[JRutledge]

Originally posted by Kaliix
Jeff, if you are making $300 a week doing games, you definitely need more than one uniform. My first year, I did 13 games in the high school season. One or two a week in mostly cool weather. For someone in their first year, who is not sure they are gonna stick with it, one uniform will work for the kind of schedule a new umpire is likely to get, at least in my area. My uniform never looked dirty, but I took care to store in properly.

As far as the plate shoes go, that is an individual choice. I bought a pair of plate shoes early in my first season but I don't like taking chances and I didn't have the extended guards on my shin guards. But I also didn't take a shot on the foot all of last year. If one is looking to save money the first year, you can. You are however tempting fate.

All these decisions are "personal" choices. No one is holding a gun to your head to take any of our advice here. You also cannot assume that every official is that indecisive about whether they want to work baseball. Most new umpires I run into want to work as much as possible. Sorry I was not answering this question for a small percentage of people getting into this. I still think it is important to look as professional as possible and most of us have jobs or other things in our lives. We all cannot wash uniforms after every game because we have other things going on in our daily lives. So if you want to cut corners do that. I just think new umpires that want to work more than once a week will find out that washing uniforms all the time can be tedious. I know when I started working I would get called every day to cover a game somewhere. You have a right to do what you want. I just do not feel your advice on this issue is solid as it relates to the every day umpire.

Peace