Larry Andersen Calls MLB Umpires "Arrogant And Inconsistent"
By Spike Eskin
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Former Phillies reliever and current Phillies radio color man Larry Andersen has a reputation for being hard on umpires. Despite his yearly promise to himself to "stay off" them, it doesn't appear that's happening any time soon.
Andersen told 94 WIP's Angelo Cataldi and The Morning Team on Thursday that today's umpires aren't as good, or as understanding as they used to be. "There were umpires that you knew if they had a little smaller zone, or a little higher strike zone, or I preferred a lower one. And the consistency of those umpires it was like you knew what you were going to get," Andersen said about the performance of umpires when he was a pitcher. "The one thing I appreciated was that you could always talk to them. Today, umpires, the arrogance, the fact that there's no accountability, nothing happens if they're terrible. I could name a few that still have jobs, and it just baffles me."
Listen to the entire Larry Andersen interview:
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Andersen was asked if he's ever been told he has to take it easy on the guys who call the balls and strikes. "It has been passed on to me that maybe I could lighten up on the umpires. The last two years I've set out absolutely saying I'm going to stay off the umpires," he said. "But usually but the middle of the first inning, it's over. I can't help it. And I know they're going to make mistakes and I'm fine with that. It's the arrogance of them after they make mistakes."
If there's one thing Andersen would like out of current MLB umpires, Andersen said he'd like them to "be able to have some conversation with a manager or a player if they have a gripe, and let them have their say and be done."
