I don't think she would get very far if she sued them for discrimination. The judge would rule that her dismissal is a judgement call on the part of her supervisor.

I am NOT commenting directly on Ria's situation; I never saw her work, so I have no opinion.

However, if it is true (as has been suggested above in this thread) that there are still some in baseball who think that a woman cannot umpire on the professional or MLB level...then I think they are clueless.

If a woman can run up-and-down the court for 48 minutes with the big boys in the NBA and develop into a playoff referee...then a woman can certainly umpire.

Frankly, the physical demands of umpiring are a lot less than refereeing, in my opinion. Sure, you may have to rotate a few times a game...but that, generally, requires running 90-feet. The NBA refs go up-and-down for 48 minutes...with a lot of quick starts and stops and changes of directions. (And yes, I'm aware of the physical demands of calling balls and strikes.)

I have always thought officiating baseball is more mentally demanding than officiating basketball. (Although, I'll admit the highest level I've ever worked in basketball is high school varsity (and y'all know I'm a former MiLBer).) And I for one am not going to say that a person cannot handle the mental rigor of baseball...just because she's a woman.

And let's be frank: a woman ref in the NBA is going to hear (and, no doubt, has heard) the same frank language on the court that any MLB umpire is going hear on the field.

I believe Ria has a degree in engineering from Rice University. If you ask me, she's about to get a huge raise with better benefits and working conditions.

About time to put that education to work for her.

Plus, basketball has the WNBA and women's college basketball to draw female officials. Would any of us want to see an ASA umpire working MLB or MiLB games? Doubtful. Men's and women's basketball are LIGHT YEARS more similar than baseball and softball are.

According to her bio, Ria has a degree in education. If that's the case, it won't be much of a raise.

I fail to see the analogy here. I didn't read of anybody wanting softball umpires working MiLB games. The minors are similar to WNBA and college basketball in comparison the MLB and NBA. Nobody was making the leap in logic all the way to ASA sofball (or any softball for that matter), which of course is nothing like baseball.

For what it's worth, I was a big supporter of Pam Postema when she was making here bid to be the first female MLB umpire. She was very good. I have not followed Ria Cortesio's career closely, but I understand that Ria Cortesio is no Pam Postema.

Originally Posted by fitump56
I hope she sues b/c it will be the only way to find out if she was dumped b/c she was a woman.

Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">Originally Posted by UMP25
Get off your soapbox, Ms. Alred. *Just because the only female umpire was released doesn't mean there was illegal discrimination.*


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Which part of "find out" did you set in your concrete head as "guilty of discrimination"?
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->As I knew to be the case, you took my support of Ria and he right to pursue leagal action as a guilty verdict against MiLB/MLB ball. All your left with is the inane , diversionary comment; you want to align me with a liberal activist, Alred.

It's not working, the more you distort ridiculously my position, the worse you look. Beats trying to defend your macho, discrimanatory Old Guard BS so I ceratianly understand why you choose to move the goal posts rather than defend your 19th century bigotry toward women in the work place.

As I said before, sure bet you Mother, Aunts, sisters, female cousins and grandmother are button popping proud of you. :rolleyes:

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">Originally Posted by fitump56
I hope she sues b/c it will be the only way to find out if she was dumped b/c she was a woman.

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One word, look it up. The legal definition of:

D-I-S-C-O-V-E-R-Y
Expund as to why it is and why it is illogical to expect that only through thr process of discovery will she have a chance at the truth.

Over to you.

As usual, you misconstrue what someone here says. Unlike you, who automatically ***umed some kind of discrimination, which is just illogical and stupid--but I digress--I simply said if she believes she was the victim of illegal discrimination, let her gather the facts first then take it to the proper venue. A trip to the EEO might suffice. I never said she shouldn't umpire because she's a woman, or that females ought not to be professional umpires. You inferred that in order to remain on your ridiculous soapbox, one that you love to use all too often around here, unfortunately.

As a matter of fact, they are, and many of them are rather liberal, too. In fact, it was my mother who, when she found out about Ria, said to me, "Women shouldn't be umpiring anyway." And this from a rather feminist woman, too.

And BTW, regarding "discovery," I know very well what it means in terms of legal definitions. I've been involved in it on both ends of the table. It does NOT mean go to court and sue based on no facts or evidence, conduct discovery to find out information, then hopefully win/settle. It means to hopefully find out information that can add to or confirm what is already known. Sure, there are attorneys who will encourage filing a lawsuit with not an ounce of evidence, but these are the ones who do so solely because they wish to rack up fees from their clients. A good attorney will tell someone not to sue unless you've got some solid evidence of a wrongdoing. Discovery enables one to bolster such evidence in order to be likelier to win.

The argument was that women CAN succeed in pro sports, as evidenced by Violet Palmer. I'm saying that there is a much better chance for a woman to succeed in basketball because there is a legitimate female equivalent to men's basketball at every level. I know there is softball out there, but it's almost an entirely different sport from baseball. I'm saying that a woman succeeding in baseball will be much more difficult than it was in the NBA because a woman needs to literally break into baseball; she can't move from softball to baseball and back, unlike a woman theoretically could in basketball.

It may not be worth much
 

But I believe that eventually, probably in my lifetime, there will be a woman on the full-time MLB staff. Ditto for the NFL (even though they aren't full-time, but you get my drift). Not as sure about the NHL, but I don't see why not. Some woman will make it through all the hoops and meet all the "objective" criteria and she will make it. And bully for her.

As with most pioneers, doing something for the first time as a woman/African American/Native American/child/senior citizen/whatever takes a combination of the right person in the right circumstances. Pioneering is hard work. Ria didn't completely break new ground; as pointed out several times on this board, Pam Postema (and to some extent, Bernice Gera before her) did whole lot of that work.

I think there are many people on this board, me included, who have known released umpires and wonder what the hell PBUC was thinking when they released. I don't know Ria so I can't say that for her, but I have known it of other umpires.

The ways of the PBUC are not yours to understand, Grasshopper. They are yours to accept.

I wish Ria the best. If she wants to continue to umpire, I sincerely hope some college association takes a good, hard, serious look at her. I imagine she'd be an asset to most conferences and associations.

I do not see a woman making it to either the NFL or MLB anytime soon because of just lack of numbers. You do not see many women even trying HS ball let alone going through the process to become an official at those levels. I cannot speak for the NHL because I know nothing about hockey. But as macho as folks want to make that sport out to be, I do not see it happening in that sport either. The NBA at least had an environment and a system that crosses genders for the officials. The NFL, MLB and NHL have no similar systems and really give female officials opportunities beyond the normal scope of things. It could happen, but that female official would have to be exceptional and have the support by those that make the decisions. And the way things go with MLB that support is obviously not there. I think we will see another female in the NBA long before the first female ever works and NFL and certainly MLB. At least the NFL fires officials on their staff every year. MLB seems to not ever get rid of their staff for any reason.

Peace

What are the rules on getting released in pro ball? and If she was the only one released than I would say she has a case

How many do they let go each year Was there anyone else? who?