Better Know An Umpire: Dan Iassogna

Welcome to Better Know An Umpire, an effort to educate ourselves on the human elements who have ultimate decision-making power over some 2,500 Major League Baseball games a year. (All cumulative statistics are through the 2011 season, unless otherwise stated.)

Name: Dan Iassogna

Uniform number: 58

Age: 43

Height/weight: 5-foot-10, 190 pounds

First year as MLB umpire: 1999

Total MLB games worked through 2011: 1,710 (home plate: 420)

Previous experience: New York Penn League, South Atlantic League, Carolina League, Texas League, International League

Career ejections: 48

No-hitters called: None

Over/under record ( 1999-2011): 180-199

Hated in: Boston, Philadelphia

Notable alleged blown calls: Red Sox-Indians, April 7, 2011; Braves-Phillies, September 28, 2011; Red Sox-Tigers, April 8, 2012.

Scouting report from Major League Umpires' Performance, 2007-2010, by Andy Goldblatt:

His plate numbers support the argument that R/9 tends to follow strike zone size. They also support the argument that Iassogna is inconsistent. ... Iassogna's career ejection rate stands at three percent, well above average.

Scouting report from an angry message board commenter:

That is a lazy ass umpire who gave up on the curveball, wanted to raise his hand, but figured "nah - too late to call it correctly now. If I call it now, later than I usually call it, it will show everyone that I know I missed that pitch. Anyways, the kid is dealing, he will get this pitch back. It won't matter."

A lazy ass fucking umpire who blew the call and cost a remarkable performance because of his own lazy incompetence, giving up on a pitch. Fucking twat. This guy Iassogna has been a bad lazy umpire for as long as I can remember. He holds grudges longer than he holds his strike zone.

Fuck him.

Average K/9 ( 2011): 14.4

Average BB/9 ( 2011): 6.1

Sample PITCHf/x strike zone: April 24, 2012. If Iassogna has historically been inconsistent, then this recent graph from a Johan Santana-Josh Johnson matchup shows that his zone will be quite liberal in 2012.

True fact: Has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Connecticut. Plays the Great Highland Bagpipe in his spare time.

Strike 3 call:

To check out other installments of Better Know An Umpire, click here.