John Libka was born on June 13, 1987, in Saginaw, Michigan, to Gary and Lori Libka. He grew up in Mayville, Michigan, and attended high school at the Juniata Christian School in Vassar, Michigan. Libka played baseball through his junior year in high school before beginning to umpire through the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Legacy Program. Under the direction of his father, Gary, Libka officiated his first games aged 16. After high school, Libka attended Pensacola Christian College, graduating with a degree in education. After a teaching internship, Libka decided to return to umpiring, attending the Wendelstedt Umpire School and graduating in 2010. Libka now is an instructor at the Wendelstedt School.

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Libka made his Major League Baseball debut on May 27, 2017, umpiring a doubleheader in which the Detroit Tigers visited the Chicago White Sox. On July 6, 2017, he ejected his first player, sending the Houston Astros' Marwin González off the field for arguing balls and strikes. Through the 2018 regular season he was found to be the best performing home plate umpire in terms of accuracy in calling balls and strikes, with an error rate of 7.59 percent, and second best in 2018 alone, with an error rate of 7.33 percent. This was based on a study conducted at Boston University where 372,442 pitches were called and analyzed.

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Information found on Wikipedia.

Past Speakers

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Rev. John Grenfell, III

Jim Achatz

Jeff Totten

Josh Sabo

Mark Engelsdorfer

Brian Scharp

Tom Jordan

Romy Kochan

Mike Rickerman

Dan Brennan

Marketplace Chaplains

Donna Russell-Kuhr

Pastor Terry Kuhns

Rev. Mark Huff

Ken Cummings

Dr. David Richards

Tony Miller 

Shannon LaBruyere

Tracy Willard

Mike Blanchard

Chief Brett Lester

Stacy DeShon

Dave Liniarski

Marilyn Meredith

Jeff Kaczperski

Heather Kendrick

Jeff Totten

Shane Childers

John Munson

Amy Catanzaro

Rep. Shane Hernandez

Frank Tanana

John Knuth