Quote:
|
Originally Posted by GarthB
Taht might be the way you look at it, Steve. Fortunately, you don't appear to be in the majority.
A Minor League umpire has graduated as an honor grad from proschool, has additional training at PBUC, was selected by PBUC for a job and is under contract to Minor League Baseball. If you haven't gone through this, you are not a minor league umpire.
A fill-in is a fill-in.
Every poster on this board with fill-in experience, except possibly one, has too much respect for the real MiLB umpires to claim membership in that fraternity.
Let's face, the poster in question lists MiLB in an attempt to steal a little prestige from the unknowing. If he weren't, he'd identify himself truthfully, "MiLB Fill-in",
|
Oh, I get it. He should hide in shame because he is a fill-in umpire for MiLB. He is not worthy. So I had to work my as$ off in order to improve my skills to be a full-time varsity umpire in my 2nd year umpiring. Does that mean that guys that work some varsity but mostly JV/Frosh-style games should not put NFHS Varsity in their signatures.
I just took his signature to indicate the various levels he had worked. I did not see it that he was claiming to be a card carrying member of that special "fraternity." It isn't like he scabbed or anything is it? He was asked to fill in for missing umpires. He did not put "AMLU" in his signature.
I like to list all the levels of baseball I've worked, which fall just short of MiLB and D-1 baseball. Jeez you astound me with your reverence for pro-school honor grads. It is only minor league baseball for chrissakes. It is really not that big of a deal. I was the (only) Honor Graduate of my AIT class in the Army, yet it only garnered me a letter to my folks and a promotion from E-1 to E-3. And on top of that, the other 34 students in that class still could claim to be professional soldiers. Even the NG and Reserve part-timers. Kind of like fill-ins.
