Umpires accosted off the field following Midwest Collegiate League Game

[UMP25]

Oh, I know. I also know for a fact that someone on this board did actually contact the MCL and inform them of this thread.

Rather pathetic, if you ask me, but that's our profession. Worse, that's the Chicago area umpire world. It's no wonder the NCAA considers this area the most cut throat and political area in college baseball umpiring in the country. Kinda sad.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by UMP25

It's no wonder the NCAA considers this area the most cut throat and political area in college baseball umpiring in the country. Kinda sad.

And why would Chicago be any different for umpiring? I don't mean to be insulting, but 'cut-throat' and 'political' have applied to the city for a long time.

[jicecone]

I believe some 30 something threads ago some were trying to tell you to be careful what you put out there for the public to read. Email and forums become permanent documentation and can be used against you. Unfornately there are a lot of umpires and organizations that judge books by their covers only.

A word to the wise is sufficient.

[UMP25]

Originally Posted by mbyron

And why would Chicago be any different for umpiring? I don't mean to be insulting, but 'cut-throat' and 'political' have applied to the city for a long time.

Indeed

Originally Posted by jicecone

I believe some 30 something threads ago some were trying to tell you to be careful what you put out there for the public to read. Email and forums become permanent documentation and can be used against you. Unfornately there are a lot of umpires and organizations that judge books by their covers only.

A word to the wise is sufficient.

Which is why I began this thread by emphasizing that I wasn't intending this to bash the league and/or its commissioner. I desired to share an unprecedented experience & seek opinions, particularly on whether any police action was warranted. That question seems to have been unanimously answered, BTW. I have tried to maintain a sense of decorum and professionalism.

[johnnyg08]

Originally Posted by GROUPthink

Some of our brethren are bigger rats than any rats you'll find in a dugout.

Amen to that.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by UMP25

Indeed



Which is why I began this thread by emphasizing that I wasn't intending this to bash the league and/or its commissioner. I desired to share an unprecedented experience & seek opinions, particularly on whether any police action was warranted. That question seems to have been unanimously answered, BTW. I have tried to maintain a sense of decorum and professionalism.

Except that you took a few steps that were unnecessary, IMO:

(1) You identified the league.
(2) You identified yourself and your partner.
(3) You identified the manager and the teams involved.
(4) You shared an ejection report, which most leagues would consider an internal document. I know that I've assigned umpires to leagues at about this level and would likely fire or suspend an umpire who leaked an ejection report to the public -- or even the umpire staff at large.

I think you could've accomplished the exact same goal you list above without doing any of the 4 things I've listed.

[UMP25]

I did redact the report to exclude last names, and regarding the manager, his actions have been a matter of record publicly, as evidenced by public news reports of his behavior in baseball.

The umpire report also became a matter of public record once the police report was filed. That was something I weighed when trying to decide whether to go ahead with the police report.

[youngump]

Originally Posted by UMP25

Permit me to preface this post by stating that I am not here to bash the league or its commissioner or even my friend who is the assignor. I'm simply sharing an incident with y'all that occurred after a game I worked last night in Sycamore, IL. (a town that borders DeKalb, home of NIU). In 35 years of umpiring and 21 at the NCAA/college level, I have never experienced anything like what transpired last night.

Rather than rehash everything here, I've uploaded to dropbox the umpire report that I submitted late last night/early this morning. (It was too large to upload to the forum.)

Click here to view it.

Feel free to peruse it and opine here--not about the report; rather, your thoughts on the entire situation. Again, I'm not here to bash the league or its commissioner, or even demand that they do this or that. It's in their hands, and we umpires in the league are simply waiting to see what happens.

That's not redacted (it's just black). If you're not comfortable with making the details public and I'd say you're probably right not to, you need to actually delete the words out of the doc, or change them to x's or something.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by UMP25

Oh, I know. I also know for a fact that someone on this board did actually contact the MCL and inform them of this thread.

Rather pathetic, if you ask me, but that's our profession. Worse, that's the Chicago area umpire world. It's no wonder the NCAA considers this area the most cut throat and political area in college baseball umpiring in the country. Kinda sad.

People at the NCAA really believe that? They really do not have much perspective if that is the case.

Peace

[UMP25]

Originally Posted by youngump

That's not redacted (it's just black). If you're not comfortable with making the details public and I'd say you're probably right not to, you need to actually delete the words out of the doc, or change them to x's or something.

That is what redacted is--blacking out certain specifics or information. Have you ever seen a document redacted by the government when they turn over said document? Sometimes it's laughable how little information is left after seeing almost everything covered in black.

Originally Posted by JRutledge

People at the NCAA really believe that? They really do not have much perspective if that is the case.

Peace

I was told this by a D1 conference assignor himself. In addition, 2 veteran D1 college umpires whom I assign to spring college ball (D3) and summer college ball made this same statement. Quite interesting.

One of the comments was, "Why do you think that there has been only one CWS Umpire to have come from the Chicago metro area when there are many very qualified college umpires living here?"

The discussion further touched upon his observations that in the Chicago metro area, there are probably some 70 or 80, give or take, college umpires. Of that number, only an estimated 8 umpires receive a consistent D1 schedule in the spring. Of that number, only 1 has received any D1 post-season assignments (I'm referring only to Regionals/Super-Regionals/CWS) recently (meaning this year and in immediate preceding years). Only 1--a different person who no longer gets such post-season assignments--has been to the CWS.

It isn't difficult to notice something here. BTW, I am absolutely NOT complaining or whining about anything. I am simply stating observations made by one of my partners, observations echoed by a couple other veterans as well.

Note: The term Chicago metro area is meant to refer to only those Illinois counties in northeast Illinois the include and surround Chicago. No Indiana or Wisconsin counties are included in the aforementioned description.

[johnnyg08]

Except for the fact that you didn't convert your redacted Word document into .pdf or view only, all of your redactions are uncovered by simply changing the black highlight to a white highlight or removing the highlight altogether since the report remains editable, not just viewable. Oops.

[UMP25]

Hmmm. Thanks for informing dumb @ss me of that. I'll have to change that, despite that it's kind of like closing the barn door after the horses have left.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by UMP25

The discussion further touched upon his observations that in the Chicago metro area, there are probably some 70 or 80, give or take, college umpires. Of that number, only an estimated 8 umpires receive a consistent D1 schedule in the spring. Of that number, only 1 has received any D1 post-season assignments (I'm referring only to Regionals/Super-Regionals/CWS) recently (meaning this year and in immediate preceding years). Only 1--a different person who no longer gets such post-season assignments--has been to the CWS.

That's not out of the norm. In fact, that's probably in line with the distribution of D1 and non-D1 teams in the area.

[UMP25]

Well, I can't say whether it's out of the norm or not. It's just his observation (shared by a couple others).

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by UMP25

I was told this by a D1 conference assignor himself. In addition, 2 veteran D1 college umpires whom I assign to spring college ball (D3) and summer college ball made this same statement. Quite interesting.

One of the comments was, "Why do you think that there has been only one CWS Umpire to have come from the Chicago metro area when there are many very qualified college umpires living here?"

Could that be because we have very little good baseball in this area of the country? I would not think for one second that in the overall picture we see nearly as good of baseball as those see in the south and the western part of the country. Now "qualified" is always going to be a judgment call. And I do not sit around wondering why guys from this area are or are not in that pipeline. Unless I am missing something, there are not many Midwestern teams that make it to the College World Series as a norm and I would think the fact we do not see that kind of ball might not help either. I am not saying he is not right, but that is my first guess based what I see.

Originally Posted by UMP25

The discussion further touched upon his observations that in the Chicago metro area, there are probably some 70 or 80, give or take, college umpires. Of that number, only an estimated 8 umpires receive a consistent D1 schedule in the spring. Of that number, only 1 has received any D1 post-season assignments (I'm referring only to Regionals/Super-Regionals/CWS) recently (meaning this year and in immediate preceding years). Only 1--a different person who no longer gets such post-season assignments--has been to the CWS.

It isn't difficult to notice something here. BTW, I am absolutely NOT complaining or whining about anything. I am simply stating observations made by one of my partners, observations echoed by a couple other veterans as well.

Isn't that on the assignor or supervisors of those conferences? They can only work games they are assigned. And I do not know many that are getting a shot realistically than what is going on here. It is the same issue that we have had in other sports at the D1 level. If the assignor are willing to hire and use people here they can. If they choose not to or limit the number they will. I do not attribute that to just what people think here. Heck the one guy I know that is working NCAA D1 Post Season is not even originally from here. I honestly do not know anyone that is really that influential to who gets hired from this part of the state in the first place.

Peace