[JRutledge]

I do not think it would be easy, but it would not be at all impossible either. Many here are also assuming that working a baseball game with 7,000 people would be a huge transition. Well I can tell you that I have worked football games with nearly that many people and I have worked basketball games is small gyms with a couple of thousand people with the fans in your back pocket during the entire game. I am not saying I would be able to make the transition, but I am not the only person that has that kind of experience. Are you telling me Randy Crystal (sp?) who has worked multiple College World Series and has worked in some of the biggest college football games in the Big 12 and worked a National Championship game in 2002 could not make the transition to the Minor Leagues? You have got to be kidding me. Many Minor League Umpires never umpired a single HS game before they got a shot to work pro ball. If someone that only worked a couple HS games baseball in their career can work a Minor League schedule, do not tell me someone that has been working Major D1 ball could not make that transition if asked. Also when someone said that the first round draft pick pitching would be a challenge, well I could not even tell you who that player is every year and many of them do not even make it to the Majors at all. I can think of countless players that were drafted by a Major League team only to go back to college and finish their career playing football or basketball. Or those players will never be heard from again. Let us not make it sound as if this would be any harder in baseball than other sports. Baseball is also not a sport where everything changes based on what an offense or defense is run. The game is about pitching, hitting and fielding. None of that is going to change as you move through the ranks. That does change drastically in football and basketball and those officials have been making those transitions for years. I am not saying it would be easy, but it would not be such a feet that many could not make the transition. There would be an obvious adjustment period from all and some would work out better than others.

I think that the ego of those that work pro ball would like us to think that there is a harder road for those that work D1 ball or any other college ball. In reality I do not think it would be that hard of an adjustment. Of course that is my opinion but all we are doing here is speculating anyway.

Peace