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Barney Deary's cousin did not make it out of the umpire school. Drew Coble's son was in the minors but did not make it. John Clougherty's son was in the minors (baseball) and didn't make it, however he has made it to D1 in basketball. Baseball didn't work out for Steve Javie either and Johnny Stephens was his god-father, although that case seemed to be about a problem over a promotion. Lenny Dykstra's brother did not make it.
So, Crawford, Wendlestadt, Runge have taken a whole 3 positions due to their father's, rather than their own ability, or so it seems from reading here. Glad Crawford decided to go for it since he is one of the best just like his dad was. What a shame if he had not been allowed to try just because his father made it.
I guess Joey Crawford made it because of Shag and Steve made it because of his dad Stan from NFL football. Seems like Joey and Steve have the NBA finals every year.
Baseball does fire many umpires that do not perform well. Check out the AAA guys who work several years up in the big leagues but do not make it. That is Baseball's system of weeding out and firing of new umps that do not make the grade. I do not see many veteran NBA refs get fired as both Bavetta and Nies are over 65 and in the NFL, Austin is also over 65 and all these guys are close to 70. The weeding out is in the first couple of years in all sports and baseball does this with the guys working up in the "show" from AAA.
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