By John Clark
Clarkton native Macon Hammond will report to Minor League Baseball spring training in Sarasota, Florida Tuesday to continue his quest for an umpiring job in the major leagues.
This is Hammond’s second trip to spring training. Umpires will be assigned there to work spring training games for all of the different minor league classifications. Hammond has been in his pursuit of a professional umpiring job for 3 years, but lost the 2020 season to the coronavirus when there was no minor league season.
Macon worked Low A league games during the 2021 minor league season and he also attended the Minor League Baseball Umpire Training Academy’s Professional Course. “Boot camp for umpires,” said Hammond. “Six days a week from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. each day.”
The Minor League Baseball Academy is in Vero Beach, Florida. The Academy is held at the old Dodgertown – the Jackie Robinson Training Complex. “You were surrounded by a lot of baseball history there,” noted Hammond. “There was a lot of pressure to excel because the top performers from the Academy go to the Advanced Course.”
Hammond began umpiring at the Clarkton Dixie Youth Baseball Complex at the age of 16. He shared that his father, Larry Hammond, who was an umpire and basketball official, got him started and shared a lot of pointers with him.
“He taught me a lot about appearance and how I carry myself,” said Macon. “Both of my parents instilled in me how important it was to have good morals and good integrity. When you walk out of the Umpire Academy there is a sign that reads what you do outside this fence is just as important as what you do inside the fence.”
In 2016 Hammond’s umpiring career sped up as he began to work a number of college baseball games. He has called games in the South Atlantic League, Big South, Conference USA, Atlantic 10 and Atlantic Coast Conference.
The favorite college game that he called was in Greenville between East Carolina and UNC-Wilmington. “It was because of who I was working with – Mike Parnell and another friend, Max Stokes, and that a lot of my family was there.”
Parnell, who is the Baseball Supervisor for the Southeastern Athletic Officials Association, said, “Macon has the ‘IT’ factor. Brad Allen (a former SAOA officials supervisor and current National Football League referee) always talked about the ‘IT’ factor. Macon has the look, the knowledge, the integrity, all the things you need to be a good official – you know ‘IT’ when you see it.
“Macon has a great future in the professional or college ranks whichever he chooses,” continued Parnell. “But he is an even better person and a great partner to work with.”
Hammond was an All-Conference first baseman/pitcher at West Bladen where he played for Coach Kim Cain. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see him umpiring on TV someday,” said Cain. “Macon is extremely smart, always going to do the right thing and he knows how to treat people. He will continually work hard to get better.”
At the Umpire Academy Hammond’s evaluations were good enough that he was selected to go to the Advanced Course. “You are evaluated after every game that you work and you are evaluated on a lot of off the field stuff – how you treat people, your morals, your integrity. Integrity is the cornerstone of professional umpiring,” stated Hammond.
Hammond has had the opportunity during the off-season to officiate high school basketball for several years. “It has been a lot of fun and I have had the opportunity to officiate some state playoff games,” he said.
But as Tuesday approaches, Macon’s focus will be on umpiring, improving and hopefully advancing upward through the levels of minor league baseball. “The goal is to continually receive high evaluations and eventually get to Triple A,” said Hammond. “Umpires receive a mid-season ranking and a year-end ranking and those are very important.”
When umpires are rated high at Triple A, they are waiting on a call from the majors. “The majors will call up umpires (called rovers) to fill in where needed,” said Hammond. “When you get to that point besides high rankings, you need a little luck as well because a lot of job availability depends on someone at the big league level retiring.”
Macon, who is also an ACSM Clinical Exercise Physiologist and a biology instructor, works baseball clinics in the off-season. He is the son of Larry and Beth Hammond of Clarkton.
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