Olympic Baseball Umpires

[Buckeye12]

Does anyone have information on any of the umpires working the 2004 Olympic baseball games. I looked on the internet and the only information I could find is that the games are sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF). I couldn't find any info on how these umpires are chosen or who they are. Are there any umpires from the United States that will be working the games? Does anyone have any more info than this?

[GarthB]

US Umps working the Olympics:

Gus Rodriguez
Angelo Mattalino
Paul Seiler
Greg Oros
Glenn Hester
James Pugel


For the first time we have more US umps at the Olympics than US players.

[Buckeye12]

Are these guys currently working in professional baseball, college, etc?? How are they chosen? What kind of pay do they receive?

[Atl Blue]

I worked as one of the Official Scorers for the 1996 Olympics. We were also certified by the IBA (International Baseball Federation). We were considered as the same credentials class as the umpires, and roomed with them in the same dorm (although the same in class, I would have MUCH rather been on the field!). In the 96 Olympics, the US umps were D-1 college guys. The International umps ranged from college to "semi-professional" umpires.

We (the umpires and the scorers) received no "pay" for working the games. We were given a significant "per diem", even though meals were available to us at the venue or the dorm. We were given free rooms, free transportation in Atlanta, all kinds of clothing/uniforms, gifts from the Olympic Committee and the IBA, and travel to and from the Games in Atlanta from your home (which for me was about 4 miles away, but was considerable for the umpires from Korea and Australia). Officially, we were not supposed to get any tickets or use baseball credentials to get into other events, but let's just say I saw just about any event that my schedule allowed during the games. Because the Baseball stadium was the staging area for the Opening Ceremonies, we got see all and meet many of the athletes before they marched in the Openning Ceremonies. We watched Mohammed Ali light the torch from a vantage point that was better than many people in the Olympic Stadium.

I met some great people that week. On nights off, since I was the "local", we would commandeer an Olympic van (against MANY rules), and I would show my International friends some of the more fun spots in Atlanta in which to have a proper "post game briefing" (which is where we spent most of our per diems). I still have a tie which was a gift from the Dutch ump (he owned a tie business in "real life"), I learned Korean drinking games, and received an invitation to the 2000 Games in Sydney from the IBA, the Olympic Committee and my Australian umpiring friend.

There are MANY tales from those couple of weeks, far too many to detail here. It was one of the most fun and event filled two weeks of my baseball career. I envy the guys that are in Athens this week.

[GarthB]

Originally posted by Buckeye12
Are these guys currently working in professional baseball, college, etc?? How are they chosen? What kind of pay do they receive?

I believe they are all D-1 umpires who also work IBA. Gus Rodriquez worked the CWS this season and Greg Oros was an alternate for a Super Regional.

[Roger Greene]

Originally posted by GarthB
[B


For the first time we have more US umps at the Olympics than US players.
[/B]

I thought I heard on NBC last night that 20 of the 24 members of the Greek baseball team were U.S. citizens.

It also isn't likely they will be in the medal rounds.

Roger Greene

[tiger49]

Here is the link to the list of the Umpires for the Games.
http://www.baseball.ch/OG/Tec.html

Also the Umps are wearing all-black shirts(no trim) from SSK sports with sage grey pants and adjustable hats. I have also noticed alot of guys wearing Miuzno plate shoes.