New Umpire Stuff
 

I got some umpire's stuff yesterday and am finally ready to look like a pro. Two pairs of REAL umpire's pants; one for plate and one for base. They will need to be hemmed as they are sold a bit longer. Also got a fitted cap so I won't have the stupid plastic adjusters. Lineup card holder. Navy ballbag as I was using a black ballbag to go with the navy shirt before. Umpire number. A couple bottles of some really nice shoe polish. And an awsome patented black leather belt which very few people have. One less thing to hold me back from university ball.

nice work!! now you are on your way :)

LMAOOOO.......:D

I can see the future; in it, you're going to be very sorry you put this one on a tee for your many detractors.:)

FORE!!!!!

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/18/18_12_10.gif

Right down the middle of the fairway. Next to my ball.:)

"Where'd that one go?"

"in the lumberyard."

D

Looking right gets you to the first pitch. After that you're on your own... Besure you know what you're doing down to the last rule and mechanic. A Patent leather belt will do you no good if you're out of position to make a call.

where did you get all of your stuff?

Only if you have an incompetent assignor......

Not looking pretty can be quickly and easily fixed. Competency for the level to be assigned is a whole different matter. If you have an assignor that just isn't desperate for bodies, he won't assign anyone to see that "first pitch" until he's confident that the person is <b>ready</b> to see that first pitch. Being properly dressed is a miniscule amount of what is needed to be ready.

First, in defense of our young Canadian friend...

In the past, posters would wack him upside the head whenever he would post about his game day appearance. His admitted unprofessional sartorial practices garnered him the disdain of many and lectures of the importance of a proper uniform from others.

Now that he has taken steps to correct one of his "problems", posters either ignore the improvement of give it such short shrift that it appears near meaningless. No wonder the kid is confused.

Canada....congratulations on your new uniform. It will indeed help to look the part and, as you said, it represents one less thing you have to deal with in your journey to better games.

But, and you knew there was a "but", it represents only one less thing on that journey.

For your next step, do not call your assignor and say, as you basically said here, "Hey, I got me a new uniform, now give me some good games."

Let your assignor and peers discover your new "look". And let that discovery be based on the improvements you have made in how you umpire in your new uniform. The shiny belt and shiny shoes will look so much better when you are in the proper position to make a call. The well fitted pants will fit even better when you demonstrate good judgement in dealing with coaches. The new cap (God, I really can't believe you've been wearing an adjustable cap) will look better when it sits on a head that knows the rules and proper interpretations.

And the whole package will be seen in a better light here on the internet when its owner begins to accept the experience and help offered by trained umpires rather than arguing every time he is corrected and blaming his failures on others and whining about his age. As I've pointed out so many times, many umpires begin their professional careers at your age. Instead of complaining, they get training.

Brutally brief, Canada: Let this new umpire uniform be the beginning of a new umpire, and not slapping lipstick on a pig.


Good luck.

"His admitted unprofessional sartorial practices.."

:confused: sartorial? I can't find that in my J/R, PBUC, OBR, LL, MiLB, FED, MAD, RD - ANYWHERE! HEP!

JJ
:o

JJ,

JM

Now go out and attend a clinc of two and your on your way. With the uniform you can fool them for at least the first pitch, after that, good luck.

Interesting! We'll see if the recipe makes soup or dishwater.

Thanks for the comments guys. And I don't plan on telling anyone about my new uniform, rather I'll let them see it for themselves. I hate to say it but I'll probably be one of the few people in my city and surrounding cities that is dressed professionally.

Where do you live, Dogpatch? I swear you talk about the umpires in your area like they're all a bunch of hicks from the sticks. Around here it's the other way around. Very few umpires do not look sharp and the majority do.

And what Mikebran is teasing you about is that the belt you have is called "patent" leather, not "patented" leather. Patent is the type of leather, not leather that was registered with the Patent Office.

This confuses me as well. I know a couple of umpires from Ontario who dress and work very professionally. They also work the Baseball Canada national tournament at the upper levels. I'm constantly surprised at our young man's descriptions of the local umpires. I wonder where in Ontario he works.

What does the country of Canada have to do with the United States Patent Office?

I didn't know Dog Patch was in the province of Ontario, Canada.

Perhaps you could send something from your "rookie" year?

Steve didn't mention a country in his post. Why do you assume he didn't mean the Canadian Patent office? http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/en/goc/patents.shtml

Are you really this desparate to start something? It's a saying, for crying out loud. Remember Li'l Abner was syndicated in several countries, including Canada.

1. http://strategis.gc.ca/sc_mrksv/cipo.../welcom-e.html

2. We have a little hamlet in the Dago area called Dogpatch in the far-southeastern area of the county near the town of Boulevard. It's not too farfetched to believe there is the Canadian equivalent of this.

My use of the term Dogpatch is just a metaphor for any backwoods redneck hillbilly town. The town doesn't have to feature Mammy Yokum, or actually be named Dogpatch in order to qualify.

3. I could send you the names of my assignor and association president from that year, and they could send you affidavids swearing that I dressed neat as a pin from day one, always a pressed uni, shiny shoes and properly creased and sized 8 stitch base hat or combo plate hat. I never had to actually think about "really nice" shoe polish or replacing an adjustable hat.

That's three. Get back under your bridge now.:p

Just where the hell is Boulevard?

p.s. Dago is to San Diego what Frisco is to the City. The locals don't do that.

Kyle,

Dago has been a "local" slang term for San Diego or San Diegan for as far back as I can remember, which is about age 3. They might not use the term in the upper-crust regions of La Jolla and Fairbanks Ranch, but trust me, it is commonly used on the means streets of the urban jungle.

I have lived the majority of my life here (all but 11 years). I was born in L.A. but moved to San Diego at 4 weeks of age, so that's pretty damn local. I've heard many locals refer to San Diego as Dago my entire life. We normally don't have our panties in a wad about it like the bay area folks do.

The H.A.'s certainly do refer to it as Dago. As do the Diablos and various other MC.

There is a motorcycle-building company in O.B. named Dago Choppers, which is short for San Diego Choppers.

There is a worldwide police officer's motorcycle club, the "Lords of Loyalty." The president of the San Diego Chapter is a police officer who goes by "Dago Mark." As in, "San Diego Mark."

There is a local rap group called Dago Braves.

There is a local hip-hop group called DagoHipHop

http://www.dagohiphop.com/oscommerce/

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...endid=51091163

There is a pretty famous Pop Warner football organization called The East Dago Raiders.

There is more, but you get the idea. It leads me to wonder...Kyle, are you a local, or are you just some tourist who decided to stay?:confused:

Yes, the bumper sticker does say, "Where the hell is Boulevard." In case you really don't know, it's way out on 94 East near Campo.

http://69.43.137.200/weblogs/tln-wp2...3/Nloyalty.jpg

As far as I know there is no Dogpatch in Ontario...however we do have alot of areas called "Cousinlove" :D

BTW If Canadaump really wants to do university ball in Canada I really do feel sorry for him. Uni ball up here sucks.

Born in Miramar nearly fifty years ago, and lived all over the county. My greatgrandmother was the postmaster at Miramar (Camp Kearney, Camp Elliott, etc). Grampa work on the Del, and my uncle sold scrap dummy bombs at the Western Metals Building. We go back a ways. Dago = Frisco for us oldtimers.

Never heard that, and I'm older than you. Been hearing Dago all my life. From the natives. Must be because I was raised in the east county where all the H.A.'s hung out.

I know a few people from San Francisco that say Frisco. It's the snooty natives who object to Frisco. For some folks it's just a figure of speech, not an insult.

Are these the only two countries with patent offices? I think it's a very safe assumption the United States Patent Office was the one being mentioned. As for Lil' Abner, they lived in Dogpatch, USA. I don't see how it being syndicated in several countries would make it hard for readers in the United States, or Canada, to know where it was located.

Oh. my God. You really are that desparate. You want to pick a fight over a mythical town in a comic strip from the 60's.

Back on the list, Paul.

Oh, and my apologies for quoting him to those of you who already have him on your list.

canadaump6,

I've got to admit I'm a little curious about what you have been wearing for pants, but it's nice to hear that you're "stepping up" to dressing properly.

One piece of advice - when you go to get the pants hemmed, have the plate pants hemmed "really long". When they measure for the length, wear your plate shoes and have them hemmed so that the pants are almost touching the ground as you stand "normally". If the place isn't used to doing umpire alterations they will want to do them "shorter". Also, when they suggest cuffs, just say no. (Trust me on this.)

You also might want to consider getting more than one fitted hat (Navy, Black, Base, Plate = 4).

As others have suggested, dressing properly is really more of a "necessary but insufficient" criteria for being assigned quality games (at least where I'm from) - but it's certainly a step in the right direction.

JM

P.S. Just out of idle curiosity, what "number" did you get & how did you choose it?

Just one more thing, as Columbo would say: Why would you ASSume that I was referring to the United States Patent Office, when he lives in Canada? By that logic, there would really be Dogpatch, Ontario. I know that most industrialized nations must have their own patent office. It's just common sense.

My whole point was that leather isn't "patented." There, that was the whole point.

And my use of Dogpatch brought a picture to your mind, didn't it? That was the whole point with that.

As Joe Pesci said in My Cousin Vinny, "I got no more use for this guy."

I will make sure to have my plate and base shoes on when they hem both pairs of pants. How low on the shoes should the plate pants be? Should I have them covering up most of the shoe?

As for the number, I got the number 6 as I had heard that nobody had that one in my association. I haven't got them sewn on to my shirts yet though. If 6 is taken, it can be flipped to a 9.

Regarding what I wore before, I had a couple of men's dress-style grey pants. I feel that they look pretty much like real pants, but maybe just a touch darker. Nonetheless it's important to wear the official uniform, and almost the official colour isn't good enough, no matter how many colours of pants our association wears.

Steve and Garth, please stop hijacking my thread. I want to get some feedback. I don't care about DogPatch, and boasting about adding someone to your ignore list is not clever and got old a long time ago.

A professional appearance is one of the many things you need to posess to do your job correctly. Little did you know that it cost so much huh? When you get everything you need then you'll need something to haul it all in. Good luck!

same here......my have to invoke the ignore function

1. You have feed back. Politely couched, even.

2. Please don't presume to lecture.

3. I've never boasted about my ignore list. I haved statedfacts and often lamented the fact that it does, at times become necessary.

4. You were starting to show us a new you...stay focused.

Don't just wear your plate shoes, wear your shinguards and go into your stance when they measure for the hem. Otherwise, you will look like you're wearing waders when working behind the plate.

In your stance, your pants should still come to the top of your shoe and not reveal any portion of your socks.

"It's in the hole! It's in the hole!" :D

It's in my manual, John, right after "sardonic." ;)