Umpire with shirt not tucked in

[UmpJM]

cc6,

And I would expect anyone posting on this forum to have the common sense (not to mention consideration for fellow members of this forum) not to post a link to a YouTube video of a 10 yr. old in order to criticize him for his appearance.

Just goes to show you how easily expectations can lead to disappointment.

Why don't you post some video of yourself working the plate, and we can all offer you some constructive criticism - instead of picking on some little kid.

JM

[umpjong]

Kid is having a good time. Kid is apparently doing a good job.
So lets screw that up and criticize him about trivial crap. Geesh.....
(I really dont think the players care how he's dressed)

[MrUmpire]

Originally Posted by UmpJM (nee CoachJM)

cc6,

And I would expect anyone posting on this forum to have the common sense (not to mention consideration for fellow members of this forum) not to post a link to a YouTube video of a 10 yr. old in order to criticize him for his appearance.

Just goes to show you how easily expectations can lead to disappointment.

Why don't you post some video of yourself working the plate, and we can all offer you some constructive criticism - instead of picking on some little kid.

JM

cc6, AKA Candaump6 did post a video of him calling balls and strikes in his Grandmother's dining room...remember?

What I find interesting is his statement: "The fact that he's a kid doesn't matter. Once you step on that field, you're an umpire, and you represent your league, the game of baseball, and the umpiring profession."

When a similar argument was made about him (he was around 19 or so) he complained loudly that he was being picked on by coaches and posters because he was a kid.

He may have changed his name, but that's all.


__________________

From cc6's profile:

About cc6
Biography
Formerly canadaump6

[cc6]

Originally Posted by MrUmpire

cc6, AKA Candaump6 did post a video of him calling balls and strikes in his Grandmother's dining room...remember?

What I find interesting is his statement: "The fact that he's a kid doesn't matter. Once you step on that field, you're an umpire, and you represent your league, the game of baseball, and the umpiring profession."

When a similar argument was made about him (he was around 19 or so) he complained loudly that he was being picked on by coaches and posters because he was a kid.

He may have changed his name, but that's all.


__________________

From cc6's profile:

About cc6
Biography
Formerly canadaump6

Mr.Umpire,

Very good observation. Yes I changed my name, as I clearly stated in my profile.

CoachJM,

I did post a couple videos of my umpiring, used the feedback I recieved on here and incoporated that into my game.

When a similar argument was made about him (he was around 19 or so) he complained loudly that he was being picked on by coaches and posters because he was a kid.

Wrong. I said age affects how one is percieved. I don't know where you came up with what you said.

Nonetheless, this isn't about me. Why can a person not tuck his shirt in and find pants to fit smaller shinguards before he goes on the field? We are so quick to attack lack of professionalism (most recently the mask clip-on thing). We all agree that age is irrelevant when it comes to umpiring. So why has what I have said generated so much anger?

[Kevin Finnerty]

You miss the main point, which is to encourage a kid to join the ranks and express general approval of everything and raving about what he does right, with a healthy dose of overlooking what he does wrong.

[MrUmpire]

Originally Posted by cc6

We all agree that age is irrelevant when it comes to umpiring. So why has what I have said generated so much anger?

No, we never all agreed that age is irrelevant. Certainly there is a difference between a ten year old and a 19-20 year old.

I guess Shakespeare was right....What's in a name...

[Kevin Finnerty]

The same allowance that is made of a 10-year-old player versus a 20-year-old must be likened to the slack you give an umpire of equal seasoning. A hell of a lot is expected of a 20-year-old.

[bob jenkins]

In an ideal world, the umpire would dress better.

In the real world, he needs to meet the standards of his league. Does he? We have no way of knowing. He generally meets the standards (as I remember them) of youth umpires in my local league.

So, if there's any criticism, it should be directed to the league.

[kylejt]

I had my first umpire meeting last night, and it included kids as young as 11. We've been working with Junior Umpires since 2000, and are pretty darn good at what we do.

We don't umpire at the level that kid in the video was working. But I let a lot of things slide for little guys that I don't for teenagers. And one of those things is clothing. It's really tough to find pants loose enough to get shins under. If they can, fine, but I don't get wound up about it. If they can't afford black shoes, I won't make a big deal of it. I do go to the local Goodwill and stock our umpire room with lots of hand-me-downs.

Bottom line, worry more about attitude, confidence and knowledge with the younger umpires. Once they get 12-13 you can work on getting them properly dressed, as the gear starts fitting them better. One of my goals is to get as many kids as I can working in the All Star tournaments, and there they have to look sharp.

But there's no way I'd grind on this 10 year old, who obviously digs what he's doing.

[cc6]

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

In an ideal world, the umpire would dress better.

In the real world, he needs to meet the standards of his league. Does he? We have no way of knowing. He generally meets the standards (as I remember them) of youth umpires in my local league.

So, if there's any criticism, it should be directed to the league.

True Bob, the onus is on the league to at least have some uniform standards and provide training.

I didn't put this video up here to bully the umpire in the video. I posted it as an example of what poor attire looks like, so that none of us make the same mistake. I'm surprised that my good intentions would get JM so upset, after all the rude remarks he's been making over his time here. I'm not willing to look like the bad guy on this one.

In umpiring, it all comes down to what have you done for me lately. Here is a video of what must be the same kid, a couple years after his first video, so that he has had the time to be trained and grow into a decent uniform:

YouTube - Umpiring Fall DLL AA

Both videos prove that a Smitty is a Smitty no matter what the age.

[cc6]

Coach JM:

-Rude remarks in this thread: *"Newbie posts link to youtube video of 10 yr. old umpire"
*"I mean, at least he didn't "drop trou" in front of a bunch of 1st Grade girls"; come on, how long before I live that one off?

-You mentioned: *"Did you notice the 1st video you posted said it was the kid's 1st game on 9/18/2008? And the 2nd has a date of 10/04/2008? That's a little over 2 weeks elapsed time".
*Response: The kid in the second video was bigger, but had the same voice. My guess is it's the same kid, a couple years later.

-*"What makes you think I was upset? I wasn't.":
*Response: Post 24 in the thread led me to believe you were upset, but I could be wrong.

-"Do you have any idea how foolish and petulant it makes you look to post links of videos of this kid umpiring and berating his appearance? (That remark was "impartial", not "rude", BTW.)"
*Response: I was making a point. Age is irrelevant in umpiring. Uniform standards apply to the level of baseball that one works, not how old someone is. If the person in the video is going to call himself an "umpire", a profession I'm sure most of us here take great pride in, he should try to look the part. I have no sympathy. Many people here nailed the uniform standards into me, so I smartened up and bought the right stuff. Now everybody is defending this kid's poor attire under the premise that he's young? Come on. No excuses in umpiring. I coach pre-teeballers and I would want them to have better than what this kid is providing when they move up to teeball.

-Why did I change my name? I felt representing my country on every post I made was a bit much. I made my new username similar enough to my old one so that I wouldn't be hiding who I was.

Kyle:
-Yes I posted a video of myself in full gear in my parent's basement. I guess that makes me an umpiring geek, but that's not something I'm ashamed of. I don't find anything embarassing about working on plate mechanics. On the surface it might have looked silly, but I thought it was a good way to work on technique when the weather wasn't even close to being good for baseball (about -15 celcius at the time I believe).