Mr. Umpire

[SanDiegoSteve]

Well, I've umpired many, many games for the high school I graduated from, and never had one thought of any impropriety. I am a consumate umpire, chock-full of integrity. I worked for the association this past year who did my nephew's games, in order to hopefully get assigned to his games on occasion.

I never thought twice about any conflicts of interest. Those are for people who have a propensity to cheat, or have guilty consciences concerning cheating.

I received random assignments throughout the year, and happened to get a total of one of my nephew's games. I would never favor, nor over-compensate and disfavor, any relative of mine. I am 100% nuetral in every game I umpire. I don't like most of my relatives to start with, so what difference would that make, anyway?

And what, we can't umpire games where friends of ours are playing? That would pretty much eliminate a great deal of my games, because I have friends in baseball all over town. MLB umpire Kerwin Danley umpired many of Tony Gwynn's games, and they were buddies in college. Do you think Danley let his friendship with Gwynn cloud his judgment somehow? I'm sure he didn't.

And what about umpiring games with coaches that we don't like, the ones we've had to run nearly every time we see them? The ones that say, "oh, not you again?" I umpire games with coaches I both like, and dislike, and I give them both the same kind of professional job.

Too much is being made about me umpiring my nephew's Little League Minors game. It's not like it was the 7th game of the World Series or anything. Just a kiddie ball game. All the harumphing about "conflict of interest" is amusing at best.

[Tim C]

Like Steve, seven years after I graduated from high school I worked them in the State Championship Game two years in a row.

There was never an issue and never would be. I have no relatives that play baseball but I do often umpire players that I am friends with the parents.

I take offense that anyone would think this relationship issue would affect ANY umpire.

Regards,

[PeteBooth]

Jim do not know your area, but it's pretty much a given that after you get "your feet" wet you pretty much know most of the participants.

They might not be related, but the players could be kids of Friends you know or friends that have come to your house via your kids.

My son played LL. Many of the kids I umpired for at the HS level also stayed over at my house many a time.

After you umpire a few years, you pretty much know many of the participants. They know you have a job to do.

In Summary: If you are going to be a "homer" then you are a "homer" reagrdless of whose playing.

Pete Booth

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by Dave Hensley

As an uninvolved observer of this little exchange, I must say the most glaring and opinion-shaping omission to me is SDS's completely ignoring the fact that he initially denied that Garth ever offered to come meet him in San Diego ("You have a horrible memory. Garth never made any such offer."), and, when called on that inaccuracy in this thread, he has, again, completely ignored it, instead of owning up to being wrong in making that statement.

That kind of takes the statement in question from "inaccuracy" to "outright falsehood" in my book.

Okay Dave, just for your sake...

Let me address this once and for all:

Yes, I was wrong. I had forgotten about Garth offering to come watch me work at his own expense. When reminded of it by the posting of the old thread, it actually proved my point. Not only did I immediately respond to the offer, I provided a valid reason, not an excuse, of why it would not be possible. So to Mr. Umpire, I apologize for denying the offer, but your assessment of how I responded to it was wrong.

If Garth could have lined up a game for me to umpire, I would have gladly worked it. The fact that there were no games available for me to umpire prevented that from happening until the following January. Then, I decided to join a different association for 2006. There is a non-compete clause in the contract for the high school association here, so I could not be a member of both groups at once.

I also stated that I wasn't about to go to the desert and work myself into a heart attack just to prove anything to Garth. I am in no physical shape to put myself through something like that. Not to mention that I could not afford to make the trip. Garth only offered to pay the cost of the class if Jim Evans was impressed. He never said "all expenses paid" or I may have just took him up on it.

The bottom line is, Garth dismissed my assessment of my skills with haughty laughter, prior to any knowledge to the contrary. To me, that is rude and myopic. JMHO.

[Dave Hensley]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

Well, I've umpired many, many games for the high school I graduated from, and never had one thought of any impropriety. I am a consumate umpire, chock-full of integrity. I worked for the association this past year who did my nephew's games, in order to hopefully get assigned to his games on occasion.

I never thought twice about any conflicts of interest. Those are for people who have a propensity to cheat, or have guilty consciences concerning cheating.

I received random assignments throughout the year, and happened to get a total of one of my nephew's games. I would never favor, nor over-compensate and disfavor, any relative of mine. I am 100% nuetral in every game I umpire. I don't like most of my relatives to start with, so what difference would that make, anyway?

And what, we can't umpire games where friends of ours are playing? That would pretty much eliminate a great deal of my games, because I have friends in baseball all over town. MLB umpire Kerwin Danley umpired many of Tony Gwynn's games, and they were buddies in college. Do you think Danley let his friendship with Gwynn cloud his judgment somehow? I'm sure he didn't.

And what about umpiring games with coaches that we don't like, the ones we've had to run nearly every time we see them? The ones that say, "oh, not you again?" I umpire games with coaches I both like, and dislike, and I give them both the same kind of professional job.

Too much is being made about me umpiring my nephew's Little League Minors game. It's not like it was the 7th game of the World Series or anything. Just a kiddie ball game. All the harumphing about "conflict of interest" is amusing at best.

Methinks thou doth protest too much.

[DG]

I didn't immediately remember it, but my youngest son reminded me that I worked a few games behind him when he played Pony league (13-14), a number of years ago. He remembered it better than I did. I don't recall anyone having anything to say about it, and I KNOW everyone involved knew we were related.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by Dave Hensley

Methinks thou doth protest too much.

I think you speak like the Bard of Avon way too much.

[PeteBooth]

"Gee, if it weren't for me, they wouldn't have good umpires" is just overinflated ego. If they gave two hoots about decent umpires, they'd pay to have them, and wouldn't have to pull dads from the stands.

[/QUOTE]

Jim I agree 100%. I suppose we could start a new thread but my assignor picked up work for the Jr./Sr. program of one LL Organization.

RE: They were getting Moms/ Dads from the stands. It got to be so bad, that the parents for these divisions would simply drop their kids off and go get coffee or something and then come back just so that would not be asked to umpire.

You are correct, it's amazing what happens when you pay for umpires. The problem of not having them goes away pretty quickly. Also, the moaning and groaning about the quality also goes, because the parents know first hand what it's like to umpire.

Pete Booth

[Chris_Hickman]

I may have a solution. San Diego is only an 1.5 hour drive from me. Maybe Steve and I could do a few games and I could do a review. It would be fun to work with another member. Chris

[GarthB]

Originally Posted by Chris_Hickman

I may have a solution. San Diego is only an 1.5 hour drive from me. Maybe Steve and I could do a few games and I could do a review. It would be fun to work with another member. Chris

Perhaps you'll get a better response than I did. I'm in the San Diego area periodically and made the same offer.

Steve forgets why the offer was made. After coming on the forum and proclaiming himself good enough to have been a MLU, he was greeted with doubt and derision, and not just by me. The chorus was symphonic in size.

He was insulted about being judged by people who hadn't seen him work. I thought about that and figured he may have a point, so I offered to make arrangements to see him work. Then he seemed insulted that people wanted to see him work. He said something about how some ML umpires told him how could he was.

I figured then that he wouldn't want just little ol'me watching him work, so I suggested that he join me at the Desert Classic where he could be evaluated, and helped, by the staff who teaches at Jim Evans Academy. That didn't fly either.

You are obvioulsy a much nicer guy, Chris. Perhaps you'll have better luck.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by GarthB

Perhaps you'll get a better response than I did. I'm in the San Diego area periodically and made the same offer.

Steve forgets why the offer was made. After coming on the forum and proclaiming himself good enough to have been a MLU, he was greeted with doubt and derision, and not just by me. The chorus was symphonic in size.

He was insulted about being judged by people who hadn't seen him work. I thought about that and figured he may have a point, so I offered to make arrangements to see him work. Then he seemed insulted that people wanted to see him work. He said something about how some ML umpires told him how could he was.

I figured then that he wouldn't want just little ol'me watching him work, so I suggested that he join me at the Desert Classic where he could be evaluated, and helped, by the staff who teaches at Jim Evans Academy. That didn't fly either.

You are obvioulsy a much nicer guy, Chris. Perhaps you'll have better luck.

I didn't have any games for you to watch, and like I said, I wasn't about to go out to the hot desert and have a heart attack just for you.

I will be going to school from Jan 2007 to March of 2008, and will not have time for much, if any, umpiring. I have already explained my health situation and my impending educational situation to Chris in a private message. Of course, in his message, he did not mention that he was going to report his findings back to you. I'm not going to umpire with anyone just to be a guinea pig. Plus, anyone can drive down to San Diego, but you can't just schedule yourself a game whenever you want. It doesn't work that way here. If you're not in an association, you don't work here.

Why don't you just drop the subject. I am in nowhere near the great shape I was in when I started umpiring. At that time, I was completely healthy, except for the bad back due to a major car wreck. I was a Physical Education major at San Diego State, and was proficient in 12 different sports, and this is where I got the umpiring bug. And I was a natural at it, and worked very hard to get good at it.

These days, I'm battling Type II diabetes, right side heart failure (complete with heart attack in '98), irregular heartbeat/atrial fibrilation (just diagnosed last week, thank you), hiatal hernia, sleep apnea, underactive thyroid, obesity, and edema. That I worked 90 games last year is in itself miraculous.

My skills as an umpire have not diminished. My stamina has. My appearance has. My health definitely has.

I live in denial that I can still go out and umpire like I used to. It is very difficult to come to grips with the fact that perhaps I can no longer umpire, at least not the volume of games I used to.

[Chris_Hickman]

I am sorry to hear about your health. I know that sometimes it is hard for people to face the facts that age and health plays into our abilities..not just in umpiring, but in life. In regards to Internet umpires, look.....I have never worked with anyone this board ( I saw Sal on TV....he's strong!). Until you have, it is all talk. I know that Davies has seen me work and he can vouch for me. There are alot of ego's out there. That will never end. I look at this board for entertainment value. Now dont get me wrong, I am far from perfect on the field and I get evaluated all the time by my peers or paid observers. If anyone wants to come watch me work...come on down..you could use a good laugh haha Chris