A sad state of affairs . . .

[PeteBooth]

Rich I do not know about your area but here in NY there is a meeting held in Nov / Dec (cannot remember) and the STATE as a whole adopts what uniforms etc we can wear NOT our individual umpire associations.

The state also elects or declines some FED rules.

Here in NY we do not have the 10 run Mercy rule for Varsity (unless both coaches at the Plate conference agree) Contrast that with New Jersey who does have a 10 run mercy rule. There is a 15 run limit for modified and JV. Also, No CR's in ANY division of HS baseball.

if it were up to us we would have a 10 run mercy rule and CR's rule but it is not up to us.

Also, my HS association does not do the assigning. A third party called BOCES (Board of cooperative Educational Services) does the assigning and also the paying. We receive a 1099 from them and have a contract with them.

Our HS association recruits. and trains the umpires and makes certain we abide by the state of New york mandates for meetings attended, and passing of tests etc. We give BOCES a list of eligable umpires. BOCES in turn sends out an availability letter in the beginning of the season which we fill out.

In a nutshell the demands you mention above do not come from my local HS association but from the State of NY.

Pete Booth