kylehutson

I took it apart, wire-brushed it, AND spray painted it with a black matte spray paint. Most of the black has worn off, but the remnants of the paint along with the wire-brush has made it quite usable in bright lights. One of these days I'm going to follow through on my threat to made a 3D-printable replacement front cover for it. I'm actually on my 2nd one - the internal metal piece on one of the dials broke. I took my old cover and put it on the new indicator to keep the reflections away. Like others have said, even if you don't look at it much, the reflections can sure surprise you if you're careless about it.

Posted twice

*Ahem* - that's indi-clicki-counter

Same. But with the caveat that since my initial purchases when first getting started, my umpiring money goes into a separate account not covered by our normal budgeting. Any purchases need to come from THAT account. (And FWIW, what's left in that account typically goes towards vacations and other niceties that are above and beyond the budget, so she's typically the beneficiary of the extra. It helps remind me WHY I keep doing this.)

Many times I have been tempted to say "Do you want to know what's wrong with youth sports? Find a mirror."

By my calculations, you could drive it for about $200 in gas[1] (granted 11 hours isn't "nothing", but I drove to Cincinnati from about 2 hours west of KC a couple of years ago - it's not SO bad) AND you get to write off $900 for your mileage on your taxes. I used an AirBNB to save more money when I've been to that location. Based on last year's 3-man camp (mostly the same instructors), I wouldn't do that now that they have the hotel closer than some of the parking spaces you could get otherwise. If I was going this year, I'd stay at the camp hotel. You really don't *need* a rental car, either if you're staying at the hotel. Getting to and from the airport to the hotel is the main thing. After that, there will be plenty of guys around that would be happy to give you a ride to any restaurants, etc. Dang, I might have to come up some time during your camp just to meet you face-to-face. [1] based on 25 mpg

I didn't share a room when I went. It was worth the extra money to me. YMMV.

No, I did the opposite. I had a pop fly that I thought "that's clearly going to be over the foul fence" as R3 got in the way of F6. And then F6 came within a few feet of it as it dropped inside the fence.

MadMax has been in my living room. ...And it is 100% like this.

Ooh, just thought of another one... NFHS, not coming to a complete stop in the set position when there's nobody on base.

I'll just drop this here...

That's not impossible. Most (but not all) of the D1 Power 5 guys have some professional experience. I'd definitely suggest going to some college-level clinics (usually in the 3-to-5 day range). At your age, and if you're teachable, you should be able to break into those ranks. Low-level college (NAIA / D3 / JuCo - which is the highest level I work) takes some training and quite importantly, availability. But good talent can get moved up the ranks. I was nearly 40 before I umpired my first rec league game, and didn't even move to high school for another couple of years after that. FWIW, I don't know any college umpires that only officiate for a living. For the "big dogs" it's a lucrative side-hustle, but not a full-time job. For the rest of us, it's a well-paying hobby.

The best things that helped me when I started out... As @BigBlue4u said, pay attention to this site. This site really helped make me a better umpire. I still read everything here (sometimes, especially during the thick of the season, I fall behind and don't catch up for weeks, but I still read everything). Then I attended a clinic hosted by D1 (and mostly College World Series) umpires. Once you get out with those guys, you'll realize you don't know squat about umpiring. One of those D1 guys at the clinic is the primary guy behind https://ump-app.com/ - it's not free, but it's a high-quality umpire training tool. It didn't exist when I started, but I wish it had. You've done the hardest part. Now get out there and keep at it! Best of luck to you!

I got that bit from a clinic from Brent Rice (a Wendelstedt school instructor). Also works for tag-ups.

Safe signal. If he persists, "I didn't see him not touch the base, and I was right there"

Allegedly

Unpopular opinion... I think on a HR, bases shouldn't even need to be touched. If they want to, cool, the crowd will love it. But if I guy hits a walk-off grand slam, he and all the baserunners should be able to jog straight to the dugout. (No that's not the way I officiate it, just what I think the rule should be)

I used to use magnets, but I've switched to https://www.patchlatch.com/ (won't work for the sleeve, but if you can get away with the pocket instead)

Youth league? Did it hit the ground before being caught? If not, it wasn't too low. Youth leagues are the worst for having parents that expect their batters to have a postage stamp for the strike zone, and "nose-to-toes, chalk-to-chalk" for their pitchers. You can safely ignore those bozos.

Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! Pick me! "Money" What do I win?

Kansas does have the base umpire carry a stopwatch to measure 1 minute between innings. But we don't start it until the last fielder crosses the foul line on the way back to the dugout. There are exceptions for pitcher or catcher, but in the case of the catcher, if they're at time they only get 2 more warmups (since they should have a sub or coach out to catch for the pitcher). And we don't really have a penalty except the home plate umpire telling them time's up and refusing further warmups. This was started maybe 5-7 years ago? And it has helped speed up the game.

I'm in about the same boat as you are, Wolfe. 10 years in high school and two MC ejections. In both cases, the coach came out of the dugout, and I was expecting them to argue something. Instead the conversation was "his sub is number ..."

Exactly. ILEGS Introductions Lineups Equipment (NFHS only: "Are your teams legally and properly equipped?") Ground Rules Sportsmanship That's all. Once sentence each unless absolutely necessary. No rules clinics, no waxing poetic.

Yes, our NAIA schools here are all so flush with cash they all have domes. Aren't yours? I'm at the farthest west school in the conference

Clear the field? If it's bad, I'm sure they'd cancel It's college. When NCAA/NAIA says you can, you do it?