LLWS Uniform Question

[Tim C]

Short memories here.

For many years MLB PU wore whatever they wanted and the BUs had to be coordinated.

If what some of you say (in your neck of the woods) if on a cool day the PU wanted to wear his polo blue shirt and the BUs wanted to wear pullovers that would be unacceptable?

Pure poppycock.

This BS of the "umpires being a team" is also dumb. I choose to wear a plate coat during my career. Does that mean in "your neck of the woods" everyone of my partners would have been required to have a base coat (not pullover)?

Again Poppycock.

What about the PU wearing a long sleeved shirt and the BUs wearing pullovers?

Against your fashion sense?

Pure poppycock.

T

[johnnyg08]

Originally Posted by Tim C

Does that mean in "your neck of the woods" everyone of my partners would have been required to have a base coat (not pullover)?

Yes, in my area, if we wanted to do the plate coat/pullover thing, we could do that.

In our three man games if I wanted to hear polo blue and and said that it would be okay if the guys on the bases wore black, I could never talk them into that.

In not saying it's wrong to do so...but it's a battle I don't care to fight in my area.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by johnnyg08

Yes, in my area, if we wanted to do the plate coat/pullover thing, we could do that.

In our three man games if I wanted to hear polo blue and and said that it would be okay if the guys on the bases wore black, I could never talk them into that.

In not saying it's wrong to do so...but it's a battle I don't care to fight in my area.

Then do not talk them into that if you cannot. But that does not mean that others are not used to the standard and do it that way. I would not need to talk guys into that, that is what guys do. Now at the high school level we do not have that option, but many games are played during the summer or at tournaments, that could be done and is acceptable here. Actually it is even talked about.

Peace

[johnnyg08]

I don't think I ever said it was wrong. In fact, I think it's kind of cool...all I'm saying is that change is difficult in our group. It might not be in your group and that's great.

It's not my problem that my group would be resistant to that...nor is it bad that your group has no problem with it.

[kylejt]

Some of you guys take this stuff waaaaay too seriously.


I set this crew up expressly because I knew some of these guys freak out for not being uniform. The guy at the far right is laughing really hard at the guys on the left, knowing they're uncomfortable. By the third inning, everyone was in black jackets, but my point was made. Lighten up, Francis. It's a game, usually played by kids, where 99.99% of the folks don't give a rat's @ss how we dress.

I promise you, only other umpires notice the plate guys is wearing a different colored shirt. In the above game, everyone came away with a good experience, and a lesson learned. Plus the food that night was exceptional.

[Welpe]

You've got enough for a college football crew.

Where'd you stick the 7th guy? Centerfield?

[kylejt]

The extra guy was an accident. The kid in cream was supposed to have the plate, but got there late. I was stuck on the stick, with six base umpires. The big guy on the left was going to working a Regional (ended up on the NW championship dish on ESPN), so I wanted him to see all the spots in a six man crew in one night.

We rotated positions every inning (well, not me), and the odd guy out got to eat dinner, and take the order for the next guy out. Plus, he was in charge of heckling the other guys on the field. It was really good fun.

The guy second on the left had the plate for Juniors World Series final game the other evening. That's a pretty good crew right there.

[billken]

Originally Posted by kylejt

Some of you guys take this stuff waaaaay too seriously.


I set this crew up expressly because I knew some of these guys freak out for not being uniform. The guy at the far right is laughing really hard at the guys on the left, knowing they're uncomfortable. By the third inning, everyone was in black jackets, but my point was made. Lighten up, Francis. It's a game, usually played by kids, where 99.99% of the folks don't give a rat's @ss how we dress.

I promise you, only other umpires notice the plate guys is wearing a different colored shirt. In the above game, everyone came away with a good experience, and a lesson learned. Plus the food that night was exceptional.

In my opinion...this looks like poppycock! It looks bush league. It looks amateurish. It looks dumb.

[kylejt]

Agreed, and it worked perfectly to prove my point.

It's just little kids, playing baseball. We need to step back sometimes, when we start taking things a bit too seriously. That's what we did here. Took a step toward the absurd, funny, dumb if you will. Some guys will dance with rodents, or do the YMCA ( I know the words to that song, and the meaning behind them, so I ain't dancing to that diddy). I chose to have everyone wear different colored shirts for two innings. In the end, we all thought it was pretty damn cool, and so did the kids and parents.

Now if we did it every night, or on some sort of "big" stage, I'd agree with the dumb statement. But it was my house, my rules, and it worked to perfection.

[MrUmpire]

Originally Posted by kylejt

But it was my house, my rules, and it worked to perfection.

I don't get this. How did it work to perfection? Do you mean it didn't intefere with the performance of the umpires, or do you mean it looked right?

It certainly doesn't work to perfection from a professionalism, appropriate or appearance standpoint.

And, unlike the crowds you apparently have, the fans here would assume that we just picked up umpires off the street who neither knew each other nor belonged to the local association. They would be starting out with zero credibility.