[PeteBooth]

First off your title It's the Scabs Fault It's the scabs fault is not correct.

The fault is with Major league Baseball and the Professional Baseball Umpires Union.

If Major league baseball really cares about umpiring (which IMO they do not), then a Brand New Structure needs to be developed. If you want to attract the "Cream of the Crop" then you have to have a system where the Minor league Umpires do not get paid "Peanuts"

Here's an example; Why do you think it's very difficult to get into the IVY league Schools?

Answer : Yes you need the grades plus "extras" but more importantly, look at the starting salaries of the individuals who graduate from say Harvard compared to other schools.

In addition, the Major League Umpires Union should seek out the services of retired Officials ala Steve Palermo to become mentors. Too many of these supposedly "young guns" do not know how to handle the professional game. I have been watching baseball for a long time and yesterday's plate performance by Adam Young was simply horrible. For a Pro Umpire, his zone was the worst I've seen. It was inconsistent to say the least. Yes we had Eric Gregg but his zone was large for both sides.

Adam Young was also "lucky" in that Joe Torre is calm. Suppose you had Billy Martin on one side and Lou Pinella on the other now that would have been fire-works.

Perhaps just perhaps if major league baseball starts to take "hits" from the "Boss" plus the players union maybe something will be done. However, my gut tells me that yesterday's incident will become a thing of the past as time goes on.


Bottom Line a new Structure needs to take place if you want to attract the "best" as in the Harvard Example. There are probably many Umpires out there who could become good but because of financial constraints can't take the chance.

Pete Booth