Pissed off bigtime

[johnnyg08]

Here's an old link w/ information on it from a few years back about the salaries some of these people are making.  

 

How do they make ends meet?  Answer:  They expect you to work for free or bird seed.

 

http://community.hsbaseballweb.com/topic/top-salaries-of-little-league-and-babe-ruth-baseball-officers

[BigUmpire]

Little Leagues in many communities couldn't exist without volunteer umpires.  Try these numbers on for size.

 

12 kids on a team.  12 recreational games per year.  So, in effect, each kid has to pay for one game.  Let's be wildly optimistic and assume that the all parents can pay a $130 registration fee.  If we pay two umpires $50 for this game, we've now consumed $100 of that $130.  $25 for a uniform.  $5 for baseballs.  Great, we've covered it.  Except for:

 

1. insurance
2. catchers' gear
3. batters' helmets
4. electricity
5. fence repair
6. gas to put in the mowers
7. mowers to put around the gas
8. awards
9. drying agents
10. aeration
11. infield mix
12. fertilizer
13. pesticides
14. flags
15. restroom maintenance
16. trash disposal
17. advertizing
18. dugout repair
19. legal defense

 

Granted, sponsors help.  But most local leagues owe their existence to volunteer umpires.

 

No hate on those that choose not to.    

All well and good BUT when you see NICE cars in the parking lot, $150 bats, $80 gloves and more I am convinced that these parents have plenty of money.

I have personally been down this road as a league president and when leagues stop focusing on growth and focus on quality of play things will get better for all of the people that really want to be there vs a babysitting service.

 

It was big turning point in our league when we did this. We did lose some players and most of the "Scholarship" kids that had been dropped off day after day at our park and then trying to find rides home after the game.

 

Lots of leagues push hard for growth because their number are reducing and only having 2-3 team per age group is bad as they play each other time after time. Our league stated interleague play years ago and that solved that problem.

 

Quality of play for ALL is a much better experence for EVERYONE!

[BigUmpire]

I vote bait the offending coach at plate meeting. Issue a warning that he is not to speak or walk on the field or be out of the dugout wirhout prior permission. When he whines or protests or violates the warning he is gone. Doubtful he'd make it past the first inning with me. Unless he is on his best behavior. Which is all I really want.

I LIKE IT!

[JaxRolo]

Found this article which talks about paying players. But it also applies to paying Umpires:

 

Pay the Little League World Series players

By Dan Wetzel August 24, 2011 3:29 PM Yahoo Sports

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Exciting games like the one between Georgia and Kentucky on Monday provide great entertainment for f â€¦

Night after long summer night, here comes the beaming visions of Americana at its most wholesome – big corporate profits and the unpaid workers who deliver them.

 

Actually, it's the Little League World Series and, like nearly everyone else, I find little wrong with the Little League World Series. Who doesn't like watching a bunch of 12-year-olds play their hearts out and enjoy a fleeting bit of recognition? They've been staging the event since 1947, Norman Rockwell stuff.

Except that Little League became Big Business a long time ago, and while the concept is sure to shock and outrage (it has when I've written it in the past), the truth is it's long past time for a simple change.

The players should be paid.

Not every Little Leaguer, just the ones who play on television, where their innocence is packaged into a commodity. And, no, they shouldn't make millions or even hundreds of thousands.

They should get something, maybe several hundred per television appearance. If it made people more comfortable that the money went to a college savings fund or maybe into a trust that becomes available when they're 18 or 21, so be it.

Whatever it is, they deserve it because while the kids aren't making any money, everyone else associated with this booming, expanding event is.

What started humbly in bucolic South Williamsport, Pa., is now a marriage between the $38.1-billion Walt Disney Company (ESPN) and the "not-for-profit" Little League Baseball Inc. ($72.9 million in assets in fiscal 2009).

The two first masterfully figured out how to sell America on the purity of a game being played by unpaid kids.

Then they sold a lot of advertising.

The concept of amateurism only survives because they properly marketed this event as something it isn't completely about. Yes, players' passion, joy and youthful excitement drive it. That doesn't matter to the suits in the corner office, though. They aren't doing this out of the goodness of their hearts.

LLB did $22.1 million in total revenue in fiscal 2009, according to the most recently available federal tax form. It brought in $5.6 million from the World Series and an additional $3.7 million in "broadcast rights fees." ESPN continues to increase the hours it televises, up to 56 total games including regional finals and semifinals. The ratings are strong. This thing is a summer cash cow.

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Players and coaches from Mexico celebrate a 3-2 victory over Japan during international pool play on â€¦

In fiscal 2008, LLB Inc. turned a $2.9 million (tax free) profit. Despite spending nearly $4 million on a construction project, it still turned over a $1 million in profit in 2009. It has that nearly $80 million in assets to fall back on.

Every player could be provided a stipend of, say, $750 every time their team appears on television – all 14 players per roster get the same amount. That would cost $1.18 million total. Most years, according to federal tax filings, that's less than half of Little League Baseball Inc.'s annual profits. They even could attempt to pass the cost onto ESPN, a do-the-right-thing fee.

It's a drop in the bucket to the executives. It's a big deal to the players and their families.

Disney has entire television networks and movie divisions filled with preteen actors, actresses, singers and dancers. It wouldn't dare think of not paying them.

Yes, the core of Little League springs from the humble neighborhood sandlot, and that's great. Anyone appearing on the Disney Channel can also take part in a community theatre program or school choir. When they get to the big time, however, they get paid for their talents.

No one says the adolescent actress on a Disney tweener show should be content enjoying the dream-come-true-experience of starring in a television show without compensation. No one says she doesn’t deserve to get paid because a million other kids her age would gladly do it for free or because she gets a nice hotel room and free ice cream in her trailer during shooting.

She's the star because she's talented. She's making money for the network, therefore she is a paid employee. Little League players reached the World Series for the same reason.

There is no shortage of American families that could use the money to save for college or offset the considerable costs of their son advancing through several tournaments to reach the Little League World Series. It's even more expensive for the foreign players and their families.

The last few weeks the Walt Disney Company made money off dozens of kids from third-world countries and didn't pay them a cent. I'm not sure this could occur in any other industry.

You think a few thousand dollars (each team gets at least two games on TV) might matter to families from Venezuela or Mexico, let alone blue collar America?

Money, some will argue, would change the event.

Perhaps, but change it for whom? Spare us the paternalism. The decision shouldn't rest on what most pleases the person watching from home or the one delivering the product to them (in between Kellogg's commercials, of course).

As for money leading to corruption, that ship sailed. There have already been myriad cheating scandals in Little League and the intensity of the competition long ago left the participation trophy level.

Would giving the players something for their efforts jeopardize future NCAA scholarships? Only if you believe in tail-wag-the-dog-nonsense. Since when should the NCAA get to be the final arbiter on this? Make them conform, not the other way around.

The Little League runs a wonderful event. They treat the players extremely well during their stay in Williamsport. Executive salaries are high, but are limited to a handful of employees and not wholly out of line for such an organization, which obviously does more than just run the World Series. Most Little League administrators and coaches around the world are volunteers.

In the multi-billion dollar youth sports industry that too often challenges families with endless expenses and tournament operators seeking maximum profits, it remains a shining light. It's also a lot of fun.

Which doesn't change the reality that it's become so big, so profitable, so commercialized, that the terms of the deal need to change along with it.

Little League Baseball is operating and Disney is broadcasting an entertainment product no different than Pirates of the Caribbean or Dancing with the Stars or Yankees-Red Sox. You can fall for their finely tuned marketing campaign emphasizing innocence and purity or you can follow the money right to their hefty bottom line.

These performers, no matter how poor they are back home, don't get paid. Not even a little.

Is that really what Apple Pie America is about?

[basejester]

Sorry for the hijack.  I don't want to have an 'us and them' conversation, because I am both us and them in this conversation.  There's a lot of variation in local leagues' circumstance that a national affiliation has little to do with.

 

Our board or directors has 4 volunteer umpires on it.

We don't make outrageous profits on the concession stand.  We don't have potable water for fountain drinks.  (Working on this.)

 

But we're fortunate in some other areas.  The middle school allows us to use their land.  ( One of our neighboring leagues is paying a large mortgage.) The high school supports us in various ways.  It's true that some people who could pay (or pay more), don't.  Frustratingly so.  And some of those receiving scholarship really need it, and wouldn't be able to play otherwise.

 

Taking all of the paid staff's salary and spreading it among all of the local leagues wouldn't amount to much.  With respect to the TV money, that has a signifcant (and growing) impact on keeping the insurance and charter costs low.  We're all seeing some of that and hoping for more.

 

I don't agree with the notion of paying the players.  The losing teams are already subsidizing the winning teams' trips already.  It's enough.

 

All that said, I can imagine a time when the best choice is to pay umpires, particularly for 60/90 divisions.  The trick is not to alienate other valuable volunteers & sponsors.

[BRUMP]

If I was umpiring that game, I would have requested that coach not be on the field, bench, or in the park.  If not, I would have walked off the field and talked to my partner as well to follow.  Coaches like that are not good for the kids, they are just trying to relive their playing days.    

 

I was working for a brand new association this was my 1st game ever for them and i didnt want to leave the assignor in a hole.   i figured it would be best to man up swallow some pride and then talk about it after.     however after the game the press of that association said if i woulda walked off he wouldntve blamed me

[grayhawk]

@BigUmpire - what does "focus on quality of play" mean?  What did you do and how did this make things better?

[BigUmpire]

@BigUmpire - what does "focus on quality of play" mean?  What did you do and how did this make things better?

 

Like most leagues we were focused on growing the league-we were:

1. Begging people to have their children play
2. Begging people to coach
3. Subsidizing fees with concession and tournament profits
4. Minimal coaches training
5. No pitching instruction
6. Granting too many travel slots to teams

 

We:

1. Developed a budget that outlined fees on what it took to put a player on the field, published it AND had it at signups.
2. Raised fees to pay for quality gear, umpires and facilities.
3. Paid for professional pitching instruction for rec league players (biggie).
4. Limited number of players based on the # of coaches we had signed up. Each sign up got a #- we had a fixed # of players per team and when we ran out of coaches we let parents know their child was on a standby list until we had a coach. (sure made people sign up on time!)
5. Had professional coaches conduct coaches clinics.( established, GOOD travel coaches)
6. Held a draft that resulted in much more EVEN teams.
7. Held 2-4 tournaments that paid for things like pitching machines and more NICE equipment.
8. Concession profits, typically 3-5 thousand per week, went into a reserve and scholarship fund.
9. Each board member was limited to ONE scholarship AND the scholarship parents were ENCOURAGED to give back resources (work days) other that money (Most did)
10. End of season tournament for all with GREAT prizes ( Nice Bat bags, Nokona gloves, Demarini bats and more) for top 2 teams
11. Paid our umpires MUCH better that all other leagues in the area (almost double, fed them ALL they wanted, had a room built for them and backed them up on all ejections. Clearly quality umpiring was a cornerstone to our first year’s success. BUT we did demand that weak ones go call slow pitch softball for the city OR somewhere else but our park.
12. Limited sponsored travel teams to one per age group with the coaches be interviewed and agreeing to only take Wed and Sunday practice slots AND holding one tournament with a fixed fee coming back to the league (typically 3-5K$)  

All of this was laid out to the city and county beforehand and was published in 3 local papers in January, February and March.

Our numbers DID drop BUT all involved had LOTS more fun.

[DVA7130]

@JaxRolo

Yep.

Pay players but not umpires.

Amazing. :shakehead:

[JaxRolo]

@JaxRolo<br /><br />Yep.<br /><br />Pay players but not umpires.<br /><br />Amazing.

I never said pay players!

 

I said the article could apply to umpire pay.

 

Go back and reread.

[grayhawk]

@BigUmpire - lots of great ideas there.  Well done.

[BigUmpire]

@BigUmpire - lots of great ideas there.  Well done.

Thanks.

Tough first year BUT long term fun!

[DVA7130]

@JaxRolo<br /><br />Yep.<br /><br />Pay players but not umpires.<br /><br />Amazing.

I never said pay players!

 

I said the article could apply to umpire pay.

 

Go back and reread.

@JaxRolo

I was agreeing with your post.

I was pointing out with the ridiculousness of that article.