Moving Up - Is it worth it

[Tim C]

This topic is near and dear to me.

My first game as a “certified” umpire was when I was 18 years old. It was a varsity game of two AAA schools (Oregon’s largest declaration at the time) intra-city rivals. I had the dish.

Four days later I worked my first college (NAIA) game.

Three years after that I worked games in the Oregon State High School Championship playoffs.

Moving up and getting “the biggest game in town” where always the ONLY things that became important too me.

As I look back now a much slower, more educated growth would have benefited both me and local baseball in my area.

Because I was young and inexperienced my game management was to simply throw anyone out of the game that disagreed with me. However, the system kept rewarding me, I kept accepting the “bigger and better” and was rewarded my getting bigger and bigger in my head.

I have been a member of around eight different baseball associations. In each one I have never really been penalized for being a “new guy.” I was always considered . . . I guess . . .a “Big Dog.”

Now that I have retired I wish dearly that I had moved more slowly, learned more about dealing with people and more about helping other umpires. I was always more interested in my own advancement and not helping anyone around me.

My advancement lasted until I retired last year (after one year in our college group I had passed up the chain) and I am not sure I would have ever recognized what I missed had I not tossed in the towel.

Moving up is a great goal – it just shouldn’t be the ONLY goal an umpire has.