Expose
 

This is a blatant plug for those of you who have never seen me umpire but are curious and might want a look -

Sunday August 17, 12:20 PM CDT on ESPN U, the Under Armour High School All-Star game will be held at Wrigley Field. 4-man crew. I will be umping first base. The plate ump and the second base ump are Big Ten umpires. Not sure about the third base guy.

JJ

Congrats on the assignment, JJ. It's well deserved, my friend!


Tim.

Cool, good luck!

That's pretty neat, always good to get a little recognition for your hard work.

Thanks
David

Congratulations!

That's very exciting. When our buds get one of those Dodger Stadium HS gigs, we go out there just to support them, and it is really a wonderful experience. But it doesn't get any better than Wrigley. Make sure you get somebody with a great camera to get a bunch of good pics. Have a blast!

Never seen him work, ;) ;) , Yes I will tape (and edit) it for you.:D :D

Congrats buddy. Anyone who can score 1st class accomidations with a song is OK by me..

Good luck JJ
 

Friendly reminder for all.

Congratz on the great gig I will Tivo it.

Congrats, Just curious how'd you get the gig?

JJ,

My DVR is all set! Go get 'er done!

One of the assistant coaches is from the Chicago area and he was asked to get umpires. He called one he was on friendly terms with, and he called me. So I guess it IS who you know. :D

JJ

JJ, just one more thing, "Don't Suck!"....good luck.

You think? :rolleyes:

Nah. Too easy.

Doesn't matter how you get it. It would be great to work a game at Wrigley Field. Good luck and have fun.

Exactly, I'm so jealous.

Game Over!
 

The game is done, and it was pretty cool. This is the 4th big league yard I've worked, and easily the one most steeped in tradition. The umpire's room was small and reminded me of a finished basement - false ceiling, half a dozen small lockers divided around the room, a 3-fixture gang shower, a toilet and urinal (can I say urinal here?), a small refrigerator (Pepsi products and Gatorade) and small table. The Cubs clubbie (Tommy, a retired firefighter in his second season with the Cubs) was there to help us out and gave us the grand tour of the Cubs lockerroom and lead us through the tunnel up to the field.
The game itself was a yawner - 3 1/2 hours of watching high school senior pitchers throw the ball 92 mph past most of the hitters, with an error now and then and even a home run in the 8th inning to keep the crowd interested. Oh, it was Chicago's annual "Air and Water Show" so we had the Blue Angels buzzing the yard throughout the game, too. THAT kept us awake!
It was one of those events that doesn't mean anything in any league or tournament or standings, but it made memories that few get to experience. Thank you, baseball!

JJ

Really neat, and just a little extra something for all the hard work that you've put in through the years. These type of "extras" make it worthwhile and something we can remember for a lifetime.

thanks
David

at 3.5 hrs, either they weren't striking out that many hitters or they weren't throwing 92...that seems like a really long game for that calibre of baseball...

Seems long, but these kind of games take forever. Just look at the All-star game for MLB. Everyone has to play, they change pitchers a lot so you have lots of extra warm-up time and no telling what goes on between innings etc.,

If I had to guess that was what was going on.

thanks
David

solid points...that could be the case.

I did a similar game a few years ago in Philly, it took about the same length of time. Lots of subs, long warm-up times and all that.
That particular game was not exciting - except for where it was - in a MLB park. After that game - I've umpired in 1 and played in 2. Each time was an experience not worth trading for almost anything.
Congrats, JJ - hang on to the memory.

There was a new pitcher nearly every inning, and long commercial breaks. I was told that of the first 33 outs (that's through 5 1/2 innings), 23 were strikeouts. That's why the game took so long, even though the players were truly "all stars".
My old high school coach used to say, "If you're striking everybody out you're throwing too many pitches." Such was definitely the case in this game! But the memories...walking around the field with nearly a century of ghosts...
:)

JJ

pretty cool experience

What a great thrill to get to work at Wrigley Field. I got to do a couple of similar games (1st base for both) at Qualcomm Stadium when the Padres played there. Not quite the same thrill, but still a thrill. Mostly lots of memories of bad-to-mediocre baseball teams :) .