http://www.democratandchronicle.com/...325/1007/RSS02


"Nothing against these guys, but most of the regular umpires have been in this league five or six years," Tyner said. "They are used to this. They've spent years training to work at this level."

Ok, correct me if I got this wrong, but I thought that two(or at the most three) was the most you could be at AAA without moving up or getting canned. Maybe this writed should use a little less time calling people names like a third grader and a little more time checking his facts.

Joe In Michigan

That's what's quoted, but they keep those umpires hanging on as long as they want (and then eventually release them since only 1 guy a year on average retires).

OK, you shall be corrected. At AAA guys usually spend a few years before getting fill-in work, then a couple more as fill-ins before possibly getting hired by MLB. Until they get to AAA, umpires are generally let go after not moving up after 2 years.

And since the replacements are just there until the strike is settled, there should be a record number of ejections when that happens. I don't think management is going to cave regardless of the number of blow ups.

Ok, I should have said exactly what I meant by "moving up". I consider becoming a fill-in guy "moving up". Now, if you do not become a fill-in guy within a few years, you will not stay at AAA for years and years, right?

I think you're right on this one....

I know a number of the guys calling in this area for the TL AA team. They are all HS and above blues and I believe some do have D1 experience. A number of them are doing it because they have been calling for years and are not worried about repercussions as some of them are the assignors themselves. While they feel for the MiBL umps they are also taking advantage to say that they called at the Pro level. I cannot say I blame them really. If I was in the same position I cannot say I would refuse it either. In listening to some of the games on the radio, I have not heard the announcers say anything about bad or blown calls. Closest was a strike 3 call that the batter thought was outside and the announcer said he might have a case. I know the blue that was working the plate in that game and I would not doubt he got it right.

Here's a crazy idea...if you want to work professional baseball, how about going to umpire school!! Or, if you don't want to go to umpire school, call the local MiLB parks, send them a resume, and explain that you would like to be placed on their reserve list to fill-in for injured MiLB umpires during the season.

Check out what happened at the Columbus Clippers game last night with the "fill-ins":

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/clip...411-E1-00.html

Here's a crazy idea. Why wasn't a protest filed?

The same crap could just as easily happen with AMLU umpires. The assumption that AMLU umpires are perfect is a bad one. Weird crap like this doesn't happen often at the AAA level and who knows how IL umpires would've handled it.

Whatever side of the isle you sit on, the point that many of us are trying to make here is that no matter what these umpires do they are going to be second guessed and challenged based on their "known" inexperience. Maybe the union guys would have made the same mistake, but that is not going to be perceived the same by the players, coaches, fans or media. I know we would all hope that would not be the case, but it obviously is. I know how guys get treated when they are known to have worked their first varsity game. I can only imagine what it is like for guys to now work with people who are trying to make a living playing a game.

Peace

I say again and again...
 

Throw the "we all make mistakes" and "an umpire is an umpire" crap out of the window. Any AMLU guy wouldn't have made that mistake because that is not that unusual of a situation and one that is covered very extensively in their professional training. It is not considered a difficult play by any stretch of the imagination at that level. That is a very very amateur mistake. Take whatever side of this situation you wish, but lets not pretend for even a second that the AMLU guys as a whole aren't leaps and bounds better than the scabs who have come to fill in for them.

I agree that the AMLU apprentice umpires are ahead of the replacements at the AAA level. (I love how one can play games with labels like scab and apprentice umpire -- it's like my local paper using anti-choice instead of pro-life which shows their biases and transparency just like anyone using the word SCAB in these posts.)

But don't tell me that this mistake couldn't get made, at least originally. Frankly, I'm surprised that this wasn't sorted out in the discussion afterwards. But again, where's the protest?

Mr. Jiggy,

You may be right here. I, for one, find it very difficult to take an adult seriously who insists on calling people names who disagree with him. Name-calling is silly.

One who disagrees with you could call them-The guys replacing the crybabies-that would also be silly.

Try making your point without resorting to juvenile name-calling.

Joe In Michigan

That's exactly what I am telling you. This is not a difficult play at all! There is no excuse for such a mistake. While we don't know for sure that the game was not protested, who cares? By your logic, it's ok for umpires to be incompetent because if the screw up the teams can just protest and it'll be ok. WOW, what non-sense! You want to know why an AMLU guy would get the play right? Because if they didn't (especially if they took and lost the protest) they would loose their job.

...its ok though...the scabs are doing a great job...

YEAH RIGHT...STAY TUNED...

SCABS
THE OTHER WHITE MEAT :cool: