[greymule]

Fed has plenty of evaluation, but there's no real evaluation in ASA around here. Basically, it's as others have said: word gets back to the assigners as to who's good or not so good. The assigners deal pretty closely with the various leagues, so they find out fast who's doing well or not.

There are other matters, too. For example, one SP league complained about an ump who was too inflexible and simply wouldn't listen to anything at all. The players felt "dissed." In another case, a girls' FP league in a very competitive township asked that certain umps not be assigned their leagues, for the following reasons: (1) bailing out on pitches, (2) chastising the catcher for allowing pitches to get by and hit the ump, (3) arriving late, (4) displaying a lack of "people" skills with the girls, (5) saying things like, "My, you're looking fine today" to batters. Of course, enough just plain incompetence can get somebody removed, too.

Our association has 92 members. Everybody knows which 8 or 10 do the high-level FP, which 8 or 10 who do the tough SP games, who does middle-level this and that, and who does the "company picnic" games. I do know that any competent ump who works hard and is reliable will get plenty of good games. Like many associations, we need good umps who want to work. However, we have plenty of warm bodies who simply want to do 20 or 30 low-pressure games a year. They couldn't care less about moving up and would be happy to move down if the games paid.

Pay is one odd aspect of umping around here and I suspect in other places. You get $40—cash—for doing a girls' game where you hardly need a mask, the offense is limited to 6 runs an inning, and as long as you know more about the rules than the average recent immigrant, you're fine. You get $31—later—for a high-pressure, biker league slow pitch game that constantly tests your abilities and your temper—and lasts longer! Guess which games most people want to do.