Should advancement be a goal for all umpires?

[Ump20]

This appears to be one of the "seven concerns" of many who post to these boards. I wonder about some of our seasoned veterans and their decisions to seek advancement. Was it the challenge? Was it about prestige and respect? Was it about a better brand of baseball? Greater compensation?

What's wrong with an umpire being comfortable doing Little League and just trying to be the best they can be? Personally, I've done High School Varsity and Connie Mack including Eastern Regionals. I also had the opportunity to work a NYC Metro All-Star game at Shea Stadium. I've worked with partners who have done JUCO and NCAA Division III ball. I am reasonably confident I could "move up". Even if I did want to learn another set of baseball rules, I do not have the time to leave work to make college games. Therefore in one sense I have plateaued.

If the money is not a major incentive to umpiring I think the need to advance is not as great. If however, the level of play is not as challenging as before I can see someone wondering "am I good enough?" to move up. I also see the advancement goal as a two-edged sword. On one level it challenges us to get better. On the other side it leaves room for doubt about our work ethic. A byproduct of downsizing, job layoffs etc is that many workers now see their personal time as a perk in itself. I suggest that advancement in umpiring isn't something all should aspire to. Although this is not rules oriented I wonder what others out their think. Jim/NY

[Alligator Bag]

I once had an official tell me if you're not moving forward you are falling behind. I don't necessarily think advancement always means higher levels. I think everytime you go to a clinic, read a post on a bulletin board, or open the rule book to look up a play, you are advancing. Happy with working the level you work is important. Being content is not good. Being content can lead to lazy, which can be dangerous. I tell all our new umpires the most important game in the world is the one you are working at that time. Those kids whether it is Little League, Fed, or NCAA deserve our best every second of the game. If you can walk off the field and say you HONESTLY did just that, you must be advancing. When you have learned it all and seen it all, walk off the field and never come back!

[GarthB]

Due to work schedules, family commitments, and other conflicts and limitations that are every day life, many umpires simply cannot aspire to advancement.

Some umpires, due to deficiencies in one area or another, shouldn't aspire to advancement.

While still other umpires need to aspire to advancement to fulfill something inside.

Perhaps a better way of looking at it is not all umpires can aspire to advance, but every umpire should aspire to improve.

It is possible to remain a varsity umpire, never working a single NCAA game, and still improve week after week, season after season.

If one doesn't get better, he will get worse. There is no status quo in the real world.

Garth

[Warren Willson]

Originally posted by Ump20
This appears to be one of the "seven concerns" of many who post to these boards. I wonder about some of our seasoned veterans and their decisions to seek advancement. Was it the challenge? Was it about prestige and respect? Was it about a better brand of baseball? Greater compensation?

Interesting questions, Jim, although I certainly agree with Alligator Bag that "advancement" doesn't necessarily have to mean to a higher level of competition, etc.

In our country, where youth is prized in officials who want to advance to the highest level, the turning point comes at around age 50 years. When you reach the "magic" half century, your options to advance in level around here tend to dry up rather quickly. At such times the very questions you have asked become paramount, and can be summarized in one all-encompassing question; why am I here?

Alli is right. If you love the game, and you want to continue regardless of level officiated or monetary reward, you will still be required to learn and improve. We can never know enough let alone know it all. In that sense the paradigm that failure to grow is stagnation and death holds very true. New knowledge is necessary to feed the desire that keeps you going absent the other incentives.

For myself, I have to say that I have fallen short of the mountain top and I have never seen the promised land. I became too old to advance to the highest level even as that level was being properly defined. If only I had discovered this great game earlier, but then any earlier and the highest level wouldn't have existed anyway.

When I started, all I wanted was to be the very best I could be. I worked hard, studied hard and played hard to progress. And progress I most certainly did. Two Australian championships later, including a plate in the Commonwealth Cup Championship Final (Australian Senior Provincial Championships), and I'm still not satisfied. I could have done more. I could have been better. Where do I go from here?

I have found a way to advance beyond my own limitations, by helping others to advance. I encourage, facilitate and instruct new officials who show any promise and enthusiasm. That is how I advance. Is it enough? I don't know - yet. I have one official who has made it (briefly) into the International arena. I have another official who is on the brink of world domination, if he doesn't kill himself first by the effort! (grin) I don't live vicariously through either of them. I do enjoy their successes. A great friend of mine, an ex-Marine and Episcopalian priest, once coined a term for what I believe I am feeling; Generativity. The urge to give back and so promote new growth in others without expecting anything in return. I'll let you know how it pans out for keeping us older guys envigorated in the game.

In April, like many of you I will return to the diamond for District League (winter) after a brief mid-season exile from State League (summer). I became unemployed for only the third time in my life and I couldn't continue with the expensive travel commitments that State League requires. I don't know whether I will take the diamond refreshed and enthusiastic, or whether the layoff will have left me complacent and contemptuous for what I cannot have or do any more. Advancement in level is, for me, a thing of the past.

Fortunately for me, District League at its highest is still a pretty good brand of baseball. At least it has been. The league is changing its format this year in response to concerns over declining participation last year. I hope it will be enough, because I don't know what else I would do if it wasn't! I'm still too young to be attracted by lawn bowls. (BIG grin) In hindsight, I don't know whether there was an element of prestige about advancing, or whether it was purely the higher level of competition that drove me on. Maybe the truth is that it was a combination of both. Certainly the challenge was a part of the equation. I guess in the end it's a bit like mountain-climbing; you do it because it's there. And you keep doing it as long as you can find a fresh "mountain" that you haven't climbed before. We'll see.

Cheers,