The Coolest Umpire Shirts!

[GarthB]

Originally posted by CJN
How did you order the shirts?

How much did you have to pay for the shirts?

The two shirts on Ebay, both listed as requiring a minimum bid of $14.99, received zero bids over seven days.

For my own little market survey, I emailed the photo of the navy shirts to 65 amateur umpires, 6 professional umpires and one former professional umpire.

Not one responded that they would purchase the shirt if it wasn't required by their association/employer.

Four of the pro umpires had a very similar comment to: "You mean they've got trim on the shoulders AND the coilar and sleeves? Why?"

One amateur umpire suggested a serious use for it: "Maybe a tournament UIC that is supervising but not working would like to wear it so he'll stand out."

Edited to add: I don't want to give the impression that I conducted a scientific survey. The audience was not selected at random. The umpires were all on my mailing list which does not include any Little League umpires. Also, the number of professional respondents was too small to be significant. The results are anecdotal only.

Another comment I received but neglected to note was this: "Unless that shirt was required, I doubt any partner would have one, so it would be a waste for me to buy one."

I guess that argument would have no bearing on those who work one-man games.

[Edited by GarthB on Dec 24th, 2005 at 02:56 PM]