Did the 85 year old partner set up his lawn chair behind the pitcher or was it permanantly located in 'A'?? :)

Shameless self-promotion......

Glad you noticed.

I worked with an 82 year old gent this season in a varsity game. Had to stop the game on several occasions after he was hit with errant pitches and foul balls in the upper torso (his CP looked older than me - DOB 1961).

Was also run over twice on plays at the plate and was hit with two balls thrown to the plate because he decided to take the calls in fair territory.

Also, there was that new mechanic he employed of a non-verbal, emphatic point foul call and his verbal fair call.

A few years ago I worked with a very senior association member who, in the past had been a Pac10 crew chief and who had worked, years ago, with Jocko Conlan.

He wore a raft behind the plate, missed maybe two pitches, trailed the B/R to first, made all rotations and still had text book mechanics.

Age is not the defining issue. Performance is.

No doubt.

In our association we have several veterans who are 70+, and having worked with some of them in recent years and hearing from other board members who have worked with them, their skills set have not followed them into the twilight of their umpiring careers.

That said, I have worked with lousy umpires who are my age and considerably younger.