Takin' the bait
 

While this has been discussed before, I'll jump in.

Little League is fundamentally organized as a service organization that provides baseball and softball leagues for youth. As such, most folks that contribute are expected to be volunteers, and the bulk of the volunteers are probably parents of the children involved. Ideally, the dedication of the volunteers to the experience of the children will offset the sometimes spotty quality of the groundskeeping, coaching, scorekeeping, and even the umpiring. The skills of the volunteers can be very ragged and, unfortunately, sometimes so is their dedication to the kids.

I train the umpires for the local Little League. Most are parents (mostly dads) with a little more spare time, eagerness to help out, our less tolerance to the pain in a twisted arm than the other parents on the team. None have been dreaming all their lives about calling strikes and outs in a ball game. I can usually squeeze about 8 hours before the season starts from their schedule for the training, and I have to start with the assumption that they've never carefully watched a baseball game. At the end of their first season, I suspect that none of them can find their way around the rulebook, though I hope that many have read through it at least once.

I do promote the reading of this web site to the local umpires. I warn them that they may never want to post (and I know that I read it for most of a year before I did), and that much of the information here doesn't transfer simply to our experience, but I've personally learned a bunch about the rules, their application, and the necessary demeanor to be a more successful LL umpire.

I'm not sure what he really thinks, but
 

Tee usually doesn't include the underlined adjective.

Little League is a charitable organization that, thanks largely to its television contract with ESPN and its charter fees from local leagues, took in $2 million more in revenue than it expended last year (for non-charitable organizations, that would be known as a "profit"). In my opinion, the organization is overzealous and wrongheaded in its insistence that its umpires work for free. They make no such demands on their executive and administrative staff in Williamsport, on their regional directors and staff in each of the eight US regions, or on local league service vendors such as insurance agents, equipment suppliers, or the like.

Little League has, in the US, been losing market share to competing leagues for a number of years now. Certainly there are any number of reasons for that, but one seems pretty clearly to be the general feeling amongst kids and their parents that the typical LL is pretty far removed from "real baseball." Perhaps that image could be improved if more leagues experimented with using "real umpires."

Non-profit
 

Yes, Little League has a lot of money, and I'm not always happy myself with the attention drawn to the LLWS, which shouldn't be (and isn't for most teams) the center of the season. I can't quote figures, but I think that at least part of the surplus is keeping the Little League charter fee relatively stable.

On the other hand, our District hosts one of the softball world series, and I know that the participants (from all over the world) have a wonderful experience. The WS programs don't seem to be taking resources from the bulk of the teams' seasons and is a good experience for those that make it, but I sure wish that the LLWS wasn't such a goal for some leagues.

Little League has the lowest percentage of paid employees of any similar youth service organization that I know of. I've been involved for 14 seasons, and I've never met a paid employee of LL, though I've spoken with some on the phone. We'd certainly have better quality coaches, umpires, groundskeepers, and special events coordinators if we paid them, but I doubt if the quality of umpiring is ever the reason somebody chooses a different league. My local league saw slightly higher participation this year, and it is by far the biggest local program outside of highschool.

Little League has mandatory playing requirements and strongly encourages an accommodation for all players that want to play (including keeping it affordable). It can never be the most competitive league, and children may well find a better baseball experience in other leagues. What they'll find in Little League, hopefully, is an environment where every adult they come into contact with is motivated by making the experience the best for them. Rather than, say, being primarily motivated by money and ego.

I realize each local LL probably has it's own character. LL in my town was did not exist until two years ago. Some parents felt that their kids were not getting enough playing time and broke away from PONY. These were the same parents who broke away from Babe Ruth to set up PONY years earlier. Not surprisingly, this year, complaining that their kids were not getting enough playing time, some of the same founding parents broke away again and started another new league, this one affiliated with NABF. Just a bit of ego involved in every step.

PONY, still by far the largest youth baseball leauge in town, lists as their number two asset in their flyers and bill boards, "real umpires." I've talked to a number of parents who give that as one of the reasons they have either stayed with, or switched to PONY.

I stopped off and watched a LL game a while back after working a HS game. The umpire was dressed in jeans and a blue shirt, a backwards Mariner cap, shinguards on the outside of his pants, a catcher's mask and no ball bag. On every pitch he flinched by taking two full steps backwards, and at times looking away while call "strike" or "ball". He called a B/R out for a running lane violation on a clean hit to LF and no play made at first. He parked his butt behind home and made all calls and all bases from there.

After the game, we talked a bit. It turned out he was the trainer for LL umpires in that league. I mentioned that LL had a great training camp in San Bernardino for umpires. He had heard of it, but said that it wasn't necessary. "People try to make umpirng harder than it is," he said, "balls and strikes, safes and outs, and you've got it covered."

With clinics and camps, uniform and equipment replacements and additions, and gas expenses, I spend in excess of $3000 per year for my avocation. I work about 150 game a year, meaning that I spend over $20 a game on umpiring. I do not work for free and I am not ashamed of that. However, if I worked like that LL umpire trainer, I would be embarrassed to take any amount of money.