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Iowa Ump
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so i woke up in the middle night thinking about this. we have a local JUCO college 10 miles from my house. i was thinking about charging them $20 bucks an hour for my services.

Benefits for me:

get to see live pitching until HS season starts.

live game action (although practice) would allow me to work on mechanics timing etc.

very laid back enviroment

having some extra spending cash.

benfits for them: having an umpire calling there game scenarios at a discounted rate.

pitcher and hitters would have a better feel for the strike zone going into there regular season.

what do you guys think? does this sound to game whoreish or is it a decent idea?

i was thinking about emailing the coach.

let me know.

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I agree. The big D1 schools will only pay $50-$100 max to work their intrasquad scrimmages and those are played in late January/first week of February. The college season has already begun. Doubtful you will find any takers to pay you. Since they've already started playing they most likely will not want or need any umpires for practices, even for free.

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Do it for free if they need anyone.  Then track all your mileage as well.  Write off from your taxable income as 'preseason training" work,  also known as pro-bono ("for the good").  In my area we do this for the HS teams especially so that we can have a live venue for training newer umps as well.  If I do 10 preseason scrimmage games I'm writing off 10 x $Varsity game fees as training & reducing from my total income on taxes.

 

The goodwill generated by working scrimmage games & intra-squad games goes a long way in earning a higher level of respect from your area coaches.  We start our HS season on Monday assuming the latest snow & ice barrage my area got hit with last night is melted by then.  I have looked at pitches in the gym & worked with catchers from an Ump's perspective at the HS I teach at since early January as well as worked & trained umps at at several scrimmages in the last few weeks.  Besides the tax write-off I feel I am truly ready for opening day & I also feel my assigners know about these efforts and I get rewarded for them.

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Our local HS has "open gyms" starting in January and they let our association come in and call pitches in the nets, which we gladly do for free.  Great for knocking the rust off of your eyeballs and even better for your newer umpires.

 

As far as pitchers and hitters "having a better feel for the strike zone", that really will only apply if you are working a game.  And even that is subject to revision.

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so i woke up in the middle night thinking about this. we have a local JUCO college 10 miles from my house. i was thinking about charging them $20 bucks an hour for my services.

Benefits for me:

get to see live pitching until HS season starts.

live game action (although practice) would allow me to work on mechanics timing etc.

very laid back enviroment

having some extra spending cash.

benfits for them: having an umpire calling there game scenarios at a discounted rate.

pitcher and hitters would have a better feel for the strike zone going into there regular season.

what do you guys think? does this sound to game whoreish or is it a decent idea?

i was thinking about emailing the coach.

let me know.

One of the JUCO schools in this area (Pima College) pays umpires to work scrimmages. But you can't go directly to the school for assignments, they have an assignor that takes care of that for them.

 

The U of Arizona doesn't pay, except for caps, shirts, tickets, and etc. But it allows those of us who are too old to work D1 ball anymore the opportunity to get out there and enjoy good baseball. Plus we usually work 3 & 4 man mechanics so us over-60's guys can still get the job done.

 

I was reminded during the Wildcat's final scrimmage this season, played like a real game against the KBO Dinos, just how old I am getting.  We started out 3-man with a former MiLB (and current PAC12) umpire behind the plate. But he had to leave after the 3rd inning so we worked 2-man for the last 6-innings (actually I worked 2-man for 7-innings, my partner had to get his equipment on).  I was the base umpire - the plate umpire is 3 years older than me.  After the game I showered, met my wife for dinner, then went home and passed out!  I felt as if I had been "rode hard and put up wet". But I loved every minute of it..... oh to be young again!

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