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I am glad to see all of this bickering and name calling is accomplishing a lot. I didn't work as a replacement, was never asked, and probably wouldn't have because I didn't trust my skills for that level. I have since worked with several guys that did work as fill-ins. They made the decision and it's not my place to say whether it was right or wrong. Time will decide that.
I know a couple of guys in the game. They are good people and they have scraped by on nothing for years. I wish they had gotten more in the settlement. I understood why they went on strike and I didn't blame them.
The discussion above is they very thing I hoped wouldn't have happened. This rift was not and should not be between amateur umpires and professional umpires. It's between the AMLU and MiLB. Several things have to be realized on both sides of umpiring. Amateurs working the pro game have to take their experience for what it was. It was replacement work while the striking umpires were out. No different that when the NFL used replacements in the 80's. Yes, they played in the NFL but as replacements . I don't see anything wrong with a guy saying I worked 20 games at AA in 2006 if he qualifies it by saying as a replacement. But don't kid yourself into believing that you are the same as a guy who worked his way up through the ranks.
Professional umpires need to understand that except for the select few who make it to the big leagues, if you want to umpire after MiLB you are going to be an amateur umpire. Sure, you will be an ex-MiLB umpire, but you will be an amateur. You'll be back to working with the guys you called scabs and other choice words. It may work OK between you and your new colleagues and it may not. If you stay a pro, we are also the people that attend the clinics you run. Professional umpires count on amateur umpires to make clinics profitable. Nobody is going to want to attend a clinic run by anyone that calls amateurs inferior and such.
In any event, the strike is over. Dwelling on what happened on over the past few months doesn't solve anything or rewrite history. Time to move on..
Lawrence
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