WHY DID YOU GET ASSIGNED THE HIGHEST LEVEL GAME OF YOUR CAREER?

[etbaseball]

Ed -

Thanks for reading and responding. When I saw your name on this thread, I immediately thought of an individual that I met and enjoyed pizza and beer with on a few occasions in Santa Clara ... I also remembered have a few pictures, that I took, while watching you and Bob Galbraith due a game at West Valley College in Saratoga. (circa 1995-96?) ... I also remember being impressed at how connected you always appeared to be, never missing a call, and most certainly always in excellent position.

Your old group has grown quite a bit since your departure from this area, this year we may hit 2,000 ball games from March through August. Time has changed the landscape somewhat and the evolution of our contemporary success, is, in part, due to the many excellent umpires (very good people) who have made their contributions over the 40 years that we've been around. I can honestly say that you were one of them. We now have about 100 umpires in the database, and you'd probably still recognize 20 or so who have been with us for 15 to 25 years.

Thanks for sharing your insite and experiences, Ed. I'll be watching for your future posts, and feel free to give me a call and we can reminisce about your days here in the valley.

I know that you know the way to San Jose.

Ed Thomas, VP-GM, Santa Clara Valley Federation of Umpires