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I guess it depends on what you consider LL baseball to be. There are far to many individuals that believe LL baseball is confined to the 60' diamond. Those individuals tend to call those of us still dedicated to the LL program "kiddie ball" umpires. I suppose I see they're point when all they're accustomed to seeing in a LL game is a Smitty with his hat turned backwards, shin guards outside of his pants, etc.. working those games. I believe that if their LL program was anywhere near as strong as the ones in many other areas they would also see that there are some extremely good umpires officiating those games.
They might also be surprised to find that there is some damn good quality big diamond baseball being played in those locations. That's where I spend most of my time anymore, on the big diamond calling games for the same players I see all season long in HS. There are two AML teams playing in my area, and four MM, but the players who play on those teams still play for a LL seniors or big league team during the Summer season. When the tournament rolls around the all-star teams at those levels are a who's-who of the HS varsity baseball teams. My oldest son is playing on a seniors all-star team that has baseball players from three different HS teams playing. His coach is the asst. coach for his HS team. So, do you really think the level of ball is that diminished just because they play under the banner of LL? I would hope not.
Tim.
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