Stan:
 

We are faced with another fashion issue in Portland:

Our high school association has many umpires that are also members of our college umpire association.

The Northwest College Umpire Association has selected to all wear the Honig's Wool/Poly Blend pants. These pants are a considerably darker shade of grey than the other Honig, Davis and +POS pants that other members of our association wear.

I have questioned our college umpires: "is it right that you wear a uniform, when working high school baseball, that does not match your partner?"

As they look at me their eyes sorta fog over.

I know that look.......
 

that fogged over look is the same look I get when we talk to our lower level umpires about dress code.........

Actually at our NFHS state rules meeting(PA) the interpreter was stressing Uniform issues as well. Seems some NCAA umpires are wearing college accepted uniforms to do HS and the state is not happy about it.....

Now I know how you addressed the situation.........How many pairs of the college pants did you buy?....

Stan

Re: Stan:
 

For college games around here you can wear a powder blue shirt, but not for High School games. Showing up for a High School game with the darker shade of grey pants is akin to showing up with a powder blue shirt. It ain't right.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by DG

Quote:

You have MLB guys in your association?

Yes, we have three. Mike Winters, Brian Runge, and Mike DiMuro.

Well,
 

San Diego Steve noted when asked if they have MLB umpires in thier association:

"Yes, we have three. Mike Winters, Brian Runge, and Mike DiMuro."

Just for a minor clarification:

Are these three umpires currently "dues paying members" of your association or did they simply get their start in umpiring in your local group?

Thanks,

Re: Re: Stan:
 

Ive never seen the Poly/Wools in person. Does anybody have any pics?

Re: Well,
 

Mr. Tee,

Thanks for taking such an interest in semantics. As I am not the Secretary/Treasurer of this association, I am not exactly sure if they are dues paying members or not. They are recognized as association members (perhaps Associate Members). I do know that Mike Winters is the Rookie/Probationary instructor from January until he leaves for spring training. Whether or not he is required to pay dues, I'm not sure.

The association advertises that they supply four umpires to MLB, but for the life of me, I couldn't tell you who the fourth active MLB umpire is. There are several other former MLB umpires that were also members of this association, so perhaps that number includes one of them. I believe that they are honorary lifetime members. Perhaps Brian Runge and Mike DiMuro fall into this category, but I'm not sure.

I was fortunate enough to work with both Runge and DiMuro prior to them receiving their first minor league assignments.

P.S. - I just went to the association's new website, and it refers to Mr. Winters as a "former association member," so I would guess the rest are as well. We do still claim them as our own, as they were members when they became professional umpires.

OK Steve,
 

So Portland then lays claim to:

Ted Hendry
Terry Cooney
Dale Scott
Jim Joyce
Scott Higgins (I know that is a stretch)

Okay Tee (or My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad)
 

Okay, Tee

Since you dragged it back up:

Doug Harvey
John Kibler
Paul Runge
Ed Runge

Just because you threw in Cooney and Higgins:D

BTW, we have about 7 or 8 associations here, but all these guys came from the one that I have been a member of since I started. How many associations are there in Portland? Just curious to know.

[Edited by SanDiegoSteve on Feb 24th, 2006 at 09:52 PM]

Well,
 

We have one association.

Your right PIAA our interpeter made a huge issue of it at our rules meeting and rightfully so. They had guys doing sections and states showing up with no patches,didn't inspect equipment and gave there own sportsmanship message.That didn't make the head of the state officials a very happy camper I guess.

Re: Stan:
 

We are in a transition to the darker grey slacks. This year they may be worn at HS games if both partners have them, next year they will be the standard.

Thank goodness my state has a "clean shirt" policy (no patches allowed) and doesn't force us to give a scripted message at the plate.

Rich,
 

Oregon is the same.

ONLY at the state championship game are patches worn and the "sportsmanship card" is read . . . the "sportsmanship card", however, is read by the public address announcer.

T and Rich,
PIAA here in PA mandates that any official( not just BB ) have the PIAA patch on there uniform shirt.We also are under direction to READ (PIAA's emphasis ) the sportsmanship message that is in the NFHS rulebook. That way if there are any problems with uniforms, or equipment it is on record at the begining of the games that the Head coach has agreed that his players are legally equipped. It also focuses the teams and coaches on how PIAA feels about "good" spotsmanship.
Each official dresses in the same manner and does the same pre-game which hopefully makes the officiating groups seem more professional.(At least to start the game) LOL