Just curious... how do MLB umps select what color shirts they are going to wear that day? Is there some kind of order, or does the PU that day choose, or something else?

Plate umps decision.

...then any PU who picks the 'pastel blue' shirts should be de-certified *wink*

I don't understand how they can have the black as their main shirt. I know that they are hot, and I don't think they look that great either. They are OK to were every once and a while to change things up, but I don't think they should wear them as much as they do.

That powder blue color is my least favorite. Unless you're the type of umpire that drinks "GIMA".

They are no hotter than the powder blue shirts. We wear black all the time. They are micromesh polyester, not some absorptive material.

Wear some UnderArmour Heatgear underneath it, if you think it's hot.

Nothing looks better than the black shirts, IMO.

Isn't your powder blue shirt made out of the same fabric as your black? So I don't see how the fabric could be a factor in weather it is hot or not compared to a powder shirt.

I do like the look of the black shirts, but I think it would be nice if MLB had a third shirt color.

I actually like the color selection this of uniforms for the MLB umpires. I think it looks very good on the field.

As far as the decision on what to wear from game to game, I was told the it was the crew chief's decision, but maybe it is the PU's decision.

Of course it's the same material. Neither absorb sunlight to a huge degree. I feel no hotter in black than powder blue.

Dark colors absorb more heat than light colors. Fabric has nothing to do with it. It's physics. There is a world of difference on a hot day, under-armour or not.

Take a black shirt and lay it flat on the ground on a hot day and place a thermometer inside. Leave it for 30 minutes and read the temp. Let the thermometer cool to the same temp it was before you put in in the shirt and then do the same experiment with a white shirt.

It just isn't enough of a difference to matter to me. I absolutely despise powder blue and don't carry it, much to the chagrin of some of my partners.

I have powder blue and cream and would rather work with partners on hot days who have one or the other or both. I worked a DH yesterday beginning at 1:00 and used cream for 1st game, and poweder blue for 2nd game. Game time weather was 92 degrees and sunny.

My partner had the plate for 1st game and I had plate for 2nd game. I must have drank a gallon of water during the 2nd game, but still went home to weigh 5 pounds less than before I left home.

I was watching a Saturday afternoon game a couple weeks ago on TV, where umps had on black. It was 90 degrees here, but game was in Boston. I looked up the weather in Boston on weather.com and it was 65 degrees. I thought, "oh".

So the MLB umps can wear black, powder or cream, correct?

There is no cream color in MLB. Anybody out there know why they do not have an alternate cream color, is it because it would match the players uniforms?

They are wearing a light grey shirt this year. I think cream was a color they used a couple years ago, and is still available for sale. I have not seen a light grey one for sale.

I haven't seen the light grey since last year. This year, only the new blue shirt and the black.

Light Gray's out
 

Light Gray is out in MLB this year. I have always worn either light blue or cream during the summer. Last week I tried the black during the 2nd game of a d/h. Temp was 92 and humidity about 90%. I wore a gray under armor. Was not any hotter than when I wore a light blue or cream. I also think the black looks the best. I absolutley cannot stand that new color blue they are using in MLB. Who knows what they'll come up with next.

Re: Light Gray's out
 

I don't know what shade of light blue they are using in MLB this year. Mine is like the one NCAA uses.

The Bedouin experiment
 

<LI>A hunert years, or so, ago during some sociology class I remembered the the Bedouins nomadic tribes of the Sinai wore dark colors while most of the other nomadic tribes wore light/white. Just remembered. Don't know why. :rolleyes:

Saturday at a Little League game, I selected Black for a Bedouin experiment, ... to test it. Obviously, my partner went along with it since I was wearing the gear, how much could it hurt? :)

U.P. here 80 is rare, and we were at 89. Partner's feet were hot.

I had a sleeveless interawear "V" under my stuff, and every now and then, a little puff of air would blow through my stuff like an air-conditioner. Not bad at all.

After the game was the problem.

When I took off my stuff and got to the interawear, I could hardly stand far enough away from that smelly thing to get it away from me. ;)

mick

During the game is all I care about, ie how hot do I get. After the game I can change shirts if the one I have on stinks. I got underamour, interawear, nike, and several other brands of underclothes that wick away the sweat (ie heat). I even have some wicking socks to help my feet out, but I ain't wearing a dark shirt in the summertime for a daytime game unless it's MANDATORY, and then I ain't happy about it.

No way DG you are wrong, the sage grey (official name) was introduced during the 2000 playoffs. A cream color was never worn I do not believe. 1999 was the last year of the navy blue. The sage grey was replaced this year by charcoal gray pants and the new blue color. Read this article:

http://worldumpires.com/news/060104Uniforms.htm

Who cares what MLB wears? I only care what I wear, and my partner. On a hot summer day game it is either powder blue or cream, unless dark blue is mandatory for the game I am doing. I don't own a black and have no need for one.

So I wonder, why is cream available if it has not been used?

I wear a cream "T" over my protector, under my jersey to "hide" my paraphenalia.
mick

Interesting concept, a third shirt... I am hot again, thinking about it.

Maybe that's why my Black ain't so hot. :)

If I can see through the double negative, you believe wrong. Cream shirts were indeed worn by MLB umpires.

Bedouins use black tents because they make a natural heat pump. The weave of the tent is loose. Hot air rises. What happens is the sun heats the black fabric and the air immediately surrounding the fabric. That air then rises to the top of the tent and exits through the loose weave. If air exits, more air must enter, so fresh air enters through open flaps in the tenp, creating a constant breeze.

The black robes follow much the same concept. By wearing loose black clothing, you end up with airflow even if there is no breeze.

White clothing does reflect more IR, preventing it from heating up as quickly, but it also reflects more UV light, causing uncovered areas of your body to be bombarded with UV from both the sun and the reflection. That's why you get sunburned easily while snow skiing.

And although white clothing doesn't heat up as quickly in the sun, the British army conducted experiments in WW2 that found after spending some time in the sun it doesn't matter what color you are wearing. All colors ended up at the same temperature next to the skin.

So if you wear some good interawear and a loose dark shirt, you will probably end up feeling cooler than if you wear light colors that reflect light.

Cool! :cool:
mick

"And the sun heats the fabric and the area around the fabric". I don't think I can get enough loose air space under my shirt to make it act like a bedouin's tent. And I seem to recall British soldiers wearing khaki in the desert.

[Edited by DG on Jul 14th, 2004 at 05:50 PM]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by DG

Quote:

And I seem to recall British soldiers wearing khaki in the desert.

DG,
That may have something to do with the color of the desert. :)
mick

I've seem many an umpire that looked like they are a bedouin tent.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mick

Quote:

Originally posted by DG Quote: And I seem to recall British soldiers wearing khaki in the desert. DG, That may have something to do with the color of the desert. :) mick

Possibly, however, they generally had armord columns with them somewhere nearby, and with no trees to hide under I don't think khaki would prevent them from being seen. But hey, it's a good thought. They painted the tanks the same color as the desert also.

Somebody should tell the military to stop spending all that money researching desert camo then...

I was flipping through the TV channels tonight. Got to the History Channel. They were showing a program about bathrooms, and things that are in bathrooms. They talked about toilet paper, and said that in the Gulf War, toilet paper was used to camoflague (spelling?) the tanks. Good thing all that money led to such a high tech solution.

Now that's funny...

"toilet paper was used to camoflague (spelling?) the tanks."

Unused?

FWIW
 

Patton once said something along the lines of -- never underestimate the ingenuity of the American fighting man -- I don't and I continue to be amazed with the things that kids come up with...