[BuggBob]

Last night was the first night on the field for two of our brand new rookie umpires. There were three games scheduled, the veteran mentoring umpire did the first game with the rookie watching and taking notes. Then the rookie did the second game with the veteran umpire standing on the field offering tidbits of help between innings and being there just in case (my rookie forgot the count several times and I was able to quickly update him). The third game the rookie did by him self with the veteran now off the field, but close by to offer help and protection as needed. This was our first time of trying this method of training. From all accounts I think it worked pretty well. The teams were pretty good and accepted the calls good or bad the rookie made. I don't think they would have been as nice if the veteran umpire was not there to help the rookies. One funny moment, one of the guys who acted as a mentor to me when I first started to umpire was up to bat, he hit a shot that was clearly fair by about 6 inches, the rookie calls a weak foul ball. My friend just turned to the rookie and calmly said, "I think that was fair your position was wrong, let's try it again." He then took his position in the batters box and hit a ball in dang near the same spot. This time the rookie moved correctly to make the correct call. Man I love this game.

Bugg