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Just a few thoughts after reading this thread.
First, I do not know of any AMLU guys right now that are accepting post season assignments. One thing though, all of the D1 stuff in my area is just ending. So I guess I am just throwing out there that many replacement umpires may be speculating that this will happen to support their decision to work MiLB. Not too far fetched when you consider the many rumors that came out about guys getting threatening phone calls and other scare tactics directed at them, which were never confirmed. I guess all I am saying Sal is that you truly have to consider your source when it comes to allegations such as this. Like many have asked, give us names so that it can be confirmed. Along the same lines, I know of one D1 umpire that is working a post season assignment who has worked as a replacement. I am not naming him on this board because his decision is no different than an AMLU guy who works college. The best umpires get the assignments...period.
As another post stated, maybe it is every umpire for themself. But this is a two sided coin. Every guy out there that has worked MiLB as a replacement needs to at least consider that if this thing goes south as WWTB predicts, where will that leave all of these guys in the future? There will be an influx on AMLU guys looking to work every game they can. At this point a few have worked...imagine if they all did. Like I said, the best umpires get the assignments...period. I guess the argument here is that you should be careful what you wish for.
And don't go out there and make my comments look like a threat. I could care a less who works where. But I can tell you that when I walked away from MiLB I was offered a ton of D1 games. The money was great, but I declined at first because I needed to focus on my new career. Now, a few years later, I do work some games for the fun of it. Sure, the money is decent. But I just love umpiring. And every assignor that I work for is not afraid to send me to any game. My schedule now is pretty good, especially considering I turn down more assignments than I take. It all comes back to the same point. The best umpires get the assignments. This is not a pad on my own back, it is just my experience.
I have heard all the arguments...I have more experience....These young guys can't carry my jock...They call us Charlies....They are no better than the top D1 guys...etc... Can we please just accept the fact that these guys were willing to make umpiring their career. They have a right to fight for better wages. I said it before, they make a poverty wage. What they are asking for is still a poverty wage. This isn't a matter of knowing what they got into, this is a matter of baseball knowing who they hired. Some of these guys are pretty good. Baseball refuses to acknowledge that. Some of these guys are capable of working other jobs for a better wage but decline for a slight chance of making it to MLB. The problem here is that Baseball exploits that. If you can't see the hypocrisy in that then you truly do not have a concept of what life is like as a MiLB umpire.
As a final plea...stop pointing fingers. This is not the AMLU's fault, it is not society, it is not the college guys working as replacements. All that is going on here is that the very rich baseball people want to get richer. They do not care about their employees that they know will not be there in ten years. Every player and umpire will be gone in 10 years. They prey on this fact. They truly are horrible people for what they are doing. This is a 5 BILLION dollar a year industry. Go to any other BILLION dollar company and try to find an employee that starts off at $1800/month. You will be hard pressed. In fact, you will be hard pressed to find a single employee that starts off at $3500/month in a BILLION dollar company, and that is the top for the AMLU guys. This is rediculous. Stop pointing the fingers at each other. When this thing is over we will still be left with professional and amateur umpires. There will be many clinics to work. As another post so accurately stated, this wound will take a long time to heal. And this healing won't begin until baseball has sucked all of the blood out of both the pros and the amateurs.
To every replacement out there just know this, baseball will throw you to the curb as soon as this is resolved. In a year or two they will not remember your name. It will be on a list of guys willing to work in the event of a strike, but that is the only time they will call. So stop believing their stance that you are doing a noble thing for the thousands of workers out there at every ballpark in america. If baseball cared at all about the concession people in the parks and every other worker, they never would have rejected the AMLU offer just before the season started that only asked for a raise in per diem (still less than the government rate) and a $33 raise each year for the next 3 years. Yes, my sources are still accurate too. This was only an additional $400,000 a year for a 5 BILLION dollar company. For those of you a little shaky on the math...that is $5,000,000,000....that is a lot of zeros. And also know that the same people that pay the umpires (MiLB) do not pay the players, coaches and managers. Those people are payed by their MLB parent club. The moral of this story, and the crux of the AMLU argument, is that all of this money goes to a few people, the same people that pay the umpires. It is pathetic that people make the AMLU umpires out to be greedy. If they were holding out for $30K a year I can accept that argument. But in todays world these guys can barely go grocery shopping twice a month for their families. It truly is pathetic that baseball has managed to direct the attention from what they are doing to the umpires....instead they have the guys working pointing fingers at the guys that are on strike and vice versa. Like I said...PATHETIC!
I apologize for the length, I am tired and just started writing what I was thinking. Lets try to keep one thing in perspective through this whole thing. Next weekend is Memorial Day. For one day lets just do what is expected of all of us and honor every member of the armed forces that provide us with the freedom to choose and be free. In the grand scheme of things, this strike is insignificant.
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