Part of the job?
 

Interesting story on minor league umpiring.....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/sp...tml?ref=sports

Thoughts?

Hmm,
 

JR:

Nice link, thanks.

It is odd that Professional Baseball (at all levels) frowns on having "fans" in an umpire dressing room but allows this intrusion.

As a non-believer I would be offended and ask the person to leave "my office."

And, of course, I would have been released by the PBUC as a "trouble maker."

Regards,

Baseball Chapel
 

The Baseball Chapel comes to our locker room on Sundays also in the Lg I am in. These are always polite men who knock and ask if they can come in and speak to us. They give the 3 of us a handout, say a prayer and usually leave fairly quickly. It tended to be an awkward situation with my crew as we really were not interested in this before a game, but did not want to be rude or seem intolerant. I think that the umpires who want to participate in this service, should be able to do this without basically forcing it on the others. If this were anything but religion, it would not be allowed anywhere near the locker room. My feeling is that we are free to worship as we please in our country. We also have the right to expect that we will not be forced to either.

That's exactly what I was wondering about. Would the PBUA actually go that far?

Pc
 

The one thing that gets a free pass in this country is organized religion. You are exactly right in that if anyone made an issue out of it , they would be branded as a radical and have their career hurt by it. But it might get addressed someday when religion doesnt have so much clout both politically and psycologically

After reading about that incident, Rabbi Ari Sunshine wrote to Commissioner Bud Selig questioning Baseball Chapel’s exclusive standing in baseball as the “sole Christian ministry granted access by Major League Baseball to all of its teams.”

Sunshine, then in Charlotte, N.C., now in Olney, Md., offered a series of ideas to change the system and make it more inclusive, and Selig replied that he shared “the concerns that you have raised, and I will take steps to ensure that much of what you have written is implemented into Major League Baseball.”
Selig, however, has taken no steps since that exchange of letters in September 2005.


Well...that's a big surprise.

I have edited this to add the following..

I don't know which is a bigger surprise .... Bud Selig not doing anything or a rabbi with the last name of Sunshine.

I wonder why the AMLU hasn't represented its membership in this issue.

I was about to post "Why couldn't you just respectfully not participate?"...

I then read the article and it looks a little tougher than I thought it would be just to respectfully stand aside due to the small dressing room and the "reputation" you might be tagged with. So, I can see where you are coming from.

The umpire dressing room at the local minor league stadium has an exterior door that opens directly into the "dressing area" which is roughly 5' by 8' with one wall lined with a bench. The umpires stow their gear and uniforms and change in this area. This is also where they are served post game dinner, two hotdogs and a coke that was placed there in the seventh inning. An interior door at the end of that room leads to a room about 5' by 4' that has a toilet and shower.

You can love, worship, praise and glorify any supreme being or lack therof you want on your own time. Imposing one's beliefs on others when they don't want it is precisely why we came to the New World in the first place.

Get out of my face!

(Can I get an Amen?)

D

becase it wasn't brought up. that was the first i've heard of josh's issues.

Okie dokie.

From your experience, bobby...are these visitations something that happens in all levels of pro ball, or primarily at AAA and the majors?

Did you mean PBUA or PBUC?

all levels, sir. and feel free to not call me bobby if you wish. that cat is no longer bagged.

I am a believer but I would never want someone forced into something they didn't believe or didn't want to hear. I've come back to my faith later in life but I have always resented anyone pushing anything on me in terms of religion. I have a church that I attend but before that (and even now) I would refuse to attend any church where people were sent out to knock on my door. My polite response was " I don't talk about religion at my front door, have a nice day".

Funny story regarding religion and baseball. I was working a tournament in Aiken SC for Dixie baseball in 2004. I was one of 4 out of state umpires. One of the umpires, Jeff, was from VA and I was from NC. We had about 4 games together at the tournament and he asked if he could ride with me to the park so his wife and kids could use his vehicle. No problem. In game 4, I fell asleep and missed an easy force at third (long story, no need to tell it). I came back to the umpires room and looked at Jeff and my other partner Archie and said "Guys, I am sorry...I f***ed up out there and I have no excuse". About 30 minutes later Jeff and I rode back to the hotel. We were talking trying to get our minds off a long day of baseball and I asked him what he did for a living. He said " I work for the school system back home but I am also the minister at a community church in my hometown !!" I apologized for my swearing and told him I knew I wasn't perfect. He never broke stride and said "we all have work to do". That was it, no lecture or sermon.

Lawrence