Do the participants really care how we are dressed

Originally Posted by JJ

I believe that what you're wearing and how you carry yourself is of greater importance the higher up the ladder you go. Parents of six year old players want to watch their kids play and don't pay a great deal of attention to how an umpire is dressed. On the other end of the spectrum, at the D1 NCAA level an umpire's appearance is the first impression of how serious the umpire is about his craft (not to mention supervisors' requirements).

Of course, I've always told young umpires, "If you can't BE good, you can at least LOOK good!"

JJ

Good post and I agree.

You only have one chance to make a first impression that day.

If you were walking down the street and there was a guy who had stringy hair, not shaven, dirty/worn/wrinkled clothes on, worn and dirty shoes, and he approached you needing "help", you would distrust this person, and worry that it is possibly a set up for a scam or to be robbed.

A lesser example would be you go into a store to purchase something, and the sales person is wearing high water pants, and a shirt combo that doesn't match very well. You would immediately assume that this person does NOT know what they are talking about (unless this is a Radio Shack! ) and would be looking around for somebody that looks more "professional".

Lets face it, the second you walk out onto the field, people are sizing you up! The fans, the players, and the coaches. If you have dirty shoes, wrinkled pants, dirty shirt, people are going to subconsciously think that you don't care about what is going on. As an umpire, YOU ARE A PERSON OF AUTHORITY, and people assume that a person of authority will be well dressed. If you aren't, they doubt that you take what you do seriously.

The reason it is called a "UNIFORM" is because everybody is supposed to wear the same thing. When you get some dingbat that wants "something a little different from everybody else", you have problems as being perceived as a "TEAM" on the field. Yes, it is subtle, but if the two umpires are not attired EXACTLY the same, people are going to assume that you two are not on the same sheet of music, and they are going to look to badger the person they perceived as the weaker partner. UNIFORMS remove the bias, that is why we are asked to wear them.

I spent many years "being a little bit different". Wearing oddball plate shoes, combo pants while on the plate, pants that were a shade of gray a little different than the "norm", etc... I was not taken seriously by coaches and players, because simply, I did not look like the good umpires they have had! That is the bottom line. The GOOD UMPIRES dressed a certain way, and when they seen me not dressed like that, every judgment call I had to make came into question. All that simply over the way I dress!

I DO think people notice and care about how we dress. Certainly it isn't something most people are going to be able to articulate, but, it makes a difference.

It actually pisses me off royally that the two associations I belong to have VERY loose uniform standards. I am all for expecting a certain brand/style of pant, shirt, undershirt, ball bags, hat, and maybe even shoes! but I would settle for just pant, shirt, hat. But crap, we don't even have every guy matching in that way! It is embarrassing to go out not looking like my partner.

Anyway, just my .02 worth.