Paying Umpires is Wrong
In our area an umpire’s “association” has popped to serve the local Little Leagues in the area. Now if this association were formed with the kids in mind, as Little League is, then they would simply organize the best staffs, perform the proper background checks, provide training and equipment, and distribute the talent where needed. Unfortunately, this is not the case. As with any organization, profit is the motive.
The Little League guidelines specifically prohibit paying umpires. Umpires that want to get paid can join associations that provide officials to high schools, travel programs, and various leagues that are not volunteer community based. Or basically, anything that isn’t Little League!
Of course, where does this association go to get their officials? They dip into and steal the local umpires that are so generously volunteering their time for their community. The kicker is the small stipend they pay for a game. Yet, umpires are shunning their local league and entering other league’s boundaries just for a few dollars. Have we forgotten that every $1 we give, we receive $10 in return? This is truly the case.
I am the first to admit that I accept every paying umpiring job offered to me that is NOT Little League. I have no problem w/ that, those organizations have no desire to be volunteer organizations, nor do they pretend to be. I have umpired USSSA and AAU, but have not had time for High School. This association tried to recruit me as well, I told them, “I will never accept pay for umpiring a Little League game”. It is wrong on so many levels.
Not only is it wrong, I have a couple of issues that must be addressed by the association, though I know they won’t reply in public.
1. If Little League’s are boundary specific, how can umpires cross those boundaries?
2. Every volunteer “in regular contact” with the children MUST have completed a volunteer application. How does the association accomplish this since the local league performs the checks?
3. Am I being asked to put my children on fields w/ umpires who have not been properly screened when we visit other locations? This troubles me as the parent of teenage girls and young boys. Is there any proof of this documentation?
How can I know that my children are safe on the fields, in the parking lots, and in the bathrooms of Little League facilities if proper due diligence is not the norm? Are you as a Board of Directors that pays an association to provide you with umpires willing to accept the personal liability that comes with an incident God forbid? It would be “easy pickin’s” for even the least experienced of attorneys.
What we must do:
1. Terminate any league membership of any umpire that gets paid to umpire a Little League game.
2. Not allow any umpire that gets paid to umpire a Little League game to umpire ANY all-star or special privilege games.
3. Terminate all relationships with any associations as Little Leagues.
4. Recruit and train volunteers within our organizations to be the best they can be. You will be surprised who will say yes if you simply ask them.
5. Inform existing umpires if they leave for pay, their membership in the league will be terminated. This means they will never be able to coach, manage, serve on the board, umpire, vote, or volunteer in any way, shape or form, within the organization.
6. Recognize and embrace those willing to volunteer. Award them, provide them gear, drinks, and a pat on the back.
7. Do not antagonize or constantly criticize their work. They are doing the best they can.
Hey, don’t get me wrong. One of my best friends is our Umpire in Chief, and I hear every day about the struggles he goes through to get our games umpired. I don’t envy his position. But paying umpires is NOT the solution. Besides, we are a small league, but we play more than 10 games a week or so at home. That means $350/week for umps or about $3,500!!! How can you say you are being a proper steward of the people’s money if you are simply taking the easy road?
How do you feel about paid umpires in Little League?
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Rulebooks for Everyone!
Most of the people that know me well know better than to argue about rules with me. I am wrong on occasion about the rules, (once back in 1988) but for the most part I am a rules nerd. I am not exaggerating when I say I read the softball and baseball rulebooks cover to cover every year when they come out. I actually look forward to it! God I am a geek!
It is a little bit of a joke around town. When an opposing coach or umpire starts to debate a rule w/ me everyone in the stands on my team gets a chuckle. The most common quote heard is “Don’t they know better than to argue the rules with him?” My philosophy is how can you bend and stretch the rules if you do not know them thoroughly?
Anyway, Great News! Little League is making their rulebooks available for purchase by anyone! Only coaches and officials were able to get them before, but now, anyone can buy them! So when you are in the stands and want to argue rules with me, make sure you have your rule book handy! You are going to need it!
Purchase rulebooks from Little League here: http://www.littleleaguestore.net/forms—publications-publications.html
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Paid vs Volunteer Umpires
Sorry about not posting last night. I had a minor’s practice at 5PM, a major’s practice at 6:30PM, and a senior’s practice at 8PM. All is good w/ that except I started watching the debate w/ my wife and next thing I knew it was 1AM. Sorry about that, how about that Sarah Palin? Won’t be too tough to listen to her talk for 4 years will it?
I should preface this post with the fact that I umpire in Little League as an unpaid volunteer and for travel programs as a paid umpire.
I was sent an article as part of an umpire’s newsletter today written by Jim Smith of Pennsylvania District 22. I assume he is the umpire in chief for that district, though it never really says. The article, titled Volunteer vs. Paid can be found here:
http://www.littleleague.org/Page57168.aspx
Great read wasn’t it?
I have to agree there is little more gratifying then volunteering time for Little League. It is fun and extremely rewarding. My personal opinion is you never pay money for anything for Little League unless it turns you a profit. For instance, we once paid a guy to come in and show us how to run our bat-a-thon and make it profitable. When I left that league of 1,400 kids we were bringing in $140,000/year in batathon money. We paid him 5%. A good investment I think.
Another opportunity to pay a company and actually bring more revenue into the organization that you would have otherwise, is a snack bar company. My personal favorite is a sponsorship company. They can sell advertising all over your park for a small fee and bring in tons of money for the league.
The bottom line is, you shouldn’t pay people directly for work they do for the league and the volunteer organization, but paying a company to increase revenues to the league is smart. Umpire are an expense, not a profit center, profit centers should be exploited, expenses reduced. With this corporate philosophy throughout the league, the kids will reap all the rewards.
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Why Do We Hold Grudges?
I ask this question because it seems to be an epidemic in Little League. A coach makes a bad decision, says something that is out of line, loses his temper, or just makes a rookie error. A parent yells too loud, yells at the coach one day, takes their kid off the team, or something along those lines. An umpire has a bad game, makes a bad call, or blows a game for a team. It seems Little League parents, coaches, and umpires have trouble letting this stuff go.
I have been ejected from 5 or 6 Little League games in 19 years. All of those ejections came from the same umpire. See a trend? Likewise, I have had plenty of parents unhappy with something I did, a mistake I made, or maybe a decision I stand by that they didn’t agree with. Those parents still hold something I did years ago against me. Likewise, everyone thinks the board members are out to get them, or stack a team, or something of the like, that is generally hogwash, the board has strict rules with which it must adhere.
Then there are the rare exceptions that I have stood my ground, knowing there was no life lesson in giving in to an individual child’s wants over the betterment of the entire league. I have had players that I drafted on to my team knowing they didn’t want to be there, but knowing that they wanted to play w/ their friends and stack their teams. This usually occurs in the junior or senior division. I drafted them anyway, knowing I could work with them and that they would contribute to the team. We won a championship that year because the very players that protested contributed so greatly.
Just this year a player returned to our league who had left the league because he was not permitted to be placed back in the draft after being part of a Major’s team for the year. This is the manager’s decision and they did not want to release him. Understandable, why weaken your team and strengthen another for the good of one child and the detriment of 23 others? That parent came to me this year and asked if I had any hard feelings, my response? Of course not, he did what he thought was best for his kid and I did what I thought was best for the league. It is rarely personal.
Another situation involves an adult that the board felt was causing trouble. For a few months the two of us didn’t talk even though we had been friendly for years before. He finally started a conversation, we talked things out, and now we are both coaching cordually again. It is silly to have it any other way. But some people don’t see it that way, some people hold grudges. I can do nothing about that, it is their demon, not mine. Who is wrong? Initially, that can be debated, though it really doesn’t matter, but now? Whoever holds the grudge. Is hate what we want to teach our children? Then we wonder why they have so much trouble functioning in a society that will send them on their way if they are unable to cooperate in today’s corporate team structured world?
The fact is, everyone makes mistakes. Coaches, managers, umpires, parents, kids, everyone. Why do we hold on to our hatred and misguided feelings? Why do we put so much effort into negativity? Have you ever felt good about hating someone? But, by contrast, how good does it make you feel when you talk to someone, work it out, and move forward on a whole new plane of understanding? Now that is a good feeling isn’t it? Why do so many deprive themselves of this feeling rather than try and bring good into their lives?
Forgiveness is great. I once had a boss that used to say, “you don’t have to like them, you just have to work with them,” about people that we didn’t really like or customers that were less than cooperative. So many of us smile and are cordial to those we service daily, yet we are nasty and hateful to those that are closest to us who can enlighten our lives so much. I am not talking about family, they love you unconditionally, I am talking about neighbors, friends, teammates, fellow parents and coaches, why can’t we work through our differences and make everyone’s lives better? It does take two to tango though.
Do you have a situation where you worked something out with another and ended up creating a whole different scenario that was better than the original?
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Sometimes Hard Work Pays Off
Image by Getty Images via Daylife All Little League umpires are volunteers. At least they are supposed to be. Some leagues pay them. I would love to see a protest at the sectional or state level where a team was disqualified because they used paid umpires all year. Anyway, 99% of Little League umpires are volunteers, we do it because we love it.
The greastest honor a little league umpire can have in his district is to be selected to umpire the Major’s Division Championship game. I, along w/ a few of my friends, have been selected to umpire that game tomorrow. Hand picked by the adminstrator in fact.
It is an honor, and I am humbled.
What is your biggest honor in Little League?
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Forget About Having a Life During All-Stars
Image by Michael Kappel via Flickr
OK, today I hauled butt out of work to drive 60 miles to umpire , only to be greeted by a torrential downpour and have to drive 40 miles back to my hometown to play the game! We started about 8:45 and were done around 10:30. I got home, ate, and here I am.
All of that after being at the fields last night until 11:30 because after I umpired 1 game, they sent 2 more to our fields! They ended around 11 and we had to clean up the snack bar.
Of course, the day before I umped too!
Just an average all-star season I suppose!
How is your all-star season going?
Understanding the Infield Fly
Image via Wikipedia
Most Misunderstood Rule
The infield fly is probably the misunderstood and misinterpreted rule in the book. Everyone thinks they know what it is, but the definition is clearly defined in the book. Problem is most people have their own idea of what an infield fly is.
Definition
Rule book definition: a fly ball (not including a line drive nor an attempted bunt) which can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort , when first and second, or first, second and third bases are occupied, before two are out.
Key to Understanding
The key to the definition above is ORDINARY EFFORT. Ordinary effort means an effort that would be considered ordinary effort for an average fielder . If you have your worst fielders in the infield and w/ their ordinary effort they don’t have a chance at catching the ball this does not nullify the infield fly. A ball that goes in the air that can be caught w/ ordinary effort is an infield fly regardless of the talent level of the player.
I have heard people say you can’t have an infield fly in the minors because nobody catches flies w/ ordinary effort. This is irrelevant. What you need to remember is that the purpose of the infield fly is not to get an easy out for the outfielders, but to protect the runners. Without the infield fly the runners are in jeopardy. The fielder can simply let the ball drop and have an easy double play .
Err on the Side of the Runners
Therefore, the umpire should err on the side of calling a ball an infield fly. The problem is when it drops on the ground the crowd thinks the umpire is wrong. Likewise, a poorly coached team’s players will run into outs when an infield fly hits the ground.
The play is very simple. If there are runners occupying 1st and 2nd and the ball goes in the air that can be caught with routine effort by an infielder, even if it is slightly into the outfield , it is an infield fly and should be called as such. The talent level of the players is irrelevant.
What play is the most confusing to you?
How to Umpire a Blow Out
Image by GMWIV via Flickr
We have all been on both sides of this equation. How, as an umpire, do we get a game going when it is a blow out? Should we try to even things up? Stay the course? Influence the game?
The bottom line is, we should only widen the zone of the team killing the other and we should give very fair warning we are doing so.
The way I like to handle this is I pick out the obvious "leader" of the team. You can almost always tell who this is instantly. When he comes to bat, I tell them "you better be swinging", and proceed to call anything close a strike . Then I tell him as he walks back to the dugout, "tell your team to be swinging". Experienced players and managers know exactly what is going on. A good manager will simply agree and say, "you better be swinging".
Umpires should never influence the game. And the above should only be done in extreme situations such as a 20-0 game. Imposing yourself on the game is a major mistake for an umpire should be avoided at all costs. Unfortunately, this is often not the case.
Do you know any other things umpires do to impose on the game?
Read Your Rule Book
Image by dareneilert via Flickr
Biggest Geek in the World
I am the biggest geek on the planet! I actually look forward to the release of the new rule book each year so I can read it cover to cover! Baseball and Softball btw. So I have little patience for people who try to throw the rules around and make rulings that have an impact on the game.
Don’t Impact the Game
My basic rule of thumb, if it is going impact the game and you are unsure, don’t impact the game! That said, an official really should know all the rules, but I know that when you have volunteers you can’t expect this. In that situation, you need to make sure to take the time to get it right.
Great Job Girl!
Tonight, we had a young girl umpire who did just that. When she had something wrong, or when in doubt, she took the time to get it right! This was wonderful! I only wish the other team knew the rules so that it was never an issue in the first place, but again, they are volunteers, so it isn’t that big of a deal. Coaches just try to bring rules from other leagues into Little League , and that’s not good. Little League almost always sides on leniency. We should learn from that.
18 Years Straight of Reading the Book
I heard my wife say it best in the stands as we were debating this, "why do they argue with him about the rules?". I don’t know them all, don’t always get them right, but I bet I am 99% right 1/2 the time! (Yogi would be proud). I have read every word of each rulebook and the operators manual for 18 years straight. Yes, I am the biggest nerd you will ever know! But at least I know the rules.
What are the most common rules violations you see? Let us know.
An Umpire’s Viewpoint
Image by chemisti via FlickrI received an email today from our Umpire in Chief . He was commenting on the spectator’s perspective. Here is his observation:
"You see that crowd over there, they REALLY want the outcome on a play to be one way. And that crowd of people over there, they REALLY believe what they’re about to see is going to have a completely different result. In a way they’re all predisposed to believing what they see, before the play even happens.
Now me, as I don’t care either way who scores the most runs, I may just be the best judge of things out there – good angle, bad angle or no angle at all"!
How true is that observation? So often we see managers, coaches, and spectators questioning umpire’s calls. Why? If you don’t dwell on a bad call, it will quickly be in the past and as you move forward, it will not really even be an issue in the game.
I have noticed a continued lack of respect for authority. Check out #2 on a softball blog I found. He provides an interesting insight to the spectators chastising of the umpires. Besides his perspective, what are we teaching the kids? Why are we surprised when they disrespect all levels of authority when they are older? Why are we surprised so many kids get in so much trouble any more? Might we all want to look in the mirror?
Everyone needs a moan and grown every now and then, but constantly abusing the umpires is ridiculous!
How will we ever find umpires if this is how they are treated? How will we ever raise leaders if they are not taught respect?
Do you have any bad spectator or manager stories to share?
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