this one. It might also be helpful to watchlist some of the umpire pages as well. Thank you. AutomaticStrikeout 19:57, 6 October 2012 (UTC)

Career highlights and awards / Special assignments
I propose that special assignment lists for all MLB umpires be taken out of the article text and placed within the bio-box to the right, such as in Jerry Layne. The purpose is to set a consistent, concise and clean look amongst all umpire pages, because postseason/special assignments is a standard "award" for umpires. RefereeOrganist (talk) 18:06, 7 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Well, a problem with that is that most umpire articles are not currently using the umpire infobox. AutomaticStrikeout 18:57, 7 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Which is another conversion I think we should make at a leisurely pace, of course RefereeOrganist (talk) 19:01, 7 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Ok, although I personally have no great love for the umpire infobox. It can't currently be used for retired umpires because one has to place something in the crew member fields, however I could probably figure out how to change that if need be. Now, I don't think that we necessarily need to remove the assignments from the article text, at the least World Series and All-Star games assignments should be mentioned there. AutomaticStrikeout 19:15, 7 October 2012 (UTC)
 * We'll make it a supplimental, succinct list. And if need be, we can always go back from ump infobox to person infobox upon retirement. RefereeOrganist (talk) 23:48, 7 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Sounds fine to me. AutomaticStrikeout 03:04, 8 October 2012 (UTC)

Hank O'Day
O'Day is going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame and Newyorkbrad has suggested that we try and get O'Day to FA in time for his induction. I think that is a fine idea and would like the help of the task force on discussing how to go about this.  Automatic Strikeout  ( T •  C ) 01:48, 10 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Posted on your talk page, but I think NYB has a great idea; it won't be easy, but if we get a solid team together, I think it'd be attainable. I'm in, but I certainly can't take it on my own. Go   Phightins  !  02:12, 10 December 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm in. EricEnfermero  Howdy! 10:52, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

Tidings of great joy
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way! Oh what fun it is to tell you we have a GA!

To be specific, Joe West (umpire) has been promoted to GA status. Kudos to Go Phightins! and Eric Enfermero for their help. Hope you liked my little jingle.  Automatic Strikeout  ( T •  C ) 21:41, 24 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Great news! Merry Christmas, guys! EricEnfermero  Howdy! 00:53, 25 December 2012 (UTC)

Arthur Irwin
I've been adding to Arthur Irwin for a few days. I stumbled on the article accidentally. Of all of the baseball figures I'd never heard of, Irwin led one of the most interesting and bizarre lives. Umpiring may have actually been his least interesting contribution. There are still some gaps in the article and it has been difficult to organize because he held so many positions. I'm open to any feedback if anyone would like to have a look. EricEnfermero Howdy! 01:00, 25 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Definitely a bizarre character. You might get more input if you try Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Baseball, which has more viewers. Are you considering a possible GA run?  Automatic Strikeout  ( T •  C ) 03:46, 25 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Thinking about it. Good suggestion to take it to the wikiproject at large. Thanks! EricEnfermero  Howdy! 08:57, 25 December 2012 (UTC)

New GA
Good news: Fieldin Culbreth has been promoted to GA status! I would like to do a collaborative effort for the next GA, perhaps on one of the recently retired umps who's info might not change much in the future. AutomaticStrikeout (T • C • Sign AAPT) 01:01, 8 May 2013 (UTC)
 * How about Mike Reilly? I may not be able to help right away, but sooner rather than later, I hope. Go   Phightins  !  01:45, 8 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Sounds like a good idea. AutomaticStrikeout (T • C • Sign AAPT) 01:46, 8 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Good job, sir. I'm usually down for whatever. Just let me know. EricEnfermero  Howdy! 03:10, 8 May 2013 (UTC)

Active
Hi. I am interested in referees across all sports and was wondering if this project was still active? AIR corn (talk) 03:07, 12 November 2016 (UTC)

New article
Hello Umpires task force members,

I've created a new article about the MLB Umpires' charity, UMPS CARE. Perhaps someone here would like to assess its importance and class?  JGHowes   talk  22:45, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

Request for information on WP1.0 web tool
Hello and greetings from the maintainers of the WP 1.0 Bot! As you may or may not know, we are currently involved in an overhaul of the bot, in order to make it more modern and maintainable. As part of this process, we will be rewriting the web tool that is part of the project. You might have noticed this tool if you click through the links on the project assessment summary tables.

We'd like to collect information on how the current tool is used by....you! How do you yourself and the other maintainers of your project use the web tool? Which of its features do you need? How frequently do you use these features? And what features is the tool missing that would be useful to you? We have collected all of these questions at this Google form where you can leave your response. Walkerma (talk) 04:24, 27 October 2019 (UTC)