2 Man/ 1 Man
 

I have noticed in a lot of posts reference to 1 man games either stated or implied. What is the practice in your areas re 1 vs 2 man games? I know in my area (Nova Scotia, Can.) there are almost always 2m at most levels. 3 man is used at the highest level and Provincial/National games. The main exception is when there is a no show. Would like to hear some comments.

In the Chicago land area 1 man is used for lower level games most of the time. Two man is used for all varsity regular season games. When I lived in another part of the state no game was done with 1 umpire on purpose. Not sure if that still applies.

In the playoffs, 2 man is used for the first round or tournament of the playoffs. After that it is 3 Person until you get to the 3rd place game in the State Tournament where 4 man is used. The State Championship game uses 6 umpires.

Peace

Yep, in South Central IL, all games are 2-man. 3-man if you get really lucky or an umpire shows up at the wrong field.

I think it's pretty unanimous in the States for HS.

Varsity - 2 person ALWAYS and then JV, Freshman and modified.

In my association doing one man for Modified has become the norm rather than the exception do to the lack of umpires.

The use of 3 person crews varies from state to state.

Pete Booth

I can say from reading similar threads in the past that the rule of thumb is if you live out in the sticks, you could probably put 6 umpires on every game if you wanted to. However, in the big city, 1-umpire games at the sub-varsity level are commonplace. Here in San Diego, we have over 90 high schools to cover, and many other youth leagues to cover as well. There is always a demand for umpires in larger metropolitan areas.

Speaking HS ---

Around here Varsity is always 2-man. Sometimes JV or F/S will go with 1-man since we have a shortage of umpires.

Play-offs are always 3-man as are some tourneys

Here in the Long Beach, CA area (and lots of Los Angeles / Orange counties) there are many HS leagues that only use one man at the JV & below levels.
A good portion of it is the league/schools not wanting to pay for 2 at these levels but some is a lack of umpires. But not all leagues are like that - the Moore (sp?) league uses 2 at all levels. Even some of the Pony leagues that used 2 (even at the Bronco level) have switched to one man. Go figure.
Our unit has been so short of umpires (at times) even vets have had to work JV one man. Anyone who has worked 90' bases alone knows how much it sucks.

Tom H.

Here in the Long Beach, CA area (and lots of Los Angeles / Orange counties) there are many HS leagues that only use one man at the JV & below levels.
A good portion of it is the league/schools not wanting to pay for 2 at these levels but some is a lack of umpires. But not all leagues are like that - the Moore (sp?) league uses 2 at all levels. Even some of the Pony leagues that used 2 (even at the Bronco level) have switched to one man. Go figure.
Our unit has been so short of umpires (at times) even vets have had to work JV one man. Anyone who has worked 90' bases alone knows how much it sucks.

One of the best games I ever worked. I get a call from my assignor at 2 pm asking if I can work a game at 4. I say where and after he tells me I say sure. I show up at 3:30 and no partner in sight. At 3:45 I dress for plate, still no partner in sight. At 3:55 I am at the plate meeting to explain to the coaches. "Guys, I did not have this game until 2:00 and I don't know who my partner is supposed to be and it's obvious he is not here so we have 3 choices. One, we start the game and hope he shows up. Two, we delay until he does show up, and since he is not here that might be awhile. Three, we all go home." They opted for option one, partner didn't show and I worked a 2-1 game in 1:20, and they wrote me a check afterwards for $85. Only one close call on the bases in the whole game (steal of 2B).

The winning run scored in the bottom of 6th, with score 1-1 with 1 out and R3, a ground ball was hit back to F1 and he threw to 1B allowing R3 to score. He could have easily thrown home for play on advancing R3. He must have thought there were two outs. Visitors failed to score in top of 7th and that was the game.

Games here, V and JV are always scheduled 2 man. It is RARE for partner to not show. I always give three choices, but it has never happened to me in a really important game between conference opponents with something on the line. I expect they would want a delay in this case.

We do nearly all one man games from U-12 and below in league play.

Tournaments, 1 man for the first round, then 2 man. Winners and Losers bracket finals 2 man, Championship games 3 man.

90' always 2 man, with 3 for finals.

I'll probably get 20-30 games of 1 man BB and 40 to 50 one man SB this season.

Very, very, important for our associatioin to have good pre-games when doing multi man games, after so many one man assignments, ya forget ya got help out there..

No doubt this is a cost saving issue, I know when I was league UIC and Pres. for our local BR program, that was the driving factor. 13's got 1 man, 14-15's got two. We'd spend 12-13 K a season of a 14-15 K budget on Umpires.

Throw in a couple sets of Uni's a year and a bunch of baseballs and a few bats, a couple sets of catchers gear, and some helmets, not a lot left for cool stuff like lights and water...or a lawn mower breaking..

Every 90' level I have worked in my state (and I've lived in 3 different sections now)always has 2 umpires assigned. I had a no-show partner for a JV game yesterday and worked the 1st half of the first game solo while they found a replacement. Of course, most of you are making quite a few bucks more than we do in Kansas.