I agree that the issue with working a 3 man crew on most FP games has less to do with money and more to do with lack of qualified manpower. I am sure that Mike's statistics on the drop in umpiring over the last few years are accurate, as there seem to be less and less people wanting to get into the avocation. And even when you do get some new recruits, retaining them is next to impossible. How many times have we seen a promising recruit not come back for their sophomore year? I know that of the rookies that my HS chapter had last year, only about 15% returned for year two. I think what we really need to address is how to better retain our umpires.
Has this thread now taking a substantial enough twist?
