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Originally Posted by JIGGY
I understand your argument. And the answer is YES there are guys out there that are qualified (ex pro guys for instance) and would be able to do the job (do understand that most of them have "moved on" with their lives and would not really want to come back).
The problem with assigning professional umpires in essentially the same way high school or college umpires are assigned is this: THE BEST UMPIRES AREN'T NECESSARILY THE ONES PUT ON THE FIELD. There is a huge problem nationwide pertaining to the "politics" of high school and college assigning (not to say there aren't "politics" in pro ball, just that the playing field is much more level for a guy who isn't "connected" to get in). Assignors at the high school and college levels are not necessarily those who have the most expertise either as an official or as an evaluator of umpiring talent. Decisions are made far more often based on "who you know" vs. "what you know" and guys who are qualified get left out every year while others who aren't get full schedules because of the friends they keep. There tends to be a significantly higher average age of umpires in high school and college ball due to that reason- the "inner circle" in whatever league or conference will never be forced to make way for younger qualified (sometimes more qualified) umpires. This is a problem in a system like the minor leagues, where umpires are supposed to be getting groomed for MLB (imagine a minor league system with an average starting age near 40- those aren't good MLB candidates- not to say older umpires aren't good umpires, just that how many years do you have left to be athletic in the minors? It takes usually 8-10 years to develop a minor league umpire into a major league one.Is it worth hiring a guy in MLB who is going to retire in 10 years? ).
There also is an issue of maintaining a minimum standard of quality of umpiring, meaning:
PBUC is a nationwide minor league-wide program with the purpose of making sure every minor league umpire has been taught the same thing, and performs the same way. This is very much not the case at the high school and college levels, as even basic mechanics and terminology vary greatly from league to league conference to conference assignor to assignor. You get people who have no business teaching others anything giving their opinion on mechanics, rules interpretation, etc and guys must pay attention because they won't get games otherwise.
As appealing as the idea of going to work minor league ball in the evenings and coming back home every night is, there are far too many reasons why it would not work very well (or would work but at the detriment of the quality of umpiring or at least consistency of umpiring from area to area).
The PBUC system isn't perfect, but its not all bad either, and it has been and still is a far better way to do things compared to high school and college baseball.
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You are absolutely correct the PBUC system isn't all bad.
You and I and many others got to go through it, learn from it, and become better umpires for it. But life in a new system will go on, and not at the expense of throwing away an entire life, we both know true career minor league umpires that the system chewed up and spit out and after 20 years in, then out, are working games again, b/c that is what they know and what they have.
As for politics, there is politics in everything we do, and the game taught us both, that we could only control how hard we work and how well we do. The guys that are going to work in MLB are going to get there one way or another.
The road was great, but like you stated, how nice would it be to sleep in your own bed and hold your girl and see your kid after a night out with the boys, working at the yard.