2014 Attendee

[Guest Nathan Zide]

Hello all,

 

I am still relatively new to this site. I have been umpiring youth and pony league baseball for 6-7 years and absolutely love it. I am a recent college graduate without a relationship at this time and without a career-type of job, and I have always dreamed of being a professional umpire. I figure now is the best time, and I have always heard PBUC ideally looks for young, single guys without a lot of commitments.

 

I still plan on umpiring pony league throughout the summer and into the fall here in SoCal. And I hope to do some college intersquad games for a small NAIA school near my current location. What other tips would anyone have as I prepare for attending TUS in January? For those who have attended, what do you have to do to put yourself in the best possible position to land an invite to the PBUC Eval. Course? Thanks for your time everybody! Love the site!

 

 

[mstaylor]

Be in shape, don't ask stupid questions( stump the ump type), start early and work late while you are there. Remember the instructors are friendly but not your friends, if you encounter them outside of school be cordial but not friendly. 

[Umpire Training Academy]

Nathan:

 

Great question.  There are so many things you can do to get ready to attend school that it is impossible to list them all.  The best advice we can give to is to have clear plan leading up to and after umpire school.  You also need to fully grasp the reality and road ahead.  

 

Umpire School can be a wonderful, life changing experience regardless of if it ends with a job in professional baseball.  Your best bet is to speak to one of our instructors regarding your personal situation.  Married or single, we are looking for people with chemistry, upside potential and who will represent PBUC and MiLB well on and off the field.  

 

With regard to age, you have to recognize your personal "window".  The time it will take you to work through the Minor Leagues and get to AAA to work in front of MLB.  On average it takes 8-10 years to get to this point so you have to factor that in.  Everyone has a different window and depending on your talent level, ability to make adjustments along with some luck on the timing of job openings, the time put in at each level will vary from person to person.

 

Please reach out to us at info@therightcall.net to learn more.  

 

Lastly and you will hear this a lot.  The decision to attend any umpire school is highly personal.  I strongly encourage you to explore both schools and find the one that fits your needs the best.  They ALL do an excellent job in preparing people for this profession.

[Guest Steve Helbig]

I will also be attending to Umpire School in 2014. I am looking forward to meeting everyone. I will be driving from Louisville, KY so if anybody wants to ride down to lower the expenses coming down is welcome to ride with me.

 

 

[JaxRolo]

I will also be attending to Umpire School in 2014. I am looking forward to meeting everyone. I will be driving from Louisville, KY so if anybody wants to ride down to lower the expenses coming down is welcome to ride with me.

Good luck! I don't see your name on your post.

[Guest Steve Helbig]

I thought this was the Wendelstedt School my apologizes. I read this site wrong.

[dumbdumb]

Here is an old post ( I believe Mr Umpire posted it) about going to umpire school from a former instructor. This would probably hold up for any of the schools past and present and future.

 

Quote

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If you have a suit, or sport coat and dress pants, get it out and ready for the trip, as it is the proper dress for the banquet. Wear it on the plane on your way down. It will save it from getting wrinkled in your luggage and may make a good first impression on the instructors when they pick you up at the airport. YES, those are instructors that pick you up from the airport. They won't identify themselves as instructors, cuz your evaluation as a person has already begun. There have been guys that have shot themselves in the foot before they even got to the hotel to check in. I speak from experience.

Expect a phone call at the airport to try and locate you. Have your phone on and handy. It is chaos on arrival day for the apprentice instructors as they scramble to get everyone picked up, so be patient! There are a ton of guys arriving and only 2 or 3 shuttles running to try and get everyone.

Be polite at the hotel. Again, those guys helping with the check in process are instructors. Do not make a bad name for yourself. Be patient with this process, too. DON'T complain about your roommate. You share a room with your partner in A ball, and you don't get to pick him. Roommate quarrels will be a part of your evaluation if you have problems.

After you get settled, make friends with someone that has a car and go to Wal-Mart (this is also necessary to get yourself to class each day.) To get to the Wal-Mart, go out of the hotel to the right and keep going. It is 4 or 5 miles down on the left. Get shoe cleaning stuff and some cheap towels or rags. If you use the hotel towels to clean your shoes they will charge you. Jimmy usually gives out some red rags for shoe cleaning, but they shed and leave red fuzz on your shoes and on the floor in your room. Get some of your own. Get a few gallons of drinking water, cuz the Florida water is not good.

Take note of stuff around you on your trip. Just past the Wal-Mart there is a laundry place on the left (near the Sonic) that will do your laundry for you or you can do it yourself. You will pass a Hess station that is good in the morning or after class for random stuff you may need. Also, if you don't have Firehouse Subs where you live, make a point to visit it while you're down there. They are grrrrrrrreat. It is located down near the Wal-Mart. (If you're feeling adventurous when it is laundry time, there is another laundry place if you go out of the hotel to the left a few miles. It's behind the Walgreens. That place is my favorite cuz they have a huge talking parrot that lives inside.)

As for on the field stuff...do your best not to get down on yourself. Take everything the training has to offer in stride and use all of it to better yourself as an umpire. The instructors do not discriminate between those that are competing for a job and those that are just there to get better. The training is the same for everyone. They will get on you, and they will try to expose your weaknesses on the field and use them against you. It is very easy to get discouraged, but, it is much better to have your weaknesses exposed during the training than to have it happen out in the real world.

Everything that happens is done to make you a better umpire. Do not be afraid to make mistakes in the first few weeks. It is 100% true when Jim says that the discussion about who's going to PBUC doesn't start til the 4th week. It is ok to screw things up. It is expected and encouraged, as long as you learn from it. You will hear many times that guys are making day 2 mistakes on day 5 or something along those lines. Make day 2 mistakes on day 2, learn from them, then don't make them again.

Ask questions if you need to, but don't jump ahead of the training. Jim covers EVERYTHING and he has an order in which he does it. Most likely your question will be answered before you need to ask it, but it may get answered a couple of days down the road. Write your questions down and then ask them later if he doesn't answer it when you get to that section of the training.

Work on "proper use of eyes" starting right now. Take a balled up pair of socks, lie on your back, throw it up in the air and catch it. Track it the whole way up and down only moving your eyes. If you go out for a ride in the car with someone else driving, track stuff with your eyes and keep your head still. Track passing cars, passing signs, anything. Try to train your eyes to move independently from your head. Continue the sock training at night in the hotel. He won't start you on tracking until late in week 2 or early week 3, but you'll be way ahead of the game if you start exercising your eyes now.

Keep you uniform neat. Press your pants in your room once a week or more. Clean your shoes. Shave. If you don't have a pair of real umpire pants, buy a pair now. Have them shipped to the school in you need to. You only really need one if you go on Sunday and wash them. You just shelled out 3 grand, another 50 bucks isn't going to break the bank, and you should look the part. While we're on that subject, get a real belt, too, if you don't already have one. Wear black socks, black shoes, and wear a navy blue undershirt if you are an undershirt type of person.

Help your group out as much as you can. After a while it will start to become obvious to you who the likely front runners for jobs are. If you have a likely candidate in your cage group, do whatever you can to help him without badgering him in the process.

Learn from everything. Watching the drills can be even more beneficial than doing them. Use the time waiting in line for your turn to see what other guys do right and wrong. By the time your turn comes, you will have seen 50 reps of the same thing. Ask the apprentice instructors questions while you are waiting in line, that's what they are there for. Do not, however, corner them and try to trick them with strange situations. They WILL talk about it with senior staff and it will come back to haunt you.

STRETCH! Stretch in the morning, at lunch, when you get home, and before going to bed. Sitting in the classroom will tighten your muscles up without you even realizing it. There is time built in for stretching before beginning the outdoor activities, but extra will benefit you as the weeks wear on.

Buy stuff from the store in the classroom! The apprentice instructors run that store and the profits from it make up about half of their pay. They really are apprentices and are only paid about 800 bucks for the month. They do all of the grunt work. Help them out by buying their stuff, and spread the word to other students!

Bring a cheap VCR if you have one, or split the cost of a cheapo from Wal-Mart with your roommate. There is a video review room (which you should make use of cuz it's staffed with instructors to answer questions and give advice) but it's only open a couple of hours each night. It is great to be able to watch your video whenever you want, and you can have your whole cage group come over and watch them together.

Do not expect much, if any, positive reinforcement. "Not bad" means you're probably doing a good job. Jimmys philosophy is tough love. The instructors are not there to coddle you. Also, if they tell a guy "good job" a bunch of times and he ends up not going to PBUC, that may result in issues. You won't hear them say good job very often, though it does slip out every now and then.

Learn the instructors' names. They don't wear name tags. After a couple of days their pictures will be posted in the back of the classroom. You won't be quizzed on it, but you should study it a couple of minutes each day. Do not call them sir, or Mr. _____, or any nickname you may hear them calling each other. Use their first name.

Do not ask questions during breaks. Breaks are breaks and the instructors need them! The apprentices have to set up their snack bar and the older guys have to use the bathroom, get a drink, or plan the next activity. They are only 10 or 15 minutes long and they need every minute of it.

For those of you that have heard the instruction compared to basic training...there are some similarities, but there really isn't any comparison. The mechanics and positioning are really the only things that are totally broken down to be cookie cutter. It is the easiest way to evaluate guys, make everyone looks the same, and then evaluate performance instead of style. It works at school and it's what PBUC wants the first couple of years. There will be time near the end of the 5 weeks where you will work a little bit on style.

If you go out at night, do not get in trouble. Everybody in the area knows who you are. The school goes on every year and there is an influx of guys that have "the look." People in the area know who you are and where you're from and if crap happens it will get back to Jimmy.

If you go into a bar and see instructors, leave. If you go to a specific destination (Howl at the Moon, Cowboys, Church St., etc) and there are instructors, stay and have fun, but stay away from them. Do not buy them drinks, don't go hang out with them. If you must pass them, a simple hello will suffice.

Do not hang out in the hotel bar if you want a job. Do hang out in the hotel bar if you want to hear war stories from Jimmy and you are not looking for a job.

 

 

Here is another article about a former umpire school from Sports Illustrated back in 1984.

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1121836/1/index.htm

 

Did a little recon here and one of the instructors mentioned in the SI article is an instructor at TUS and pictured on the first line of their online staff page.

 

6/11/12-another old umpire school article

 

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/20/magazine/what-s-killing-the-umps.html?src=pm&pagewanted=1

April 2017

old article of someone going deciding to go to umpire school

http://www.telegram.com/article/20090104/NEWS/901040391

[sdix00]

I just got an email from my son today.   He has registered for TUS 2014. 

 

 

He did a really cool thing.   He opened a savings account in January and deposited nearly all his game checks and didn't touch them.     He is about halfway there.  Total bill will be more like 5k with plane ticket and misc expenses.    

 

Cam will be 18 in August.   

 

Gonna shut up now. 

[wingman3110]

I just got an email from my son today.   He has registered for TUS 2014. 

 

 

He did a really cool thing.   He opened a savings account in January and deposited nearly all his game checks and didn't touch them.     He is about halfway there.  Total bill will be more like 5k with plane ticket and misc expenses.    

 

Cam will be 18 in August.   

 

Gonna shut up now.

What a way to do it. I'll be attending and keep an eye/ear open for him. We are around the same age so we've got that in common!

[iankelleyumpire]

I just got an email from my son today.   He has registered for TUS 2014. 

 

 

He did a really cool thing.   He opened a savings account in January and deposited nearly all his game checks and didn't touch them.     He is about halfway there.  Total bill will be more like 5k with plane ticket and misc expenses.    

 

Cam will be 18 in August.   

 

Gonna shut up now. 

 

That's great! I will have just turned 19 before I head to TUS in Jan. It seems like there are going to be quite a few of us young guys there this year!

[baseballfan]

I have officially signed up and received the enrollment contract! Can't wait to meet all you guys who will be there!

[Stan W.]

its really encouraging to see so many members attending school...........I know that so many more of us would love to go as well................ive always thpought the strength of any association, website or group of umpires is measured in the committment shown to get better..............

 

congratulations to all attending.......

[Umpire Training Academy]

Very happy to see so many sign ups.  Our staff is looking forward to our 2014 session.  We desire to keep enrollment around 100.  More than that and people begin to lose to personal interaction with staff and number of reps they need to get the most out of the course.  

 

Please stay in touch with Andy Shultz in the TUS office should you have any further needs.  He will get back to you ASAP.  Give him some lead time as he is the Administrator the for GCL as well, so they are in the midst of their season.  If you need to speak to an instructor, please email us at info@therightcall.net

 

More specific information will be forthcoming as we get closer to January.

 

Thank you all.

 

Justin Klemm

[Guest Mark Lawson USN Ret.]

I was wondering if the school excepted the GI Bill or if you have scholarships for disabled veterans?  If so can you explain how the process works?  Thank you for any help.  Have a safe and happy 4th of July!!!

[Guest Mark Lawson USN Ret]

accept

[Umpire Training Academy]

First of all, thank you for your Navy service.  It is appreciated. I come from a Marine Corp/Coast Guard Family.  About 12 members of immediate family serve.

 

We are exploring the process for becoming a GI Bill eligible school.  TUS spent the majority of the last two years getting fully licensed by the State of Florida and working on our M-1 to accept foreign students.  Schools are not eligible to apply to become part of the GI Bill program until they are licensed for a full two years.   So we can move forward with our application to the VA after our 2014 class.

 

We will post more on this as information becomes available.

[wingman3110]

I am now officially registered! Been looking forward to this for quite some time now. Should be one hell of an experience.

[CentralOhioUmp30]

Have been contemplating this for a while. Graduated from college in 2012 and I'll turn 24 in December. Have been unsuccessful thus far in securing a "solid" job, so I'm thinking this could be it for me. I am a little concerned with the fact that I'm only about 5'10 and have plantar faciitis. Working to correct the plantar faciitis as best I can.

Like I said, I know this is my last shot to do this and I know if I don't I'll likely regret it the rest of my life.

[baseballfan]

I can't speak about the plantar faciitis. I am sorry to hear that and hope you can correct it! But I can tell you from speaking with reliable sources that height will not be an issue. I am about 5'8" and was concerned about height as well. But Jerry Meals and Mark Wegner are both MLB umpires at 5'8". 

 

I say go for it!!

[JaxRolo]

Go for it or you will always wonder!

[CentralOhioUmp30]

Go for it or you will always wonder!

The financial issue is probably the most pressing. $4500 or $5000 is going to be tough sledding.

[LMSANS]

Talk to the schools...they may help. Larry Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

[Stan W.]

 

Go for it or you will always wonder!

The financial issue is probably the most pressing. $4500 or $5000 is going to be tough sledding.

 

On the other hand it wont ever be any cheaper than it is right now...........the one time I had the opportunity to go, (which was back in the late 80's) it was $1500 or so?.......and I didnt have it.....wish I would have bit the bullet.....

[Jglopez7]

I have a question...I am 29 years old been umpiring since I was 17. Safe to say I've been umpiring quality baseball for the past 6 years high school JV to D1 ball. I was reading other forums and websites some say umpire schools aim for the 21-24 age range for prospects. Is this true?

[wingman3110]

I have a question...I am 29 years old been umpiring since I was 17. Safe to say I've been umpiring quality baseball for the past 6 years high school JV to D1 ball. I was reading other forums and websites some say umpire schools aim for the 21-24 age range for prospects. Is this true?

 

 

Read through some of threads on here in the Umpire School forum. There is some good information on the topic you are inquiring about. 

 

In a nutshell the good majority that move on are in their lower to mid 20's but it is not unusual for a 29 year old to be selected.