When he was recently honoured for his commitment to the sport of baseball in Saskatchewan, Bill Wyatt of Carlyle said, “It's humbling. When they read what you've done in front of 300 people, it's definitely very humbling.”
“I have a lot of people to thank and I had some great teachers. And I have to thank Lori, big-time, because I'm not around a lot in the summer.”
Wyatt was named Sask Baseball's 2015 Senior Official of the Year at the Baseball Canada Awards banquet in on Nov. 7 in Saskatoon. The award not only recognized Wyatt's decades-long playing career and his twenty years as an umpire; the accolade also celebrated the umpire mentorship program he created in Carlyle, which “has been instrumental in the development of young umpires in the southeast,” according to Riley Singleton, who nominated Wyatt for the honour.
“When I visit other communities and the discussion becomes the lack of officials in various sports, I am always very proud to talk about the quantity and quality of the umpires in the southeast because of the dedication and commitment from Bill Wyatt,” says Singleton.
“Bill has been involved in baseball in Saskatchewan for the better part of five decades as a player in his youth and adulthood, currently as a twilight player, as well as an umpire for just over 20 years,” adds Singleton. “Bill's greatest contribution to baseball has been through umpiring. He has been an outstanding umpire in the Saskota Men's League in southeast Saskatchewan for numerous years. He has also umpired every level of minor ball in our area and across the country: from the youngsters to midget AAA. If there was a game in the Carlyle area, Bill was sure to be involved.”
“His desire to improve has allowed Bill to umpire in the WMBL (Western Major Baseball League), as well as at the provincial and national level,” adds Singleton.
“In the past twelve years, Bill has been the leader of an umpire mentorship program based out of Carlyle,” says Singleton. “Bill mentors 15 to 20 male and female umpires from 11-years-old and up. He is at a local diamond every night of the baseball season working alongside groups of school-aged and adult umpires, helping them to develop the necessary skills and knowledge to call the game.”
“You will always see Bill's truck parked in the 'Carlyle Minor Ball Umpire parking' zone at the diamonds,” adds Singleton. “With the truck box cover open, and numerous Rubbermaid containers in the back. In these containers is all of the necessary equipment needed for his young umpires to use while officiating. He not only teaches and mentors these umpires, he supplies the equipment needed and brings it to the games for the kids to use.”
“He has been instrumental in the development of young umpires in the southeast.”
Level One umpire and grade 12 student, Mitchell Morrison, 17, of Carlyle-who has officiated at both midget and senior games- has worked with Wyatt for four years and says, “Bill does a lot. Without him, baseball probably wouldn't happen in town.”
“He does so much. He drives us out of town to Weyburn and to other cities to make sure we get to our clinics; he helps young people out a lot. He gives us pointers and without him, I think we'd just have house league games.”
“Bill takes pride in what he does and he takes the game to a whole new level,” adds Morrison. “Doing games with him is exciting. He has so much knowledge and experience and you always learn something.”
In addition to founding and facilitating the umpire mentorship program, Wyatt has played ball as a youth and as an adult and has also achieved Level Four status as an umpire, which allows him to officiate at the national level.
“I was always involved in ball of some kind,” says Wyatt. “I grew up in Kisbey and I was the oldest boy in the family. Times were tough back then, but my dad always made sure we had baseball. ”
“I played hockey too, but I always looked forward to the spring-and baseball.”
Wyatt says both his interest in all things baseball and necessity led to the formation of mentoring program he founded for young umpires.
“For about 10 or 12 years, there was a real need for umpires-especially for minor ball,” says Wyatt. “I was getting calls constantly for umping, so I thought: 'Why don't I just take it over and organize it?'”
“Since then, we've mentored young umpires, but we've had some adults, too. We've had as many as 21 people registered in the program at one time, including adults, but we take young umpires from the age of 11.”
Wyatt says the young officials only have to be one year older than the teams they're officiating.
“We never send them out on the field without one of us there,” he says. “They take clinics and qualify, but a big part of what we emphasize is confidence.”
“Confidence is huge and helps the kids immensely on the field and off. It's beyond valuable.” says Wyatt, recounting a situation where a young umpire was being indirectly questioned by a coach. “People around here are really good,” he says. “But there are occasions where someone will try and talk to an umpire when they shouldn't, especially when the umpire is younger.”
“That's why-along with self confidence-they really have to know the rules and their responsibilities.”
“Another thing is positioning, so they can really see what's going on during a game and to get the best view from behind the plate.”
Wyatt's breadth and depth of baseball experience-along with his continued commitment to growth, makes him an invaluable resource to the umpires he mentors- and the results speak for themselves.
“A great success of Bill's happened this summer when one of his 16-year-old umpires was assigned to umpire at a 14U girls' national softball tournament in Victoria, B.C.,” says Singleton.
“That was Shelby McNair,” says Wyatt. “In Shelby's case, the young umpires were evaluated at that tournament. She was named best umpire and officiated at the gold medal game.”
“Afterwards, she texted me. It made me very proud.”
McNair is just one of Wyatt's success stories, and this season, young umpires he has mentored through the program have officiated at both junior and senior games throughout the area and have also earned assignments at the provincial and national levels.
However, Wyatt continues to pursue his own baseball-related challenges, continuing to grow and learn. “I've umpired in two nationals,” he says, when asked about some of his career highlights. “One in Nanaimo, B.C. and one in Saskatoon, and they were great experiences.”
“The most challenging was the WMBL. I'm grateful for the challenge, though,” adds Wyatt. “The calibre of ball at that level and the hierarchy with the manager, the coach, was just like the majors. The players are senior men from Canada and the U.S. who are at the level where they're often scouted and the more people there are in management, the more challenging it is as an official.”
“At the national level, you're being evaluated,” says Wyatt. “You're graded the whole time and it's on a pass-fail system and if you fail, you start over.”
“I was nervous about that the first time, but once you get out there, the games are all the same.”
“I'd say the only difference is that the higher the level of ball, the more levels of game management you have to deal with. But really, you just get out there and do your job.”
Wyatt's love of baseball extends to travelling to watch Major League games-especially if the Toronto Blue Jays are playing-and a list that includes visiting “some of the older stadiums like Fenway in Boston and Wrigley in Chicago.”
“I'm a baseball fan,” says Wyatt. “I don't care who I watch. But I'm still going to mentor kids. That's my passion.”
Singleton says, “Bill has demonstrated integrity as an umpire, a mentor, and as a person. He is a remarkable role model in all sports,” adding “His knowledge of the sport as a fan, player, umpire and builder is astonishing and his dedication to this great sport is second to none.”
“That's a contribution that just can't be replaced.”
