My partner ??

[His High Holiness]

All;

A couple of points based on the responses that I read:

1. As an assignor, I got a number of complaints from coaches, especially college coaches, about umpires who roll the balls somewhere after the game, or who leave the balls on the plate. They consider this very disprespectful. They had the decency and common courtesy to assign someone to place each and every one of those balls in your hand or outstretched mask. They expect the same courtesy in return. Give the balls to the assigned ball boy or place them in the game ball box or bucket.

(I know that this may not apply to youth leagues of even low level high school. However, if you want to move up the food chain to NCAA, be advised that this is something that coaches are noticing.)

2. It is generally a waste of time or worse to ask the commissioner not to assign you with certain umpires. However, if you don't want to work with certain umpires, just be obnoxious and standoffish when you work with them. THEY will then ask the assignor not to work with YOU. This only works to your benefit if you are a big dog in your group.

Peter