Umpire Pants Pet Peeve

[Umpire in Chief]

I've seen some great discussion on Officiating.com & the Umpires Resource Center lately about Umpire Pants.

Here's my issue. We now have 2-3 different colors for our umpire pants: The more traditional heather gray, the darker color of the Honigs Premium pants, and the yet darker charcoal gray color of the Gerry Davis & Honigs Ultimate pants. If we get on the field and have mis-matched pants we're not in uniform and frankly look ridiculous.

My association has in our guidelines "Heather Gray Only" yet I've been out on the field with somebody wearing the wrong pants. It drives me nuts... and for 2 reasons because not only are we mismatched, but he's in blatant disregard of the policy.

I personally like the darker color slacks. And I like the concept of the adjustable waist some offer, but I hate not looking uniform on the field. We've all seen the kid who only has his white baseball pants when the team is wearing gray or colored pants, he looks out of place and it is generally noticed. The same applies to umpires.

Last year my association had a meeting and showed the photo of the umpire crew working the state championship game a few years back. We had light slacks, dark slacks, dazzle jerseys, traditional jerseys, button ups, and zip ups. They looked bad.

My point being to emphasize wearing the correct color, and hopefully having your association adopt a color scheme so we don't look foolish.

[Majordave]

If we are working a college game they assign- which is all of them- we must wear Honig's dark heather grey poly-wool pants. We must also wear the association hat which is only sold by Honigs. No numbers on black shirts or powder with black collar shirts-Honig's shirts are recommended, and when in black shirt we must have white mock neck undershirt, when in powder shirt we must have black undershirt (mock neck not required with this one). It makes it easier and quite frankly for what we get paid, it is a small price to pay.

[semperfiguy]

Major Dave- good to hear from you again, I follow your posts over at abua. I am a former U.S. Marine. So image is everything to me. Im with you. Uniformity is everything. Dont think for a minute that fans, parents and the like dont notice officials that dont look the part. first impressions more often than not do last a lifetime. Also remember people will refer to how you called your last game just by how they remember you if you made a poor impression. It would be better to have them say "oh thats #79, sharp dressed guy and he takes charge and calls a good game. Balls and strikes baby!!!

[Kyle_Stevens]

I agree with all here. I too, was in the military, Army, and looking sharp and crisp is the standard. I believe that walking on to a ball field with shiny shoes, crisp pants, and wrinkle free SH*#s, you have somewhat of 'instant cred'. If you look like you know what you are doing they will assume you know what you are doing. If you walk out there and look like you just un-waded your clothes from under the bottom of your seat, you are going to automatically be judged probably hear from the coaches for the rest of the game.

[semperfiguy]

Hey guys- This year I bought a pair of the new Gerry davis dark grey pants and they are awesome. $48.00 with a great dark color (less sweat noticible) and those adjustable waistbands are great if you love a good hotdog. Just my two cents worth. I will be ordering the base pants as well. I also agree with umpire in charge that uniformity is a must and until everyone in my association is in dark grey i pack the heather grey as well. balls and strikes baby!!!

[catoblue]

Our state association mandates the heather gray by either Flecheimer or CK as the only acceptable pants, and shirts are the Navy, light blue, or red by CK (U126?). they also specify the jackets and T-shirts must be navy or red and both partners must contact each other the night before a game and agree on everything they will be wearing so that they match.

Honestly, it looks much better than some of the mis-matched crews I've seen over the years.

[dportz]

I am new to umping but not to a uniform (I am a Mountie) . I agree with all comments. People treat you the way you look. If you look like crap they will treat you that way.

[Umpire in Chief]

I am new to umping but not to a uniform (I am a Mountie) . I agree with all comments. People treat you the way you look. If you look like crap they will treat you that way.

I think military, police and the like have a better understanding of the term uniform. In the same unit you typically wouldn't have 1 person wearing BDUs and another wearing Class As. While they are both in uniform, they are not uniform.