Called my first games with my daughter this past week.

We did a 12U league double-header on Thursday, and four 10U games in a tournament on Saturday. (More on the DD experience in another post.) All ASA.

The point of this post is I spent a lot of time explaining the importance of a professional appearance - proper uniform, shined shoes (even though they are covered with dust soon enough), etc.

But what did we see at this tournament?

Several umpires wearing long-sleeved shirts under their powder blues - one black, the others white (yes, it was a bit chilly - but for gosh sakes, this is MN - how can you expect to umpire in MN and not invest in a proper umpire jacket)? One of the "white shirts" even had the long sleeve pushed up above the elbow.

One umpire with a bright red mask with tan pads. From a distance, it looked like he was wearing a red hat.

One clueless umpire with his chest protector OUTISDE his shirt. Thank goodness (I guess) he was wearing a jacket over the protector (not an umpire jacket, natch).

Sigh.

Sorry to say in April I wear a grey long sleeve turtleneck, under my ASA shirt with gray slacks. The ASA coat is a bit too much unless its brutal outside.
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My group has a guy that wears a red mask also. Just doesn't seem to be fashionably correct does it.

Well, that takes the cake!
Was the UIC pleased?

And, how can Minnesota be colder than it is U.P. here. Tom?

Last weekend, in the kick-off for local Little League, we had a Senior League umpire wearing cut-off blue jeans and obviously exposed shin guards. A blue Budweiser T-shirt completed the ensemble. :rolleyes:
mick

Our games were from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. The UIC was leaving just as we arrived (to attend his DD's college graduation). The red mask guy and the protector over shirt guy arrived after he left. Sub UIC was calling games; may not have noticed. The long-sleeved shirts, though, were there throughout and the UIC did not seem to notice / care.

Regarding temps, at our first game-time (10:00 am) it was in the upper 40's / lower 50's. At last game-time, it was in the upper 50's with a 5-10 mph wind. Not too bad, but a bit too chilly for just the shirt. In between, we had a game that was sunny & calm that we did in just shirts.

I've seen the umpire "uniform" you describe on some of the youth baseball games, but they are using teenagers for umps.

The light-weight windbreaker style jacket?

I've often wondered why ASA cared about mask color, but after seeing this guy, I think I understand. Besides looking garish (a matter of taste, to be sure), he just plain did not look like an umpire from a distance - all you saw was the red.

Since we're on the subject..for years ASA was blue over navy. Then they said grey slacks were also OK. Did they reverse that ?
I do have the zipper up fleece lined windbreaker jacket with elastic at the waist.

I may not get all calls right, but it takes very little effort to look "right" while I'm doing it!

Wife and I worked an all day tourney Sat, between games all Blues in our association would buff shoes, change out very dirty shirts etc, but one guy (the one with the royal blue mask) looked like he had slept in his clothes the night before. Shoes not shined, his powder blue was kind of powder brown! not faded but dirty. This was even for the first game! Needless to say, there were some spectator/coach comments toward that one.

It is so easy to look professional, I cant understand why some don't even try.

Tourney went well anyway, my wife and I only had 6 games, (was small tourney). 75 min time limits, one went 6 innings, but none of them made the time limit. Run rules got them all, even the championship game!

BTW glen, My DD called last year, decided not to this year. I never got to work a game with her, but did get to watch her an her mom call a 10U game! That was a treat, and those younger girls just idolize a cute little college gal who takes time to work their games! I know you had fun working with your DD, we've heard about her before!

Now, Rule 10-1-C says that a white T-shirt can be worn. In our State clinic (several years ago, of course ) we were told a long sleeved white shirt could be worn under the powder blue. Heck, ASA even sells these shirts with the ASA logo on them. I see a lot of the blues wearing them and nothing is said about it by the UIC's. Now the rest of the stuff, red masks, dirty shoes, pants shirts, no reason for it. If you have time to shoot the bull and get a drink, you can clean up your shoes. I always carry 3-4 extra powder blues and at least 2 extra pair of paints. I just keep a small canvas bag in the truck with extra belts, black socks, cups, and other accessories. Ya just never know.

re: shirt & slacks, the official ASA umpire uniform is navy or powder blue polo-style shirt and heather or navy slacks and a white T-shirt if one is worn with the powder blue. I'm not sure about T-shirt color with the navy shirt.

Our local requirements are powder blue over heather. ASA does (so I understand) allow local variations on the uniform, including different colors of the T-shirts.

Locally, we are not supposed to have a long-sleeve shirt under the powder blue.

If both umpires are alike I like the look of the long sleeve undershirts an semi chilly days/nights. As far as the other things mentioned, that is unacceptable. We have one guy who has called all his ASA games in his FED shirt. Number on the sleeve and all. The UIC in talking to me said it is hard for him because of the lack of umpires and while he has good ones that try to do right, the ones that dont really have him cornered because he doesnt have anyone to replace them with if he stops giving them games.

I worked a summer tourney with two other guys about three years ago...8 team round robin, 2 on, 1 off rotation. During our off games, I would (along with one other guy) clean shoes, clean gear, etc. We would change pants and shirts after every two games. Third guy never cleaned shoes, only wore one uniform all weekend, and didn't clean gear. He looked terrible compared to us. He said he didn't care, "gettin' paid same as you, and I don't have to buy other equipment or polish!"

That's not a Blue. That is a "green".

Had to read it twice
 

And then I had to read a couple more times...

Doesn't sound like Little League... sounds like ol' Smitty from down at the bar. Is this Beer League?
:D

Ok, I agree that you had some very "shoddy" looking characters,
However, how did DD do?
BTW, I had the long sleeve shirt under the power blue. Wear the Jacket over it.

One of my pet peeves, umpires who want to umpire but really don't give a damn about their appearance nor about the profession. All they want is the check. Of course, these are also the ones who tend to get grief on the close calls, but still, that is no payback for the damage they do to all of us who enjoy the avocation of umpiring. If they just want extra money, and don't care about their appearance, why don't they just get one of those "pity" signs (you know, like "car broke down, no work, home burnt in really bad flood so I need you to part with some of your hard earned money so I can feed the family" type deals), and go stand on the street corner?!