What would you call this guy?

[Eastshire]

Originally Posted by bellsjc

Don't get on the soapbox. You don't have to convince me that you can't be a pro and were a mustache & goatee. I wear a mustache and goatee as I said and I am business professional for a 3 company llc. My mustache and goatee are always trimmed very short and always looks neat. I think the association banning all facial hair is the easiest way to assure the neat look they are trying to portray. It would be far more difficult to have someone say... gee, Joe your beard is nice and short and trimmed its ok, but you Charlie need to trim that up a bit before you can do a game. No wiggle room is easier to enforce with less problems or arguments.

Less problems with the officials you keep, more problems over all. Why drive away quality officials just because you cannot adequately explain the meaning of neatly trimmed? I for one would have to quit rather than go clean shaven because, one, I am afraid of what my wife would do to me and, two, I look a lot less professional clean shaven (I look ten years younger clean shaven and I am not old enough for that to be a good thing).

Originally Posted by bellsjc

Don't get on the soapbox. You don't have to convince me that you can't be a pro and were a mustache & goatee. I wear a mustache and goatee as I said and I am business professional for a 3 company llc. My mustache and goatee are always trimmed very short and always looks neat. I think the association banning all facial hair is the easiest way to assure the neat look they are trying to portray. It would be far more difficult to have someone say... gee, Joe your beard is nice and short and trimmed its ok, but you Charlie need to trim that up a bit before you can do a game. No wiggle room is easier to enforce with less problems or arguments.

Well said. Our association is open on the topic. If nothing else, it gives all umpires the uniform look. We've got one guy who wears a beard at least 6" long. Do any teams really care - probably not. If nothing else they recognize him when he shows up. One would think the heat of a hot summer is enough to dissuade anyone from having any facial hair under a mask.

[mcrowder]

This one's easy. I'd call him Steve. I know that guy.

Seriously though - this guy has nothing on my "Verbal Fan Interference" guy (same as the "Caught-Bounced-3rd Strike Guy")

[canadaump6]

[QUOTE=waltjp]
I sat and watched from the car as both teams went through fielding practice and you could see the coaches starting to look around for the umpires. It's about 3:45 and I'm starting to worry about my partner's whereabouts.

[QUOTE]

This is the thing that drives me crazy the most; partners who don't show up on time! Half the umpires in my organization come rushing to the ballpark 7 minutes or less before first pitch. So what the h*** am I supposed to do for the 20 minutes I am there before my partner gets there? Mingle with the fans in uniform? Hang out with the coaches? Or just stand beyond the outfield fence so that everyone can get a good look at me and wonder what I am doing before the game begins? It would make things a lot easier if my partner would be there; then we could discuss positioning and whatnot before the game begins. Grrr.

[LMan]

Originally Posted by mcrowder

Seriously though - this guy has nothing on my "Verbal Fan Interference" guy (same as the "Caught-Bounced-3rd Strike Guy")

Oh, great. Now I have to start searching

[tiger49]

Originally Posted by Forest Ump

I'm working the plate tonight on a 13-15 year old game. My first sign that the base guy was not up to snuff was when he took a cell phone call during the plate meeting. Actually my pre-game meeting with this guy told me all I needed to know about him. It only got worse from there. Here are some examples of the craftsmanship or lack there of that this gentlemen showed.

1. Standing in the A position on all calls at first. I don't mean rotating in to get the angle. I mean standing in foul territory on all calls at first.

2. Staying in same position sited above when anything was hit deep and the B/R was going beyond first. He was usually talking to the base coach at the time of the hit. I legged it out to second on more than one occasion in case I had a close one at second.

3. He carried a soda bottle out to the B position with him and proceeded to drink from it.

4. He called time twice in the first inning to ask me what count I had. I told him between innings how I give the count and to be patient and he would soon hear it.

5. Last inning, getting dark quickly, I hustle the visiting team out so the home team can get their last at bat. I'm moving everyone along so we can get going. The pitcher says" Blue, we can't start yet. He then points behind me. Base guy is leaning up against back stop shooting the bull with some one.

I swear I am not making any of this stuff up.



Thanks, I needed to vent.

I see you umpired with Lance. How did your post-game evaluation go?

[waltjp]

Originally Posted by canadaump6

This is the thing that drives me crazy the most; partners who don't show up on time! Half the umpires in my organization come rushing to the ballpark 7 minutes or less before first pitch. So what the h*** am I supposed to do for the 20 minutes I am there before my partner gets there? Mingle with the fans in uniform? Hang out with the coaches? Or just stand beyond the outfield fence so that everyone can get a good look at me and wonder what I am doing before the game begins? It would make things a lot easier if my partner would be there; then we could discuss positioning and whatnot before the game begins. Grrr.

Sadly, I think we've all worked with guys like this. Granted, we're all late at some point but it's far the exception to the rule with me. I'm also aware that 4:00 PM starts are sometimes a problem, especially in an area as congested as North Jersey where a 10 mile drive can easily mean an hour's drive. What really irked me about this guy was his comment when he got out of his car and asked me about my "big f*cking strike zone". I had never worked with this guy before and haven't since but as the words are coming out of his mouth I'm thinking to myself that MY strike zone wouldn't be a concern if he was on time and working the plate as he was assigned.

[canadaump6]

Yeah this guy you worked with sounds like a complete joke. I've had to work with people like that before as well. I'm amazed that he actually thought he deserved to do varsity level games.

[w_sohl]

Originally Posted by Forest Ump

I'm working the plate tonight on a 13-15 year old game. My first sign that the base guy was not up to snuff was when he took a cell phone call during the plate meeting. Actually my pre-game meeting with this guy told me all I needed to know about him. It only got worse from there. Here are some examples of the craftsmanship or lack there of that this gentlemen showed.

1. Standing in the A position on all calls at first. I don't mean rotating in to get the angle. I mean standing in foul territory on all calls at first.

2. Staying in same position sited above when anything was hit deep and the B/R was going beyond first. He was usually talking to the base coach at the time of the hit. I legged it out to second on more than one occasion in case I had a close one at second.

3. He carried a soda bottle out to the B position with him and proceeded to drink from it.

4. He called time twice in the first inning to ask me what count I had. I told him between innings how I give the count and to be patient and he would soon hear it.

5. Last inning, getting dark quickly, I hustle the visiting team out so the home team can get their last at bat. I'm moving everyone along so we can get going. The pitcher says" Blue, we can't start yet. He then points behind me. Base guy is leaning up against back stop shooting the bull with some one.

I swear I am not making any of this stuff up.



Thanks, I needed to vent.

He wouldn't have made it to the last inning with me, I would have sent him home after about 1.5 innings.

[archangel]

I agree about not wanting to work w/ him, but you have no power to send him home after 1 1/2 innings- It would have to be his choice, and how the OP sounds, I'd bet he'd stay for the pay....

[w_sohl]

Originally Posted by archangel

I agree about not wanting to work w/ him, but you have no power to send him home after 1 1/2 innings- It would have to be his choice, and how the OP sounds, I'd bet he'd stay for the pay....

I would have let him keep the pay, I wouldn't have taken that away from him, but I would have asked him to leave and worked the game by myself.