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Well lets see. The AMLU guys do get insurance, you are right. But just for the sake of argument, lets look a little closer.
Insurance is approx. $200/month. If they work 180 games, as most do, that is an additional $13/day per day worked.
As for hotel and stuff, I am not convinced that counts. While they are away MiLB doesn't pay for the home that their families live in. Granted, some don't have wives and kids, but this still doesn't hold water. Besides, most clubs comp out the rooms for the umpires with advertisements in the outfield.
Mileage reimbursement...seriously, do I even have to explain this with the current gas rates? This doesn't even take into account the depreciation of the umpires personal vehicles.
Uniforms are free to PBUC and the umpires pay for their own equipment. Let me say that again...uniforms cost PBUC nothing, but the umpires must buy their own facemasks and other incidentals every year.
All in all, I think it is safe to say that a D1 umpire makes out a lot better.
There are a lot of other things that people don't take into account. But consider this. As a former MiLB umpire, my Grandmother passed away one summer while I was traveling. Since it wasn't my immediate family per se, I was permitted to fly home the day of the wake, stay for the funeral, and was expected on the field the very next night. And to the boys and girls keeping score, I paid for the airplane ticket and my league (The Southern League) did not pay me for the days I missed. I am not talking about per diem here, I am talking about my salary. It was docked. Anyone know how expensive it is to buy a ticket on 2 days notice where you fly back in 4 days. Needless to say, I just about broke even for that month in the game.
I know I am not going to convince everyone to see things my way. But in the very least I would just like to share with you some situations that may shed some light on the fact that the AMLU guys needed to stand up for themselves. It is not about chasing a dream and being greedy. It is about being realistic in the goals and evaluating their performance. Baseball may be big and bad, but these guys are trying to make it a little better and trying to keep their heads above the financial water. They are sinking right now. They are sinking because they have people pulling them under the water every day on every minor league field. Then you come home and you read some of these posts. These people draw conclusions that are totally unfounded. Just know that the minor league umpires are not bad people. They had a scab gallery. Well they took it down. They want to get on that field very badly. The few guys I still know in the game are hungry for game action. But at this point when you are told you are worth an additional $100 a month and $2 a day with the costs in this country...give me a break. I don't smoke, but I am going to guess that a pack of cigarettes cost approximately half of what it costs today from 2000. Everything is more expensive. Baseball may have all the power and money...but it doesn't make what they are doing right.
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