Mr. Umpire
 

Robert:

I got home from classes to find your post in a locked thread.

Yes, your memory serves you well. As you and Tee have remembered, I offered to fly at my own expense to San Diego to see what he was so proud of. He ignored the offer at first, then later replied that he had no games and there was no winter ball going on in San Diego. (In case Stevie denies it, the offer was made in post 13 of this old thread from October of 2005 http://forum.officiating.com/showthread.php?t=22676)

Good to hear from you, but some unanticipated events will keep us from another visit back this year. Hopefully next. Stay well, friend.

I did not ignore the offer, I was off the internet for a brief period. When I discovered it, it was at a time where I wasn't working any games. I did say that if you could find me a game to umpire, you were welcome to watch me work. As I said though, I have worked with, and been evaluated by former, future, and current MLB umpires, and none of them have anything bad to say about the way I umpire. That's good enough for me. I said that I would have done an adequate job filling in at top levels if need be, at least as good as any of the scab umpires did. I stand by that statement. I also think that if I had pursued a career in umpiring, that I would have been successful. There is nothing wrong with having that kind of confidence in one's abilities. I made that statement, because anything I have ever put my all into, I have been successful. I certainly would not have ever made those statements if I had thought a rude, insensitive person like you would belittle me for having those thoughts, and continue to rub salt in my wounds until this day.

And my name is Steven, not Stevie. Get it right.

And now you can go f*ck yourself, because I'm done with you.

Stevie:

A little birdie sent me an email and told me I had to take a look at your post.

This is just too funny.

In a now closed thread when Robert reminded you of an offer I had made to watch you umpire, you replied:

"You have a horrible memory. Garth never made any such offer."

And, now in this thread you not only admit the offer was made, you offer excuses as to why you didn't accept it.

Rarely has one been caught so obviously in a lie.

This was such a thoughtful gift. Thank you, and Merry Christmas. As much as I have enjoyed it, it's back to to the list for you. I'm afraid I'd be tempted to stoop to your level and language.

This is what you wrote on October 16th, 2005.

This was my response, the very next day, October 17th. (where did you get that I did not respond immediately?):

And then I joined a different association for last season, which I wouldn't want anybody watching me work in, since it was small diamond ball mostly. I made this move so I could umpire some of my nephew's LL games last season, which I was able to do. That was my entire rationale for changing groups.

At the time you offered to come video me, there were no games being played, and none on the foreseeable horizon.

HEY, IF YOU ALLOWED PM'S I WOULDN'T HAVE TO RESORT TO POSTING PUBLICLY. YOU ARE A VERY INSULTING PERSON, AND YOU REALLY HURT MY FEELINGS LAST YEAR, AND NOW YOU KEEP SAYING LIES, IN THAT I TRIED TO GET OUT OF YOU COMING TO MY GAMES, WHICH IS BULLSH*T!

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzz

GarthB:

I hope that you can see just how sensitive of a person SDS is and apologize for hurting his feelings last year. An umpire the high caliber of SDS (just ask him) deserves to be respected and admired. It is doubtful that you or I could ever hope to match his skill on the diamond (after all he has been evaluated by past, present and future MLB umpires) and is associated with the SDCBUA (or something like that). Time for a healing hug…. but please, no kiss (this isn’t Brokeback Baseball).

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.

Are you serious?

Please tell me that this isn't a common occurance in <i>beisbol</i>. Even at the LL level, no one should be <b>deliberately</b> umpiring a relative's game. That's an absolute no-no in the sports that I officiate, even at the kiddie-ball level. We simply won't assign officials with an obvious conflict of interest like that to a relative's games.

Given a choice between a competent official or a parent from the stands I think it's best to use the competent official even if he has a relative playing. I don't like to do it, but I've had to umpire games that my sons were playing in because there was no one else to do it worth a darn.


Tim.

You gotta admit, how hard is it to be better than Bob Engel, or Fred Brocklander, a couple of scabs ? I never said I was freakin' Doug Harvey, did I? I said some umpires, not the best ones. Lighten up a bit there, sport.

I'm surprised Steven used the word scabs. When the MiLB umpires were on strike, he vehemently opposed the use of the word. Something about it being derogatory. How about picking a side of the fence to stand on, sport?:confused:

There's a rumor going around (I just started it) that SDS has to lay off umpring for awhile. He threw his shoulder out of joint patting himself on his back.

Bob

Were they umpires who just weren't up to par or were they dads in shorts and sandals who were drug from the stands? I think it makes a difference.


Tim.

Yeah, but steve made it seem like there WAS an association filling his nephew's league and he just wanted to officiate that game. If there was NO officials, then yes, i agree with your assessment.

But around here, that's a no-no. We're barely even allowed to officiate games at the high school we graduated from...

Exactly. I'm amazed that any officiating association in any sport would allow such a blatant conflict of interest. There might not be anything there, but there also certainly is the appearance of impropriety. The constitutions of the football and basketball associations that I belong to state emphatically that officials shall not work games in which relatives are involved under any circumstances. That's a pretty common rule too, the way I understand it.

Of course, if the association isn't informed of potential conflicts of interest, then it's a whole 'nother matter. The onus is usually on the each individual official to let the association know about any relatives playing on teams that they service.

I would like to think that after a few years, any competent umpire wouldn't even be questioned about their "conflict of interests".

I've umpired and referreed many games with people I knew and even a family member(son, daughter, nephews and nieces) and have never been called out for favourtism. In fact, I coached many, many years before getting into umpiring and in most games there was at least one or two players that I had coached or I knew families involved and I never had an issue. If your a competent umpire your completely blind to the players involved, they're all uniforms running around on a field.

Sort of like a priest never swears on a Bible because that would mean that there are times that they do lie. By saying an umpire can't officiate a particular game because of the players or teams involved it calls into question the integrity of the umpire not only in that game but every game they work.

Having said that, the only game I wouldn't want to call is one where my wife was pitching. In that case, I think the strike zone would be unbelievably big. Fortunately, she can't stand the sport.

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.

Yep,
 

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,

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

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.

Methinks thou doth protest too much.

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.

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

[/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

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.

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.

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