Tie goes to runner?

[Tim C]

Now some of you may see why I have such a distaste for Little League umpires.

If "Dan" was posting on eTeamSleeze his posts would be average and appropriate. He has said he "assumes" all rules questions are Little League: that is a critical mistake on this board.

This board is a mixture of umpires that primarily work games played by shaving aged players. In the most general of terms, we assume references are OBR, FED or NCAA -- for someone to not only assume the questions are base on Little Legaue but make their statements as if they KNOW the rules is a double wammy.

Maybe, just maybe, when the LLWS is done (the finest example of terrible umpiring proven each summer on National TV) many of the LL posters will return to their couches.

In an effort to get my point across and not offend SDS: "Most Little League umpires suck."

Regards,

[GarthB]

Originally Posted by Tim C

Maybe, just maybe, when the LLWS is done (the finest example of terrible umpiring proven each summer on National TV) many of the LL posters will return to their couches.

Just 23 days Tee....hang on.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by Tim C

In an effort to get my point across and not offend SDS: "Most Little League umpires suck."

I don't take offense to that, because, like Rich and Dave, I am a real umpire who happens to also work Little League. 95% of games I've ever worked have been shaving age players.

[LilLeaguer]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

I don't take offense to that, because, like Rich and Dave, I am a real umpire who happens to also work Little League. 95% of games I've ever worked have been shaving age players.

Tee usually doesn't include the underlined adjective.

[LLPA13UmpDan]

Originally Posted by Tim C

Now some of you may see why I have such a distaste for Little League umpires.

In an effort to get my point across and not offend SDS: "Most Little League umpires suck."

I wont get into that.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by LLPA13UmpDan

I wont get into that.

Why won't you?

[LMan]

Originally Posted by Rich Fronheiser

Why won't you?

Now, now, Rich. You just advised him to read more and post less, and now here you are baiting him

[Rich]

Originally Posted by LMan

Now, now, Rich. You just advised him to read more and post less, and now here you are baiting him

I just like to hear from Little League umpires, cause I don't understand them even though I work a few dozen games in Little League each season. I'm pretty insulated from the stereotypical LL umpire -- for example, last night I worked a 9-10 state DH with a guy who went to PBUC this year and was offered a job (didn't take it cause of lack of health insurance).

I like working LL, mainly because of the people I umpire with, but I just don't "get it" sometimes. How any significant subset of a group of umpires can, essentially, work one rule set and yet make comments like "maybe I need to read the rule book" amazes me.

And don't get me started on how they expect umpires to work for free and also pick umpires for national tournaments using "umpiring ability" as a minor factor in being chosen....

[LilLeaguer]

Originally Posted by Rich Fronheiser

I just like to hear from Little League umpires, cause I don't understand them even though I work a few dozen games in Little League each season. I'm pretty insulated from the stereotypical LL umpire -- for example, last night I worked a 9-10 state DH with a guy who went to PBUC this year and was offered a job (didn't take it cause of lack of health insurance).

I like working LL, mainly because of the people I umpire with, but I just don't "get it" sometimes. How any significant subset of a group of umpires can, essentially, work one rule set and yet make comments like "maybe I need to read the rule book" amazes me.

And don't get me started on how they expect umpires to work for free and also pick umpires for national tournaments using "umpiring ability" as a minor factor in being chosen....

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.

[Dave Hensley]

Originally Posted by LilLeaguer

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.

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."