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"You would never advance very high in any kind of officials association, and would probably never amount to any kind of decent official, and frankly, would have an opinion that no decent official would really care about."
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Rei and I are in the same high school association. I am an umpire observer for his college group. I post this so you all can recognize that even two umpires in the same group can see things through different colored glasses.
The Portland Baseball Umpires Association is made up of around 175 people from varied backgrounds.
We have umpires of all shapes, sizes, nationalities, and ages.
I couldn't disagree more with Rei on this specific subject. The Original post asked do "participants" care how umpires look. My answer to that is a firm "no."
From my experience the PBUA still sends guys to upper level (and playoff) games that dress horribly.
All the regulars know that I am a grear junky. I have both plate and base pants in heather and charcoal and I carry 47 different shirts to every game. I STILL CANNOT MATCH EVERY OTHER PBUA MEMBER WHEN IT COMES TO SHADE OF PANT OR SHIRT OR PIPING PATTERN ON SLEEVES.
Participants want a good solid job of umpiring. While having never worked a small diamond game I have heard gasps and "gee, we get real umpires today!" when I have been near a game of young players. That isn't how I viewed this original post.
Rei and I lament annually about the caps our umpires wear. We have ba$terized that selection by using several different suppliers over the past five years. As umpires that work non-professional games how much investment (money) can we expect our members to pony-up?
Wear a clean uniform and wipe dirt and dust from your shoes before each game. That will "impress" those that count and leave the "uniform police" to worrying about each other.
And Rei, just because Dave Reed doesn't agree with you does not mean he should burn in he11 . . . he has a right to an opinion.
Regards,