[Striker991]

Originally posted by LDUB

You think LL trained umpires are better than guys trained to work HS games? How about you try this out. Take one of those bad FED guys, and stick him on one of those 60 foot LL games. Take one of the good LL only guys, and put him on a HS game.

After watching those 2 games, you will not have the same viewpoint which you have now. The skills needed to work a LL game are far far fewer than the skills needed to work a HS game. That HS umpire may not be the best guy around, but he is still a lot better than a guy who works only 60 foot baseball.

LDUB...

First, Little League covers ages from 6 years old (sometimes younger) through 18 years old. So, there are many, many Little League umpires with experience and training on the big field.

Second, I have seen HS umpires on 60 ft diamonds that were completely lost. I have also seen 60 ft umpires transition to the big field flawlessly.

I have always been a huge supporter of the volunteer umpire, but this year was the first year I actually saw how bad at least 50% of the paid umpires were. In my area (I can only speak from my experience), I would pit our local volunteer organization that does mostly Little League against the local paid organization that does High School any day of the week. From my experience, ALL of our volunteer guys would be better than ANY of the paid guys, with the exception of 5 or 6 of the paid guys, who are quite good. As stated in my previous post, the BEST HS umpires I have seen are those that participate in both organizations and have received training from both. Big field mechanics are not that different from small field; mainly the starting point is different, with a few changes in responsibility.

Many people on this board say LL isn't "real" baseball. If we're talking "real" baseball, isn't a set of rules based on OBR and revised for the age group closer to "real" baseball than the completely re-written rules of NFHS? Hmmmm?

Tell you what...come here and watch our guys do a JR, SR, or Big League tournament and then meander over to the stadium and watch the paid guys do the Babe Ruth District tournament next weekend. You will see what I see.

PAID does not equal better; I can train volunteers to be as good, better most of the time. The two very best umpires I had all season were one of each. One was an older fellow with the paid organization that could out-hustle anyone younger. He got his start as a volunteer. The other was one of our umpires from the volunteer organization, that even when offered pay, turned it down. He was excellent, and all it cost me was a bacon-cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke.

I don't want to get into the paid vs volunteer debate again. I am sure that most of you guys that do HS ball are excellent and worth more than what you get paid. I'm just saying that in my experience, especially this year as a UIC where I dealt directly with ALL of our umpires, paying the umpires from our local association hasn't been worth it and I am seriously considering dropping them completely next year.