How does your association work?

[johnnyg08]

And I suppose the group gets off on this? Telling a respectable transfer D1,D2 or State Tournament HS umpire or forbid a former MiLB umpire that they have to start at the bottom and stay down on the farm so to speak and laugh about it. Many in these groups worked LL years ago and paid their dues this way before getting into D1 or pro and many HS umpires never worked LL at all. This speaks volumns in a negative way about this group above. Guess they need the money and outsiders dig into their cut. Very Very sad state of affairs.

Totally agree.

[LMSANS]

So if I was to move to where you are at I would have to wait 2 years before I got just into Varsity ball having pro, DI and down experience? I think I'll stay put.

Isn't that crazy that guys can sit there and tell you that with a straight face? You'd probably be one of the TOP guys in the group, yet they're too obtuse to think that it could even be possible that number of years umpiring doesn't necessarily equal how great you are.

Can you TOP this ?

My association told a AAA umpire he would have to cadet for a year, and work 40 sub-varsity games over the next 2 years, before he could work varsity ball. He said no. Went to the college group & another hs group. He now coaches in our area and has very few things to say about the org.

And I suppose the group gets off on this? Telling a respectable transfer D1,D2 or State Tournament HS umpire or forbid a former MiLB umpire that they have to start at the bottom and stay down on the farm so to speak and laugh about it. Many in these groups worked LL (I'm not busting on LL either)years ago and paid their dues this way before getting into D1 or pro and many HS umpires never worked LL at all. This speaks volumns in a negative way about this group above. Guess they need the money and outsiders dig into their cut. Very Very sad state of affairs.

I'm not bragging. Most of these guys have been doing HS ball for 20 - 30 years. The arrogance is thick (so are the heads). I work to get new blood in that will make things better. It is a slow painful process.

[mstaylor]

I am a firm believer in paying your dues, but it for the purpose of teaching them how to handle situations. Guys that transfer need to either prove their ability or being able to confirm high training. To me just going to a five week school shows a fair amount of training. Actually getting a job, to me, says you can come in and work anything. An AAA guy certainly doesn't have to prove anything. The only thing to sweat with a MiLB coming back to work HS or college is taming his instinct to dump guys. I don't think you should take any more crap but pro managers are expected to know certain limits, HS less so.