bossman,
The gentleman in question is older than I am, and I ain't no spring chicken. I have no idea how long he has been umpiring, but I would guess it's been for quite awhile.
I think your point about not getting the best the association has to offer for a 14U travel game is a perfectly valid one, and I wouldn't expect that. However, the other umpires they have sent have been, in my opinion, very good.
As to the reasons, I'll admit that I'm struggling with the best way to articulate them. This probably isn't the best way to say it, but it really comes down to multiple blown calls in each of the games he has called for us.
Some of these I would describe as "gross misses" on judgement calls; I'm not talking about bangers where I think my runner was safe and he calls him out. I'm talking about plays where both coaches agree that the call was missed, both for the team that benefitted from the call and the team that got the short end of the call. If this were to happen every now and then, I wouldn't think twice about it. But it seems to happen three or fout times every game.
I get the impression that he knows the rules pretty well, but he seems to "pick and choose" how and when he applies them according to a personal notion of fairness that doesn't always make sense to me. Again, sometimes my team gets the benefit of the misapplication & sometimes the other team does.
His strike zone I would describe as random at times. I know that there is really no way I can tell from my vantage point whether or not a "close pitch" should have properly been called a strike. However, there are certainly at least some pitches that I can tell perfectly well should have been called a ball. When they are called strikes, and my pitcher threw it, Im pretty sure my perception is accurate. Again, if this were an "every now and then" thing, I wouldn't think twice or think to mention it. But it's not.
I don't keep a journal or anything, but I would guess that it's roughly 50/50 as to when my team or the other team benefits when he makes what I consider a poor call. I'm not suggesting that he's out to get me or my team or anything like that. I don't believe he is. I just don't think he's a very good umpire.
JM
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