Aw, come on Nick. The coat over the bare protector is the way it has always been done from MLB on down since the advent of the inside protector. If you start a ball game with your plate coat or jacket, finish the game with it on. What, do you wear a chest protector under your shirt and tie when dressing up, too? Your analogy is pretty weak here, I'm afraid. Also, comparing it to your fly being open is just plain ridiculous, don't you think?

Lee Weyer, God rest his soul, wore a cool, white chest protector with his plate coat, and it looked damn sharp, IMO. Joe West cuts a nice look in his as well. I think it looks totally b*tchin that way, myself.:cool:

Your point is well taken - back in MLB history. At one time, all the umpires (even the PU) wore a shirt, bow tie and a coat at every position. When the PU's were using the "raft", there was no problem. But once the NL went to the inside protector, they found that it was very uncomfortable to wear a shirt over the protector and a bow tie. They tried a shirt over the protector bot fully buttoned and open collared - both ways looked "un-presentable" according to the NL supervisor. They decided to remove the shirt and just use the protector and the coat. That style was immediately accepted both by the umpires and management of in the NL. When the AL went tot he inside protector, there was no question. Trust me, Nick, it looks stupid wearing a shirt over the protector when you are wearing a plate coat. And SanDiegoSteve is 100% correct in that if you start the game with it on, you finish the game with it on (with the only exception being gloves).

Nick-O-las!
 

As my father taught me when dealing with wearing a suit coat or blazer:

If you select to wear one you don't take it off.

Same with a plate coat . . . your "area" is no different than any other area in America . . . even Oregon has large temperature changes during games . . .

I thought you were odd to wear a dangler with your HSM . . . this post adds to your legacy.

Regards,

I've got any Extra-Huge red mock turtleneck that I sometimes wear over my cp. It looks sharp, plus the cp don't get caught up on the inside of my plate coat. I've found that the buckles on my WV's sometimes catch the inside pockets. Not a big deal. But most of the time I roll with a mock turtle under the cp.

I don't go by what MLB umpires do. They aren't my heroes, and I don't have posters of them on my walls. Some of you guys gush over them like teenage girls. I swear, if Gary Darling had some sort of brain lapse, and wore his shin guards onside his pants, half you guys would be donning them the same way.

Me, I'd rather go with what the GLM's have to say when I walk on the field. "Damn, you look good" is far better than looking like Joe West. Me, I'm lucky that I don't have any goober association to tell me how to dress. So I go with what I think looks good. And what looks good on me, may look horrible on you. That's cool.

Now I've tried wearing a normal umpire shirt over my cp, and under the plate coat. The shirt collar just didn't sit right, and looked bad on me. Then I tried my Platinum under the coat, and I looked like a freakin' robot. For me, the original WV fits perfectly under the coat.

IOW YMMV

Well let's see. I wear a WV Platinum and I don't cover it with anything when I wear my plate coat. I get compliments from coaches, players and fans alike. My assigner likes it, I like it and my fellow umpires like it.

Most of us belong to associations which sometimes dictate what we wear and how we wear it. Many of us are NCAA or ex-NCAA talk about dictating! Many of us here are also MiLB or ex MiLB. What I am saying here is that the majority of us on this board are intelligent enough to go with the right way of doing things. Those such as yourself may be lucky being able to dress as you wish, but for example, here in CT, if you want to work High School and above, you will be an association (one of 4 in the State) or you will not work! In addition to the association dictating, the State FED Board also has dress requirements that we have to follow.

I agree with your right to opinion to wear what you want. I am just saying that it is not the accepted way. If you want to wear a red shirt with clown makeup while doing the plate, that's fine. But I I also have the right (by doing this crap for almost 30 years) to tell you that anyone who wears a shirt over the CP when wearing a plate coat looks like a rank amateur but before you get all upset rest assured that you probably look do look good......... to another rank amateur.

JMHO
Mario

I guess I just don't understand why someone would pay for a plate coat and then not wear it the right way.

I respect your opinion.

Me, I hate a white t-shirt under a black jersey. It makes MLB guys look like Archie Bunker. So I'm totally unprofessional when I wear red underneath. So be it. I'd rather look good, than look professional, I guess.

Kyle

FYI - I think I've worn a turtleneck on the outside once or twice. Once was at a Pony game, working with two D1 guys. They thought it looked good. A GLM in the front thought I looked HOT. I'm kinda leanin' toward the rank amateur look, I guess. ;)

Oh yeah, and for those of you who wear a regular shirt under your coat, and want to take it off mid-game, one thought. Ball bags.

I've been umping a loooong time, and I can say I've never seen anyone wearing a shirt of any kind over their chest protector UNDER their plate coat. I just thought that some guys were really barrel chested and didn't wear a chest protector under their plate coat. :D

JJ

My "dangler" has saves my life, several times each season.

Sounds to me like your dad was a classy guy, too bad it didn't rub off onto his son.

I have several other things I'd like to say to you, but they are things you only say to someone in person, rather than on a board where you can't get the crap beat the crap out of you for crossing the line.

OK Steve, how about this as a compromise...

When wearing a Plate Coat, you wear a CP that has a fake Tuxedo Shirt and Bow Tie painted on it !

Just having a little fun with this subject.

Take care, and have a great season.

One other thing Steve,

I am firmly against doing ANYTHING, just because "that's the way it's always been done".

That is not a reason, it's an EXCUSE.

When I worked in the Corporate Quality World, that was one of the biggest hurdles companies would face, that prevented them from improving. Once they would get past that, the flood gates of outstanding ideas would open.

Not that I feel strongly about that or anything. :D

That was funny.

Glad someone else is also having fun with this.

Saved your life? Really? Arent' you being just a tad melodramatic with that claim? I mean, how many umpires are out there who don't use danglers, who make it through their games - several times each season - without being killed by getting hit in the throat with a baseball?

I think it's a fairly large number. On the other hand, how many umpires are winding up in the morgue because they didn't wear a dangler?

So far, on these boards as long as these debates have been raging, the answer is zero.

I don't begrudge your wearing a dangler. I don't begrudge you wearing a belt with your suspenders. I do object to inaccurate, melodramatic life-or-death claims when there is virtually no substantiation for them.

Nickolaus wrote:

" . . . where you can't get the crap beat the crap out of you for crossing the line."

First, English must not be your first language . . . at least the written version.

Second, if you get so emotional about things I've written to you you must be quite the umpire.

Nickolaus continued in another post:

"My "dangler" has saves my life, several times each season."

". . . several times each season . . . "

Nick, if this statement is even close to true you're doing something wrong.

SDS and I had a very nice off line discussion about people who make this silly claim . . . while I do believe umpires get hit in the throat area, while I believe that many have balls hit danglers, while I believe the dangler has most likely has stopped an injury now and then I really can't remember EVER getting hit in the throat.

Nick, in my book you're down right silly when it comes to defending your need to wear armour.

Regards,

Back in college, my dangler got me in trouble from time to time, but since being married, it's been the restriction of the use of my dangler that's saved my life.