misnomer

Just got my All-Star S7 Steel back from Tony at Mask-it Sports and I absolutely love it! Now all that's left to get is some new pads to really spiff it up! By the end of last season, it was looking pretty rough. My indicator chipped off the paint on the lower bars and rust was starting to form. After some well deserved TLC, it looks even better than it did when I first got it!

What models do you have? I see the Jordan 1s but I'd love to know what the others are!

The “crappy navy” is the one they gave us (well, sold to us) at the clinic. I’m almost positive it’s the first result that pops up on Amazon when you type in “umpire shirt.” It does the job, but I’m definitely going to a navy Smitty next year. The long sleeve is a Smitty too.

See, I'm okay with that list because you have everything and can go full chameleon. Personally, if I had the closet space in my dorm and my own car during the summer (my sister and I share when we're home from school) I'd probably end up getting a billion shirts for the hell of it. It just doesn't make practical sense to have more than a few colors. Just for fun, my wardrobe is as follows: Crappy navy from the clinic Old school smitty light blue with RWB trim Old school black 2016 MLB black 2016 MLB blue Navy long sleeve (my absolute favorite)

My assn. isn't particular at all. it's just that other people are demanding that I have a shirt other than those three and get mad when I don't have it.

Hi all! It's been well over a year since my last post but I need to get something off my chest. I'm in my second year of umpiring and have been enjoying it more than ever. However, the seemingly minor issue of shirt color has repeatedly blown up when coordinating with my partners. The association I'm a part of falls under the "as long as you match, you're fine" umbrella. Our standard colors are navy and light blue but some guys have entire wardrobes of shirts. To be clear, I have absolutely nothing against the folks who like to have two of every color, but I have repeatedly run into partners who get very snippy with me because I don't have a cream shirt or a red shirt or a grey shirt or whatever other color that they declare that we are to wear that day. Am I being unreasonable by only having the two basic colors? Currently, I own 6 shirts and it already feels like overkill. I don't see a reason why we need to have a million colors and variations. Personally, I would like to see my assn. switch to black and light blue, but that's a fight for another day. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

I am pretty sure we're talking about two very different things.

“Love Story” was the soundtrack to my kindergarten-1st grade summer… I turn 20 in July… I already feel old.

I had taken a pretty big step towards the bench while I was getting serenaded, but something in the back of my mind told me to hold off for a sec and see if it kept going. If it were a coach, I would have tossed them the instant the review signal went up. When it’s a kid, the leash extends because I expect the coach to take care of it. In this case, he didn’t take care of it and I might have waited a little too long. Hindsight being 20/20, the singing was worse than the player’s comment and that should have been the time for the ol’ heave-ho.

I think that specific song was in a movie I saw when I was like 13. Also, my sister was a huge fan of her around that time so a good amount of her discography is etched into my mind. I love how this thread has turned from talking about an ejection to a discussion on the musical stylings of Taylor Swift. “Dread it. Run from it. Taylor Swift arrives all the same.”

That’s exactly what I did! My mentor and my assignor both gave me their seals of approval. However, one thing that my mentor said made me think a bit about where my tolerance should be: ”if you change it from ‘SH*#ting’ to ‘kidding,’ are you still ejecting him?” Answer: probably not. Honestly, someone was getting tossed if I heard anything else after the “New York” thing. I didn’t know who, but I was very prepared to take that step. Not the best attitude, I know, but I learned a lot about myself and umpiring that day.

I didn't dismiss the reaction, I actually did take it in stride and tried to be further up the line on the next call. What I didn't appreciate was the fact that the coach proceeded to argue after saying "I don't argue with an umpire working alone." It's kind of a slap in the face IMO.

I had a different game a week or so back where after a call that I very well might have missed because I was 60-70' away because, ya know, I'm working alone, the third base coach while walking back to his dugout comes up to me and says "I never argue with umpires working alone, but he was safe". Safe to say, I was not thrilled. Also, I would really appreciate if coaches didn't put their hands on umpires' shoulders when talking to them. I am on the autism spectrum and really do not like to be touched unexpectedly. I ripped away from him to stand face-to-face during this same exchange and he fully moved to do it again. He was on thin ice the rest of the game. Finally, when it comes to effort/appearance: I make it a point to be as energetic and finley groomed as possible. It doesn't hurt being significantly younger and slimmer than most of my peers, but I clean or shine my shoes after every game and iron everything once a week. I refuse to crease the cap, though. That look needs to die.

Fixed it!

Well, I knew it would happen eventually, but not this quick. I've been working for about two months at this point and have honestly really enjoyed it. I've had very few issues with coaches and parents and have had the incredible luck to have a mentor who works at a very high level being willing to talk to me and help me learn the ropes. However, I had my first ejection last week and wanted to get the opinion of the forum. For context this was a freshman game between two local private schools which I was working solo (solo is normal for sub-varsity apparantly. My few first HS games were with the association closer to where I go to college and they were 2-man but I digress). Anyway, Team A had been arguing with me and chirping at the other team since first pitch. While the SH*# talk calms down after a very calm discussion with their coach. However, the arguing consistantly escalates as the game rolls along. Fast forward to bottom 6. Team A is up and I call the batter out on a close play at first that I am confident that I called correctly. The bench explodes but I shrug it off. It was a bang-bang play and we'll move on. That is until the student manager decides to yell "call New York" and make the review signal. Now the ears are up. After a few minutes of the rest of the bench joning in with the call New York stuff, I take off my mask and say "that's enough. We're not doing that." A player on the bench then proceeds to sing Taylor Swift's Welcome to New York. While I am just as much of a Swiftie as anyone else, the song choice wasn't great, but I decide to shrug shake it off. The team continues to argue essentially every call that is even remotley close. Now we move to the bottom of the 7th. Team A's starting pitcher (who was the first to get on me in the game) is now up to bat. 0-2 count, he swings at a ball in the dirt, catcher tags him for the second out. The batter contests that he fouled the ball off. I did not see or hear anything that would make me thinl he made contact, so I stick with my call. After a good 10 seconds of arguing and me explaining that I can't call what I didn't see or hear, he finally walks off with a "you've got to be SH*#ting me." I ring him up, the coach huffs and puffs when I ask for his name and the players run their mouths until I get to my car. Thoughts? Questions? Comments?