A tale of 3 umpires... Good, Great & WTF...

[XUIC]

Volunteer dad umpiring in our Minors division.

Would love to see better head height and that elbow tucked in better, but all in all he's a really good ump.

This guy is locked in on the strike zone and a great Minors umpire.

If only we could lose the shorts and Exo-Skeletal Chest Protector......

WTF... This one's a mess... catcher's on it... Umpire's freightened...

at least the batter has tracked the ball all the way into the glove...

Maybe I'll invent a plexiglass balloon protector.

[johnnyg08]

Very awesome pictures! Thanks for the captions as well.

[grayhawk]

WTF... This one's a mess... catcher's on it... Umpire's freightened...

at least the batter has tracked the ball all the way into the glove...

Maybe I'll invent a plexiglass balloon protector.

PU: "Strike?"

[johnnyg08]

Hey I never gave permission to release pictures from my first years as an umpire.

[dumbdumb]

The 3rd picture is now the officially recommended and soon to become mandatory mechanic and equipment to prevent CTE's. You will call the pitch by where it was when you went into the mandatory position.

Seems pretty simple and logical to me to prevent CTE's.

Probably a brain surgeon or future brain surgeon working this one.

[carolinablue]

It's called the turtle stance.

[24sdad]

Ya know, my hat's off to these dads, cause if they don't get out there the little guys don't play. I don't know if their league is struggling for money to where they can not pay for umpires or if they are steadfast in their "volunteer" only mentality, but for some reason or another they don't. So the responsibility falls to the dads. These guys are playing the hand dealt, so kudos to them.

[JaxRolo]

Volunteer dad umpiring in our Minors division.

Would love to see better head height and that elbow tucked in better, but all in all he's a really good ump.

This guy is locked in on the strike zone and a great Minors umpire.

If only we could lose the shorts and Exo-Skeletal Chest Protector......

WTF... This one's a mess... catcher's on it... Umpire's freightened...

at least the batter has tracked the ball all the way into the glove...

Maybe I'll invent a plexiglass balloon protector.

This is really funny!!!!

But at least they are volunteering.

[Mike Prince]

I had a feeling someone was at my game the other day with a camera...now I know.

[Welpe]

Majordave now knows what he needs to strive to look like while doing these Mighty Mite games.

[SoCal Lurker]

Ya know, my hat's off to these dads, cause if they don't get out there the little guys don't play. I don't know if their league is struggling for money to where they can not pay for umpires or if they are steadfast in their "volunteer" only mentality, but for some reason or another they don't. So the responsibility falls to the dads. These guys are playing the hand dealt, so kudos to them.

Amen. Rather have a trained ump, but hey, kids can have fun even if the ump screws up . . . those who get out there and to their best without training deserve respect for trying.

[Dragon29]

. . . and, I don't know about all of you, but that's how I started. Just a dad in the stands. Never used the 'turtle stance', but you get the idea.

Trained umpires gotta come from somewhere!

[carolinablue]

Actually, if you poke a couple of eye holes in that balloon, this would be a solid stance for that age group.