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12-30-2006, 07:11 PM
[Image: http://www.theday.com/gbl/media/images/m...othing.gif][Image: http://www.theday.com/gbl/media/images/m...othing.gif]IF YOU'VE EVER SAT IN THE bleachers at a local baseball game and hollered at an umpire â inconceivable as that sounds â your day of atonement is here.
The Eastern Board of Approved Baseball Umpires (the few, the proud), the men in blue whose vision is questioned habitually, seeks a few good men (or women). Board president Jack McDonald, who made a similar plea for football officials last summer, would like to expand the baseball battalion before this season begins.
McDonald's pitch for football officials resulted in nine new members for this past season. He'd sing showtunes for nine new baseball umpires.
âOn a day in the spring when all the ECC baseball teams are playing at the varsity and sub-varsity levels, it's usually like 16 varsity games and 16 JV games,â McDonald said. âThat's 32 games and 64 umpires. We have 69 right now. That not much room for error.â
In the McDonald Four Step Plan, a new umpire could be on the field as early as April, likely for a sub-varsity game.
Step One: Contact McDonald at 739-6516, 460-7167 or at [email=mrumpire25@aol.com]mrumpire25@aol.com[/email]. Tell him you're interested.
Umpires, despite the way they're usually portrayed, are fathers and uncles and husbands and fans just like everyone else. The Eastern Board has an array of veterans who have coached before, played before and sat in the stands before as all those other crooked expletives wearing blue blew calls that cost their kids games.
(Slight exaggeration in the last sentence.)
McDonald, whose son, John, plays for the Toronto Blue Jays and owns roughly a .900 career batting average against the Yankees, is a father before he's an umpire. Rick âSargeâ Pasqualini, the former Niantic American Legion coach whose teams won Zone titles and made trips to the state tournament, knows what coaches are thinking when they argue a call. There are umpires from college, veterans of the American Legion World Series and others who have called Double-A games at Dodd Stadium. There are several others, too, who can provide perspectives quite helpful to the prospects.
âThere are a lot of guys here who can relate experiences to any of the questions that the candidates might have,â McDonald said. âWe're looking for anyone, really. But if there are younger guys out there, guys in their 20s, we'd love to have them. Someday, we're all going to retire and they could be the future of the board.â
McDonald and fellow football official Ed Carboni made a sales pitch for football officials last summer. The nine new officials, McDonald said, made scheduling easier, allowed more veteran officials to stay on the field (rather than serve as timers in the press box) and even got on the field for varsity games on busy weekends.
âGetting them on the field made them want to do their mechanics better,â McDonald said.
McDonald mentioned two caveats for prospective umpires: They must have flexible work schedules for varsity games (they begin at 3:45 p.m.) and they must understand that umpiring equipment is expensive.
âIt's an expensive sport to outfit,â said McDonald, who guessed that a starter package is somewhere between $300 and $400 dollars. Varsity umpires make more than $70 per game and sub-varsity umpires will make in the 50s. A new umpire that's on the field for six or seven junior varsity games would pay for his or her equipment.
If you have the time, the inclination and don't mind getting called a bleeping, visually challenged bleep, a call to McDonald would improve the quality of the games your kids play. Umpires have been known to enjoy themselves, toss back a, you know, Diet Coke or two after the game and revel in the opportunity to call the feature game of the day.
Who knows? It could be fun. This is the opinion of Day assistant sports editor Mike DiMauro. He may be reached at [email=m.dimauro@theday.com]m.dimauro@theday.com[/email] or 701-4391. [Image: http://www.theday.com/gbl/media/images/m...dstory.gif]
[Image: http://www.theday.com/gbl/media/images/m...othing.gif]
The Eastern Board of Approved Baseball Umpires (the few, the proud), the men in blue whose vision is questioned habitually, seeks a few good men (or women). Board president Jack McDonald, who made a similar plea for football officials last summer, would like to expand the baseball battalion before this season begins.
McDonald's pitch for football officials resulted in nine new members for this past season. He'd sing showtunes for nine new baseball umpires.
âOn a day in the spring when all the ECC baseball teams are playing at the varsity and sub-varsity levels, it's usually like 16 varsity games and 16 JV games,â McDonald said. âThat's 32 games and 64 umpires. We have 69 right now. That not much room for error.â
In the McDonald Four Step Plan, a new umpire could be on the field as early as April, likely for a sub-varsity game.
Step One: Contact McDonald at 739-6516, 460-7167 or at [email=mrumpire25@aol.com]mrumpire25@aol.com[/email]. Tell him you're interested.
Umpires, despite the way they're usually portrayed, are fathers and uncles and husbands and fans just like everyone else. The Eastern Board has an array of veterans who have coached before, played before and sat in the stands before as all those other crooked expletives wearing blue blew calls that cost their kids games.
(Slight exaggeration in the last sentence.)
McDonald, whose son, John, plays for the Toronto Blue Jays and owns roughly a .900 career batting average against the Yankees, is a father before he's an umpire. Rick âSargeâ Pasqualini, the former Niantic American Legion coach whose teams won Zone titles and made trips to the state tournament, knows what coaches are thinking when they argue a call. There are umpires from college, veterans of the American Legion World Series and others who have called Double-A games at Dodd Stadium. There are several others, too, who can provide perspectives quite helpful to the prospects.
âThere are a lot of guys here who can relate experiences to any of the questions that the candidates might have,â McDonald said. âWe're looking for anyone, really. But if there are younger guys out there, guys in their 20s, we'd love to have them. Someday, we're all going to retire and they could be the future of the board.â
McDonald and fellow football official Ed Carboni made a sales pitch for football officials last summer. The nine new officials, McDonald said, made scheduling easier, allowed more veteran officials to stay on the field (rather than serve as timers in the press box) and even got on the field for varsity games on busy weekends.
âGetting them on the field made them want to do their mechanics better,â McDonald said.
McDonald mentioned two caveats for prospective umpires: They must have flexible work schedules for varsity games (they begin at 3:45 p.m.) and they must understand that umpiring equipment is expensive.
âIt's an expensive sport to outfit,â said McDonald, who guessed that a starter package is somewhere between $300 and $400 dollars. Varsity umpires make more than $70 per game and sub-varsity umpires will make in the 50s. A new umpire that's on the field for six or seven junior varsity games would pay for his or her equipment.
If you have the time, the inclination and don't mind getting called a bleeping, visually challenged bleep, a call to McDonald would improve the quality of the games your kids play. Umpires have been known to enjoy themselves, toss back a, you know, Diet Coke or two after the game and revel in the opportunity to call the feature game of the day.
Who knows? It could be fun. This is the opinion of Day assistant sports editor Mike DiMauro. He may be reached at [email=m.dimauro@theday.com]m.dimauro@theday.com[/email] or 701-4391. [Image: http://www.theday.com/gbl/media/images/m...dstory.gif]
[Image: http://www.theday.com/gbl/media/images/m...othing.gif]
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12-30-2006, 08:26 PM
Well, I do what I can.....LOL....
I noticed this on Yahoo and couldn't resist considering there was a related thread. This was a very interesting article and I had to cut quite a bit of it... like the part outlining the process. It actually would be a lot of fun for college aged young men or women or even retirement aged folks... get to see the East Coast Leagues... and it enumerated that umpiring in the schools leagues would lead to small colleges and local leagues and some semi pro action..... if you're "game4anything" then this could be your ticket to a memorable Summer!
I noticed this on Yahoo and couldn't resist considering there was a related thread. This was a very interesting article and I had to cut quite a bit of it... like the part outlining the process. It actually would be a lot of fun for college aged young men or women or even retirement aged folks... get to see the East Coast Leagues... and it enumerated that umpiring in the schools leagues would lead to small colleges and local leagues and some semi pro action..... if you're "game4anything" then this could be your ticket to a memorable Summer!
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