Racist Umpires?

We've recently has a story about a corrupt NBA referee (he plead guilty yesterday), and now the AP brings us a story that suggests that Major League Umpires are racists:

Major League Baseball umpires are more likely to call strikes for pitchers of the same race or ethnicity, a new study finds.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin analyzed every pitch from the 2004 through 2006 major league seasons to explore whether racial discrimination factored into umpires’ decisions to call a pitch a strike or a ball.

Just as discrimination in the labor market can affect disparities in wages, promotion and performance evaluation, the researchers said, possible discrimination by umpires could affect the outcome of games and careers.

During a typical baseball game, umpires call about 75 pitches for each team (they call about 400,000 pitches over the whole season—this figure excludes foul balls), so an umpire’s evaluation heavily influences pitcher productivity and performance.

I'm sorry, but I'm just not buying that. In a sport in which every pitch is televised, and in which center field cameras give a good view of the strike zone, I just can't believe that umpires are making calls based on the race of the pitcher. If it's happening, it's certainly not intentional.

I remember reading several books by Ron Luciano, a flamboyant and popular American League umpire in the 70's, who once during an exhibition game tried to intentionally call pitches incorrectly and said he couldn't do it. They don't "think" the calls but react to the pitches almost instinctively. Each umpire has their idea of the strike zone, and that idea is not shaped by the particular shade of the pitcher.

There are always folks seeking discrimination where it doesn't exist, and that seems to be the case with these researchers.