Umpire Profile

Umpire Profile

Dave Stewart

By Gary Reals

Blues, be aware that Dave Stewart of the Baltimore suburbs is one of us, however, unlike many of us, young Dave wears many hats and each of them fits very well indeed. At the age of 34, Stewart is entering his third decade in officialdom. He’s worked games from Harford County to M&T Bank Stadium to SoFi Stadium and on to London’s Wembley Stadium. Suffice to say, Dave Stewart is having great fun!

He’s been umping baseball since age 13. First gigs were with the Cal Ripken version of Little League baseball where he worked games solo. At age 15, Dave moved up to travel leagues around the Belair community in Harford County. By design, umpiring became his part-time job during high school. Stewart doesn’t hesitate “…it was big fun….much better than working in McDonalds or other retail jobs.“

By 2025, Dave has scaled the ladder now working college baseball and football games. Plus, he is an official NFL keeper of the clock. At M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, home of the Ravens, when you hear a game official bark “reset the clock,” they’re talking specifically to Stewart. “There is no time to lose your concentration,” he says. Operating from the press box at Ravens home games, Dave lives in a world of precision & concentration, and also a degree of pandemonium: “I have to know the rules, have to be watching the officials and know their signals.” But there’s also “lots of sound and distractions” inside an NFL press box. Nevertheless, he is evidently performing quite well, having been invited to keep the clock in the 2023 NFC Championship game between the 49ers & Rams in Los Angeles, as well as a 2024 NFL game in London.

But allow us to return to baseball, Blues. After those younger years of Little League and travel ball, Dave got steered to MAC by a couple of umpire friends. “After working just one game with MAC I learned more than I had in all of my preceding years,” he says. “I knew I liked umpiring and I wanted to get better.” and gratefully he adds, “There were so many people there to help me out.”

After a couple of years working travel ball and JV high school games, Stewart attended his first MAC training camp at the University of Maryland in 2019. John Porter was leading the way and Dave Stewart was hooked! “He knows so much about baseball and mechanics, it was amazing!” says Stewart of Porter.

And what does John Porter have to say about Dave Stewart? “If I were casting a movie about umpiring, I could find nobody cleaner and more athletic,” declares our longtime Commissioner, who of course has never cast a movie, but who has observed and evaluated thousands of umpires including many of the very best.

Dave Stewart graduated from the University of Maryland in 2014, with a degree in Family Science. He followed that up a couple of years later with a Masters degree from Towson State. That’s when he became a coordinator of all intra-mural sports at TSU overseeing the training of officials and scheduling league games for sports including soccer, volleyball and softball.

In 2019, he moved into a new position at Towson State named Assistant Director helping to oversee Membership and Guest Services. That promotion effectively removed him from the athletic realm in his day job, but certainly not on weeknights and weekends. And that is exactly when he officiates Division II & III college football and baseball in addition to high school and men’s league baseball games. In fact right now, as September rolls into play, is the busiest and most beneficial time of year for Dave Stewart. Simply regaining timing on the football field takes awhile. After several months, “…you lose it and you have to get it back quickly.”, he points out.

Dave also works some Fall baseball games. Additionally, he makes it a point to attend at least one training camp each year. He has now become well trained in 3-man mechanics, “I’m happy with how I’m progressing. My main goal,” says Stewart, “…is to keep progressing and getting better. I know I’m not as good as I can be.”

According to John Porter, Stewart possesses that vital “triple threat: excellent judgement, well-honed technical skills and strong personality” that shapes the core of umpire excellence. “He’s a smart guy who knows how to handle himself and the coaches”, says Porter.

In addition to improving his own skill set, Dave very much enjoys helping and mentoring other umpires…and he savors all the camaraderie that comes with that. As for himself, “I just want to keep getting better and see where it takes me.“ Asked if he had to choose between baseball and football, Dave admits, ”it’s a very hard question. I like both and there are major differences and pros and cons between them. For one thing there are far more baseball games which are conducive to learning and improving. On the other hand, football is more fast paced and probably more exciting.”

Presently, Dave Stewart’s bottom line: “I’m not ruling anything out.” Smart man making another good call.