SUPPLY AND DEMAND

Tr,
We have discussed this before and I know we are in agreement on this...

I've been umpiring for over 20 years and have seen plenty of umpires come and go. TR is correct that the profusion of leagues and teams has created a real shortage of Umpires.

In the past there was a sort of a thinning out process that occured with umpires if they did not get better...They would quickly find that no games were being assigned to them, let alone any of the better quality higher paying games....If they were in it only for the money, the No games and no fees soon had them moving on to another hobby........not so today....we have more games than umpires.

My association attempts to train and assign the better umpires to the higher quality games. In many cases we can not turn away potential umpires due to the demand for umpires... we offer training and we try and require improvement, but if an umpire is unmotivated, he just leaves the demanding chapter for one who only needs a warm body to be booked.....

PIAA

You hit the nail on the head when you say " in many cases we cannot turn awaypotential umpires due to the demand for umpires" !

I can tell that when we run our tournament with 45 games in 4 days we pay top dollar to assure that we get the best available-- in fact the "Ump In Charge" brings in top flight guys from out of the region so as to make it all work=== for us ,GOOD UMPS MAKE FOR A GREAT TOURNAMENT !!!

Good umps do make for a Great Tournament.
I have been on both sides of this coin.
As a umpire and a parent it can be frustrating. I have seen many a good tournament go sour because of umpiring. That is what most teams will rememeber the most.

I remember a few years ago, I was involved with an American Legion Tournament. I wanted to use one umpire association, but the tournmanet director wanted to save some money and use another association. You can only imagine the outcome.

Teams did comment on how well the tournamnet was run, facilites, etc. but all said they would not come back unless they got better umps.

GOOD UMPS DO MAKE FOR A BETTER TOURNAMENT!

Gentlemen,

It's no different where I am. More leagues, more tournaments and more area to cover. TR said it best. You try to get the best available to work the games. Available being the key word.

I received a call last week regarding the start up of winter leagues in my area. A local community has erected a dome that can accommodate baseball. A number of umpires in my association are also basketball and wrestling officials. Not likely they'll be available for January through Mid-March baseball.

Piaa is absolutely correct when he says that we are struggling to cover everything. There are just too many games and levels to be covered vesus the number of umps we have.

Gotta an idea

Have you ever thought about actively recruiting umpires of released minor league players and graduating college players not in pursuit of pro ball? One of the best SEC FB officials I am friends with and many others are full-time in other workplaces too.

Just thinking out loud,
Shep

There are a bunch of them, every year

SHEP

Number one there are Umpire Organizations we have to go thru in regions here--they control that
Also I do not believe that just because a guy played college or pro ball that he can be a good umpire at a high level

TR

Forgot about all the unions up north.

Would rather have umpires with much experience on the playing field. Judgment calls are better and know the strike zone. No substitute for experience. On the other hand, I would be concerned about a newcomer's knowledge of official rulebooks at higher levels.

Maybe somebody up your way can start an umpiring organization to be used specifically for CollegeSelect, PG, and a few others.

Just a thought,
Shep

Shepster

I have no problem with the umpires that we get for our events. The gentlemen that we deal with ges us the best in the region--we get umpires who do college ball and minor league ball in the region

The organizations up here are not unions--they are simple oorganizations that work together to supply the umpires--we find it easy to just deal with one individual rather than a multitude

The simple problem is that there is not enough manpower for the amount of games, forget whether is god bad or indifferent there is simply not enough manpower period.

TR

As a former umpire myself, I can certainly understand the problem of being in several places at one time.

MGBUA which I was a member of covered Jr. College, HS, JV, All levels of LL with many different leagues and parks.

It was overwhelming to say the least trying to field umpires for "all the arenas". Manpower was a problem for us too and sometimes we compromised quality for warm body because we had no choice-lol

Specialized group recruited, developed, and trained to handle a specific tournament who can concentrate and devote entirety of manpower to CollegeSelect for example would eliminate the shortage.

Sorry about union comment.

Tony Thompson, another friend of mine, told me at super regional when (S.Drew was a freshman)that umpiring can be a very rewarding profession. In his case, it certainly is.

Shepster