Pete Peterson Sr

Just when you thought it was safe to watch baseball....

All in how much you get paid. Is Alabama (Or whoever it was, I forgot now) paying $80-$90 per game? I just don't like that state governing bodies are using umpires to make a profit. Varsity pays $60/game. $47 for JV, $42 for MS. All of these come with an $8/date travel fee.

Will most likely know Jesse Estrada. I am sorry to report that he has passed away. Unsure of the details, but have confirmed with two different sources.

I have certain music that I like to listen to on my way to my game(s). While I'm listening, I try to focus on what I know about the teams I will have, and then think about my partner(s).If I'm the senior official, which is most of the time, i make the position assignments for the game. So revisiting my partner's relative strengths and weaknesses, and level of experience is helpful. Once I am at the site, I try to remain quiet, and have a comprehensive pre-game with my partner, unless I am working with Pete Jr, Pat, or a select handful of others. Guys whose MO's, tendencies, and instincts I know as well as they do, and vice-versa. Check my shoes, run a quick check on my gear and apparel. Then it's time to put on a clinic.This is for HS level, or higher. For travel ball, I am more likely to be found yucking it up with my fellow umpires. I take that level seriously, but I tend not to spend a lot of time thinking about my game.

What District Attorney pissed him off?

Not knocking you, because these things happen. But I advise our guys to keep their gear with them all the time, if possible. You never know when you might be called upon to fill in a space in an emergency. true, ............ but if you don't have your gear in your car ...........then you're not available to fill in for an emergency anyways Hence my advice ? LOL ,....no sorry ....what I'm saying is ......... if you don't have your stuff with you on any given day, ....then you're probably not available to take a game in the first place. Meaning...you have another committment and can't work games that day, so, you don't have your stuff with you, because even if you did, and you were called, you can't do the game anyhow I thought for a second there (on your previous post) you were going all "Yogi Berra" on me ! But I follow what you are saying, now. The problem I have encountered, particularly with newer guys is the "I don't have a game today, I don't need my stuff" train of thought. Then I call them and they can't cover something. I understand what you're saying too, trust me I do ........ And no, ....no Yogi there, but I can see why you thought that! "Afflack pays you cash...which is just as good as money" - Yogi Berra

Not knocking you, because these things happen. But I advise our guys to keep their gear with them all the time, if possible. You never know when you might be called upon to fill in a space in an emergency. true, ............ but if you don't have your gear in your car ...........then you're not available to fill in for an emergency anyways Hence my advice ? LOL ,....no sorry ....what I'm saying is ......... if you don't have your stuff with you on any given day, ....then you're probably not available to take a game in the first place. Meaning...you have another committment and can't work games that day, so, you don't have your stuff with you, because even if you did, and you were called, you can't do the game anyhow I thought for a second there (on your previous post) you were going all "Yogi Berra" on me ! But I follow what you are saying, now. The problem I have encountered, particularly with newer guys is the "I don't have a game today, I don't need my stuff" train of thought. Then I call them and they can't cover something.

Not knocking you, because these things happen. But I advise our guys to keep their gear with them all the time, if possible. You never know when you might be called upon to fill in a space in an emergency. true, ............ but if you don't have your gear in your car ...........then you're not available to fill in for an emergency anyways Hence my advice ?

Good points, Maven. Umpires and coaches should always remember that they are there for those kids. Without those kids there is nothing. I like to say baseball is a great game if there weren't coaches and parents involved. Never had a catcher disagree with that. Ha If players and coaches wouldn't cheat, they wouldn't need umpires.

Wow! All by yourself? Don't be a SA. My granddaddy always said "Better to be a SA than a DA..." LOL.

Riddle me this.....

Assigning is no easy task. You have to consider the abilities and dispositions of each of your umpires.You have to have the ability to put together effective teams of umpires, and be able to manage the individuals who don't work well with particular others. Then the issue of team scratches, if allowed. Making sure teams don't see the same guys over and over. As assigner, do you also have to pay the officials ? If so, do you have a method or plan in place ? These are all issues you must be prepared to face, if you step into that role.

Not allowed. No sleeves under the shirt without covering it with a jacket.

Man, and I get annoyed having to pay $18 for a hat with the association name on it. I couldnt imagine being required to amost double the cost for a shirt color I'm not a fan of. And it sucks for guys that like the long-sleeved shirt. Not available in the new style.

I'm sure the 5% rebate that the AHSAA gets has nothing to do with the pricing...

Alabama HS uniform requirements: Charcoal pants, Navy shirt, navy or gray ball bags. Beginning in 2015, we MUST wear the new state-approved shirt, with the state logo sublimated into the fabric. No more shirts with the state patch. This means that all umpires must replace their existing stockpile of shirts. The state association had approved, last year, an alternate color (cream) that could be worn if both umpires matched. The new regulations have all but reversed that decision, as there are no sublimated cream shirts available. We can buy our new shirts from either One Stop, a local equipment/supplies dealer, who has a horrible reputation among officials due to the fact that their customer service makes bill collectors seem like nice, kind folks, or from Cliff Keen. The new shirts at CK are $54.95 each, unless one needs a two or three X, in which case the cost jumps up to $63.50.

And around here, we refer to them as "Spider Mans". A varsity asst coach came out to the parking lot between DH games on a Saturday, to bring my partner and I a dog and Gatorade. I was standing in my compression pants and shirt, and Van said "Oh, wow. I didn't know Spider Man was here". A nickname was born...

Festivus was my favorite character on Gunsmoke. Marshall Dillon would have been nothing without him !

Nice choice, Comrade !

Terence Mann....

No kidding. I read a comment for Leo Mazzone about how well Maddux would do today since the drug testing is so stringent. Bull. He benefited so much from strikes being called a half foot off the plate. Glavine as well. Have to give them credit for getting the umpires to expand the zone. And remember that a strike called above the belt rarely happened until 2001. In the umpire defense neither manager wanted that pitch called for a strike because in all reality it is a terrible pitch and should be crushed. I call the zone, to include a ball off the edge of the plate. It pi&%es me off when I get cracked on by a coach because some guys can't call the "high strike" even though he just said it was a high strike. Grow a set and call the zone. And how do we know that the 3 players to get elected this year didn't use anything? Sounds contradictory to me. You say "call the zone, but in a previous breath, you say that you call a ball off the edge a strike. Granted, depending upon the level, I will get that pitch myself, but it is not a "rule book" strike. Please tell me what I am missing here.

As ols as you are I thought you were going to say the Titanic!

I sometimes ponder what Maddux's stats would have looked like, if he had to play his entire career with umpires tied to the Ques-tech system, and wasn't given the benefit of the strike zone that he allegedly was given...

Malicious contact. Which I do not have in this situation. Unsportsman-like conduct ? Absolutely.You can eject for unsporting conduct, also. I don't see anything malicious. Stupid, yes. If there had been no earlier problems I would have the coach remove him and handle it. Just let the coach know he isn't allowed to come back in the game. I am going to have to respectfully disagree, umpstu. Either the young man is out of the game by ejection, or his coach removes him on his own, or he stays in the game. I do not feel it is my place to request that the coach remove a player. Are you going to stop the game, walk over and ask the coach to bench his player ? What do you do if he tells you no ? Decide then to eject the player ? You could have done that already, and it's going to look awful funny if it shakes out that way.I can't see myself filling out an ejection report that contains the line " I asked Coach Smith to bench his player. Upon his refusal, I ejected said player". Either eject or let him play. YMMV...

OSU would be favored by a FG over Auburn, so I don't exactly know how FSU vs. OSU would be a bad championship game, but somehow FSU vs. Auburn will be a good football game. We are talking about a team equipped with a large majority of players that played on a team that went winless in the SEC last year. Auburn will get smoked. So much for that theory.....