Umpires accosted off the field following Midwest Collegiate League Game

[UMP25]

1. The De Kalb County State's Attorney has decided to not pursue the case. This doesn't surprise me, in light of the fact that the league and the Liners General Manager Josh Pethoud (yes, I'm naming names now, because these people who stonewalled and lied through this mess deserve the shame) refused to cooperate with authorities and intentionally withheld information that was more than once requested by law enforcement.

2. The league owes many of its umpires a lot of money. I'm owed a measly one game's fee, but others are owed much more. It is believed that the total owed to the umpires who have yet to be paid is in the 5-digit range.

3. Jamie O'Toole is up to it again with his usual skipping out on unpaid bills.

Regarding # 2 above--many of us umpires have been discussing legal action against the league. Talk of a class action type of lawsuit is in the works. There's no excuse for a league that charges $25,000 per team just to enter the league to not be able to pay its umpires, especially when each team's overhead (balls, lights, field maintenance, and other such costs) are paid for by the team and not the league fees. So even after O'Toole skipped out on his 2 teams' $50K, the league had $150,000 in the bank. Where did that money go?

I wonder if its Commissioner, Don Popravak, is still driving that Porsche (or is it the BMW? Mercedes?). He runs 2 teams, BTW. Word has it that he makes a ton of money being the league commissioner.

One thing's for certain--the umpires didn't make the money they were supposed to make!