[chris s]

Originally posted by His High Holiness

Walter;

Having been an umpire assignor for years, I took a dim view of the resumes that I saw. Most of them were lies or information that could not be verified. Furthermore, in many parts of the country, any idiot can get assigned to a good game if he is available.

Here is what I looked at.

Pro-school. I would want to know the year so that I could talk to somebody who knew you.

Big name assignor. If you had an assignor that I knew as a reference, that was gold. If that assignor gave you a good review, you were going to get a good game to be evaluated. If you screwed up, you would get more games to be evaluated. You would get at least three shots if you had the right reference. If he said you sucked, then unless you had worked NCAA regionals (and I could verify it) or something along those lines, you started at the bottom.

Little League did not impress me, even if it was Little League World Series. Likewise Babe Ruth, Pony or any other stuff along that line. Any idiots can get those games by being persistent.

State high school game championships outside of Virginia or Maryland did not impress me. Too many losers get those games as they are often awarded to big dogs with connections and no talent. I can verify your performance in VA and MD.

I would not believe anyone who told me that he knew 2,3, or 4 man mechanics. Instead, I asked him a few questions. If he could not rattle off the answers (and most of them could not) then I assumed that he was lying or totally ignorant.

If someone bragged about big games that he worked, I assumed that he was a blowhard. The only thing that impressed me was an offer to go work a game with an experienced person to evaluate him.

I did ask about the number of years at each level before giving them a game. If their performance at the evaluation game did not match their stated experience (and it usually did not) I chalked it up to a credibility problem or that they worked in a part of the country that required very little of umpires.

Knowing what I know now, if I was to move to a new area here is how I would approach a new assignor:

Assignor: What is your experience?

Me: Look, I know that just about everybody that you talk to lies or exaggerates their experience. Instead of getting into this, why don't you call Nick and John to ask them about my qualifications. (Both of these assignors are well known within the NCAA.) One has worked a CWS.

Assignor: Well, give me a little information

Me: Would you like me to fax you my last year's schedule? It has all the games that I worked, with teams, locations, partners, and phone numbers.

With that, I have demonstrated that I am not a bulls$$$t artist. I am talking facts and my credibility/integrity is way ahead of the average ethically challenged moron that he deals with.

The point is you want to sell him on your integrity, not what a nice guy you are, or how great an umpire you are. He'll figure out in short order what kind of an umpire that I am and that I am an a$$hole.

Peter

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!


As I constantly digi-photo my REAL work, would it not hurt to add photos? I only worked some "practice" games this past season for my kids games, but my ex actually got some good shots of me working the dish. I was very pleased I haven't lost anything......head and body looked great, I was pleased. JMHO, someone else may see it different....LOL