3 man Crews - Would you work for less

[Tim C]

In Oregon, baseball is considered a non-revenue sport. i.e. There are no admission fees charged to fans.

We deal with the 3 man question nearly every year. As soon as playoffs are concerned we get calls at once from almost all sized schools wanting three man crews (i.e. at the playoff level they charge admission therefore pay for three)

I got my start by working as a "free" third man in Regular season games. I asked the assignor and I asked the crew . . . never was the offer refused.

When Oregon goes to three man we do take a cut in the individual fee. There is no logic to this it is just the way it seems to work. We take about an average of $4.00 cut for each of the two man crew and add the third at the slightly lower fee.

We still ONLY receive travel for ONE car.

Salem (OR) went to three man crews in basketball. They worked at a reduced rate for two seasons . . . the leagues then added in the third man at full price.

The end result is:

Portland (OR) would not have enough qualified umpires to go to three man crews. The cost would be a headache for some schools (to the point that they CLAIM they would drop baseball as a sport)and finally it work mean more training for the people who are already stretched thin with current programs.