New Umpire
 

Hello all first season umpiring ASA softball want to know what to buy has far as equipment. Any little inside information or details would be helpful!!

Fastpitch or slowpitch? Or both?

Obviously, if you're a FP ump, you should have all the protective equipment: mask, chest protctor, shin guards, cup, plate shoes.

Obviously, you should also have the proper uniform. I have two ASA caps (4 stitch for FP plates, and an 8 stitch for FP bases and all SP). I wear an XL shirt on the bases (and all SP games) and a XXL when I work FP plates. Make sure you have the proper pants. Our association wears heather gray slacks for fastpitch. I belong to one association that requires blue slacks for slowpitch, and two others that allow blue shorts.

Finally, you should have a ball bag, plate brush and ball/strike indicator.

I will be doing fast pitch i have a good amount of high schools in my area and the summer ball is pretty intense with the tournaments in the area.

Best gear to get for a first time umpire? Any suggestions?

First of all welcome.

When I first started I got by protective gear from Play It Again Sports. i.e. Slightly used equipment. This saved dollars until I needed to replace parts of the equipment.

I believe equipment is very much a personal choice.

With regard to pants, I first went with the combo pants for both plate and base. These pants do not look great when you are working the bases, IMO, but for the first year or two they achieved there purpose.

My goal in the first and second year was not to overspend until I knew that umpiring was for me. There are a lot of umpires that, unfortunately, for various reason do not last to the thrid year.

If you will be working all that much, you should have no problem investing $2-300 in decent equipment. Since you are in NY, Lester's is where you will you will be getting your NYSSO jacket. They have pretty good prices on their regular gear.

Here is what I have - I work up to 200 FP games a year:

Mask: The Wilson dynalite with the tan doeskin padding - damn its comfy!

Caps:about five ASA caps including 2 6 stitch - which I wear behind the plate, 2 8 stitch for the bases and a mesh 8 inch

3 blank - 2 6 stitch 1 full field for high school

1 Pony cap for the PONY tourneys we do


The Gerry Davis leg guards - very comfortable, light and still protect

The Spotbilt clodhoppers hi top plate shoes - lighter than they look!

New Balance turf shoes

3 ball bags - 1 blank 1 ASA plus an old ASA bag withthe elastic

about 5 indicators ALL metal and 3/4/3 - so Im old fashioned!

God Knows how many shirts - about 4 or 5 ASA and the same of the blanks, plus a PONY shirt. The ASA shirts include two of the dark navy blue

about 6 pairs of slacks - 3 gray (our ASA association wears gray) 3 dark navy

plus a 'holey' plate brush

sooo.... a lot of stuff to get!

Here is a link to our HS associations 'Links' page in which the webmaster (yours truly!)has a list to just about all of the good suppliers...good luck!

Hit ebay. There is a ton of good begining kits and equipment on there right now. Normally ebay is about 3-4 pages of ump stuff and right now its like 7-8 pages. You dont need the worlds best for HS ball & just starting out IMO. Make sure it IS umpire gear though and has breast plate and collar bone protection. For example: There is a Catchers chest protector being advertised as an umpire chest protector right now.

Lotsa noobs at our clinics and one this board.

Welcome!

For good generic information about uniforms and equipment you can also check out:

Ump Tips and Umpiring Youth Fast Pitch.

Thanks for the plug! I just remembered "holy crap, I need to add more content!"