First Game Experience

[tiger49]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

What difference does age have to do with anything? He said he attended the association's rules and mechanics clinics for 3 years prior to working a game. That is different than a kid that just jumps right into a game situation from off the street as a "helper" (read "hinderer"). He actually studied how to be an umpire before working a game.

We had an umpire who's 13 year old son took an interest in becoming an umpire. I had the dubious "honor" of working the bases on his very first plate game. It was a Pony (13-14) game, and both his dad, and our assignor were in attendance. He actually did quite well, and continued working youth ball and then eventually HS ball when he was 16. At age 18, he went to Wendelstedts, and then UDP, and then to a job in minor league baseball.

I would rather work with a youngster who is eager to learn how to umpire the right way, who hasn't developed a lot of bad habits, than to umpire with some old Smitty who tells me to "just go along with me on checked swings," or hollers "safe" at the top of his lungs when a runner slides into a base when there is no play.

If an umpire is a dues paying, uniform wearing, gets-paid-to-umpire type umpire, than he or she is a real baseball umpire, IMO.

Steve

Defender of "real" real umpires.

Steve I agree with both you and Tim. I was one of those who started working games at a very young age (9). I didn't realize what real umpiring was like until I stepped onto a full-size diamond for my first competitive game (college bound seniors) at 15, and was even more in shock doing my first semi-pro game at 17.

Umpiring at a young age (11-15) gives you the basic 90% of the rule book (out/safe, ball/strike, fair/foul) however you don't get a feel for the situations as well as game flow, speed of game etc. that you do at the higher levels.

[Toadman15241]

Originally Posted by tiger49

Steve I agree with both you and Tim. I was one of those who started working games at a very young age (9). I didn't realize what real umpiring was like until I stepped onto a full-size diamond for my first competitive game (college bound seniors) at 15, and was even more in shock doing my first semi-pro game at 17.

Umpiring at a young age (11-15) gives you the basic 90% of the rule book (out/safe, ball/strike, fair/foul) however you don't get a feel for the situations as well as game flow, speed of game etc. that you do at the higher levels.

I would agree that you can not get a feel for game flow and speeed of game until you are doing kids aged 16+. I would, however, disagree about the rule book. I knew that long before I stepped foot onto a big field. Now of course, knowing what a balk is and being able to call it in an instant are two differnt things.

[briancurtin]

i started out doing my city's A-League, which was the secondary league for kids who didnt make the "majors" teams at the 10-11-12 level, when i was still a 12 year old and i continued that through being 13. i moved to LL "majors" when i was 14, but was still wearing the old sweatpants and a t-shirt gig, but used an inside protector. when i was either 13 or 14, i had an article published on my thoughts on MLB umpires and how they do in Baseball Weekly (now Sports Weekly) in their Kids Clubhouse section, after they started a series where they pick a topic and then kids write about it. useless info right there.

the first game i had where i was dressed in blue was when i was 17 (i turned 18 probably 2 weeks later). this was the summer between high school and college and i made a call to a guy i found on the internet, who just happened to have a game he was trying to fill the next day. i went out and worked a 13-14 year old travel game by myself and did a pretty good job from what i can remember. it was the first 1-man game i had worked, and i have hated 1-man games since that day, but i was so happy that i got through that first game and had a lot more to come. the guy i just found through a google search happens to be the same assignor i have now, and ive had a great time working for him in the association.

i think early on with this site and the other one, i have counted my years since i was 12 years old at some points, but now i just say i have 4 years. while i did get good experience working LL games from 12-16/17, it helped build me as a player more than anything. it was a whole different story than my first game in the previous paragraph. i'm 22 and i have come a very long way from how i was at 17/18, and of course how i was at 12.

[Dave Hensley]

Originally Posted by Toadman15241

Tim,

Was I a great ump at 11? No, and would never claim to have been so, but I was as good as a lot of guys who had been doing games for years because I had attended the mechanics/rules meetings and always to improve. By the time I was 14 I was doing 80' ball (the local association was so short on guys and a few of the senior guys had watched me do LL games). I started doing 90' ball at age 16. I also got a copy of J/R, Evans, BRD, CCA, and the PBUC manual at that time so I could learn more. Now it did take time to adjust to the move up to big field ball, but I had learned a lot in those 5 years. When I turned 18 I started doing FED ball and was asked to help with rules/mechanics this past year, even though I am only 19.

I think the fact that I am an "internet umpire" shows that I wanted to go out and learn as much as I can. I started surfing these boards when I was 14, although I did not post. I was just trying to absorb as much as I could from individuals such as yourself, Steve, Papa C, and Dave Hensley just to name a few.

I have never, and won't for decades, claim to have a ton of experience. In my book, the ~1000 games I have done (~500 big field) pales in comparison to the 5000+ games that many posters here have called.

JMHO.

Well you sound OK to me, kid!

[GarthB]

I know of a young umpire who began working PONY mustang and bronco levels when he was 12. He was student of mechanics and rules and studied the NAPBL 2 man mechanics and the OBR nightly.

By age 14 he was working the 12-14 year old levels and was assigned to the Bronco State tournament.

At 15 he was Washington state's youngest certified varsity umpire. At age 17 and again at 18 he worked the Washington State Colt (15/16) championship game. At 19 he attended Jim Evans Desert Classic and worked Legion A and AA District tournaments. That same year he was also one of the association's lead two man mechanics instructors.

At age 20 he worked the FED state tournament and American Legion's District and State tournaments. He is currently 21 and plans to attend Evans' school in January.

He says that he has umpired for ten years, but that he has been an umpire only since the Evans classic.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by GarthB

I know of a young umpire who began working PONY mustang and bronco levels when he was 12. He was student of mechanics and rules and studied the NAPBL 2 man mechanics and the OBR nightly.

By age 14 he was working the 12-14 year old levels and was assigned to the Bronco State tournament.

At 15 he was Washington state's youngest certified varsity umpire. At age 17 and again at 18 he worked the Washington State Colt (15/16) championship game. At 19 he attended Jim Evans Desert Classic and worked Legion A and AA District tournaments. That same year he was also one of the association's lead two man mechanics instructors.

At age 20 he worked the FED state tournament and American Legion's District and State tournaments. He is currently 21 and plans to attend Evans' school in January.

He says that he has umpired for ten years, but that he has been an umpire only since the Evans classic.

And I'm guessing your son will adjust that thinking after he attends pro school to say that he only became an umpire after pro school. Yawn.

I don't care how many years anyone umpires at any level. I've worked with 30-year college umpires who still think a balk's an immediate dead ball in a college game and have a strike zone the size of a coffee can.

I've also worked with 2nd year umpires who have impressed me with ability and desire.

[Tim C]

Since the internet umpiring commnity has lowered the bar for what it means to be an umpire I give you the following:

++++++

I just completed my 38th year of umpiring.

But wait, in "internet umpiring", I have just completed my 48th year.

I have "umpired" games in the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and 00's.

This means I have umpired in six different decades.

But alas I now have no idea "how many" games I have worked since I did not keep journals of those famous tilts (ah I remember the "Big Game" betwix Ray's Drug Store and Bob's Richfield).

As an additional detail, I HAVE WORKED LITTLE LEAGUE since those are the games I "umpired" when I was 8 years old.

Give me a break.

Garth's example of his "young umpire" story is the perfect example of "when" you begin to count the years of umpiring.

And as an answer to this question:

"Had you attended any mechanics meetings prior to this game?"

Yes, I had attened ONE meeting prior to the assignment. But be careful here:

Things were different in the "old days" -- there simply were not, in my area of the country, "clinics, classes, camps, or weekend jaunts" for umpires.

Our umpire association (the second largest in the state at the time) didn't even have enough umpires to cover a full varsity schedule with TWO MAN CREWS (we drafted basketball referees to work the bases with absolutly no training).

And since I had not only already worked for 10 years (that is in internet umpire years) I had been exposed to mechanics and rules extensively.

And I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express the night before.

Regards,

[Toadman15241]

Originally Posted by Tim C

Since the internet umpiring commnity has lowered the bar for what it means to be an umpire I give you the following:

And since I had not only already worked for 10 years (that is in internet umpire years) I had been exposed to mechanics and rules extensively.

Tim,

I agree with a lot of what you are saying here. You can have "umpired" for a lot longer than you have been an "umpire." The only thing I would add is that this is not an internet phenomena. A lot of guys I work with have been "umpiring" for 30 years but still think the ball is dead on an IFF, and they don't even know these forums exist. For the most part, those that post on these forums are much more realistic about umpiring than those that don't use these forums as a learning tool. Of course we have a Lance here and there, but you are going to have that anywhere.

John