You know lawyer, you will NEVER find a place where I ever claim I am "better" than any AMLU umpire.
I took a freakin' beating on this board because I claimed one of my reasons for "scabbing" was to see if I could do that level of ball. I was attack viciously, and guys that have NO idea how good or not I am claimed I sucked as an umpire, and proceeded to use fan web blogs as "proof" as to how bad I am.
Not only was there NEVER anything in those blogs about the calls I ever made, you will find NOWHERE any critisism about the crews I worked on. Visiting players often told me our crews were "pretty good" compared to elsewhere.
The point I keep making is that AMLU guys are FAR from not stinking up the joint! Many outstanding umpires were "let go" to make room for the current batch, and you can be assured that many guys that deserve to still be in Pro ball are not. Many of the current pro umpires can not perform at the same level as many of the guys released.
So, this whole silly arguement that the best available are currently doing pro ball is total rubbish!
Frankly, I have worked with some AMLU guys, both past and present. All "solid", but so far, none of them are as good as MANY current college umpires I work with who have no pro experience.
It isn't the fact that you went to the school! It isn't the fact that you did a season or two or 10 in the minors!
Good umpires are going to be good umpires! PERIOD!!!
The AMLU guys post biased article after biased article about how "bad" "amature" umpires are (funny, I am SURE I have made FAR more money umpiring than about 200 out of the 225 current MiLB umps have! and have supported myself many summers in the past JUST off of umpiring!). You can see their overblown ego's in every game you do with them.
What is funny is that I managed to get through around 16 AAA games without anything serious going down, and get many compliments from players. I helped keep a LOT of people working in their ball park jobs. I pretty much showed these AMLU guys that while they may be good, they are certainly not so good that they can shut down baseball simply because they choose not to work.
I really believe that had I gone through a pro school 10 years ago, I might have been on strike this summer.
I can hold my own in any professional game with any AMLU umpire!
So whatever Mr. Lawyer whoever! I will continue to post mistakes I see AMLU guys make on the field, simply because of the fact that they liked to do the same when I work! They are FAR from being above scrutiny in the job they do!