So tell me about your ball bag

[ArchAngel72]

So when I started this I was a black bag guy.   I rotated some navy blue in there with the navy shirts once in a while. BUT

Since I saw and purchased a couple grey bags, man I gotta say I am really liking the look of the grey ball bag. 

So, what say you what color is your favorite to wear and with what combo shirt.

 

[BLWizzRanger]

whisper... please dont tell me there are umpires who coordinate ball bag colors with mask pads/paint...

[SeeingEyeDog]

My bags always match my cap. The only time I wear a black cap is when I wear a black shirt, so black bags there. All other shirts, I wear a navy cap and therefore navy bags.

If the day comes, I am required to wear a gray cap, then and only then will I acquire and wear gray bags.

~Dawg

[wolfe_man]

My ball bags match my shirt which matches my hat.  I do think it's acceptable to wear the grey bags that match the pants too, but I prefer it matching shirt/hat.

Navy bags with navy hat & shirt for HS.  Also, I wear with with red shirt & a navy hat.

Black bags with the following shirts: sky blue, carolina blue, grey, black, etc. - and a black hat.

So, in reality I match ball bag(s) to my hat after all.

[LRZ]

What would you recommend to my partner last night, who asked me, "Orange shirts? I always bring two. No? How about purple?" 

[SeeingEyeDog]

@LRZ, there's one in every association. And if your association doesn't have one, the umpire gods will quickly adjust that imbalance of The Force and makes sure your association quickly gets a guy with not only every shirt....but, every shirt in multiple sizes so, he can outfit an entire crew to look erm...different than the game is accustomed to seeing.

Look, there's fighting the good fight against the monotony of navy...I've got a cream shirt, a red shirt and a pink shirt (for October) but, that's as far as I go.

Tradition dictates that the crew chief selects the game's shirt colors. All we can do is pray we are crew chiefs ourselves and can restore some sanity to the shirts or pray we get a crew chief who himself has a limited wardrobe.

~Dawg

[ArchAngel72]

Well I do tend to only wear 3 different color shirts so far..

Powder Blue

Black

Navy Blue

I do carry multiples and 2 different sizes

I have thought about the cream but have not pulled the trigger yet.  Red?  did not know about that one.

Pink maybe maaaaaybe some day.

But yeah I love the way the grey blends into the pants and to me its looks "Sharp" 

 

 

So here is one issue I have run into this year.

Yeah I am corrupting my own damn thread.

sigh

I ordered these off LL.orgs own store.  They list them as Light Blue.

 

However when you try to match them against the Amazon Adams brand I have bought before which the call "powder blue"  those LL ones are a shade darker for sure.

 

 

[FranklinT]

1 hour ago, ArchAngel72 said:

Well I do tend to only wear 3 different color shirts so far..

Powder Blue

Black

Navy Blue

I do carry multiples and 2 different sizes

I have thought about the cream but have not pulled the trigger yet.  Red?  did not know about that one.

Pink maybe maaaaaybe some day.

But yeah I love the way the grey blends into the pants and to me its looks "Sharp" 

 

 

So here is one issue I have run into this year.

Yeah I am corrupting my own damn thread.

sigh

I ordered these off LL.orgs own store.  They list them as Light Blue.

 

However when you try to match them against the Amazon Smitty's brand I have bought before which the call "powder blue"  those LL ones are a shade darker for sure.

 

 

These are totally different colors and came out at different times.  The bottom is the classic “powder blue” that’s been around since the 90s.  Sure every manufacturers shade of that color will be different (Smitty vs Honigs etc).  The top shirt is the polo blue color that the mlb guys wore for a period of time in the mid 2000s I believe.  It’s a darker color clearly and you will never get a match between those two shirt colors they are totally different. 

[wolfe_man]

3 hours ago, LRZ said:

What would you recommend to my partner last night, who asked me, "Orange shirts? I always bring two. No? How about purple?" 

Find a new partner. 

Just kidding.  I think I'd go black with those.

[wolfe_man]

1 hour ago, ArchAngel72 said:

I have thought about the cream but have not pulled the trigger yet.  Red?  did not know about that one.
 

Personally, I have cream - but hate it.  It shows every speck of dirt (see white shirt for example here) and does not look good (IMHO of course) unless you are pencil-thin, and if I were pencil-thin I still would hate it then too. 

But all that said, it's cooler somewhat and I have one to match partners who love making me look like a fat, white boy umpire.  It's a one-game only thing though and then we go back to "real" colors (powder & black mostly).

I do like the grey a lot also.  Red is okay too.  But most guys around here only have black, navy and powder so I don't get a lot of variety.

[Velho]

16 hours ago, ArchAngel72 said:

So when I started this I was a black bag guy.   I rotated some navy blue in there with the navy shirts once in a while. BUT

Since I saw and purchased a couple grey bags, man I gotta say I am really liking the look of the grey ball bag. 

So, what say you what color is your favorite to wear and with what combo shirt.

 

Color matching bags to shirt/hat. 🤯 

Got black from day one and never thought about it... until now. Thanks for giving my OCD something else to chew on. 🤣

Thread hijack: 1 bag or 2?

[ArchAngel72]

1 minute ago, Velho said:

Color matching bags to shirt/hat. 🤯 

Got black from day one and never thought about it... until now. Thanks for giving my OCD something else to chew on. 🤣

Thread hijack: 1 bag or 2?

 

Oh Little League I am a one bagger, However I am contemplating 2 

 

and PS you are welcome.

 

But I swear the Grey bags Look great with any shirt color

 

[eagle_12]

@ArchAngel72 two different shirt colors and "style" if you can call it that.

 The bottom one with the predominate light blue collar is the traditional softball "powder blue".  The top one (black collar) is what MLB came up with when they wanted a light blue alternative when the black shirts with the white around the collar came about.  Think this is called "polo blue", and yes, is a darker blue then the other one.   

[Jimurray]

2 minutes ago, eagle_12 said:

@ArchAngel72 two different shirt colors and "style" if you can call it that.

 The bottom one with the predominate light blue collar is the traditional softball "powder blue".  The top one (black collar) is what MLB came up with when they wanted a light blue alternative when the black shirts with the white around the collar came about.  Think this is called "polo blue", and yes, is a darker blue then the other one.   

That darker shade MLB shirt on top is the correct shade for what was the MLB blue back when they had that shirt. Honigs had that color. Unfortunately, Smitty I think, went to China to copy that shirt and started selling a much lighter shade as the MLB blue. So our new umpires would show up with the MLB blue and not match. Then Smitty found the right shade and offered either shade for sale. Ump-Attire also sells two shades of the "MLB Blue", powder and polo. I think polo matches the original MLB shade.

[ArchAngel72]

The top is a Honigs shirt I got from littleleague.org

the bottom is a Adams from Amazon.. /shrug

 

 

[FranklinT]

3 minutes ago, Jimurray said:

That darker shade MLB shirt on top is the correct shade for what was the MLB blue back when they had that shirt. Honigs had that color. Unfortunately, Smitty I think, went to China to copy that shirt and started selling a much lighter shade as the MLB blue. So our new umpires would show up with the MLB blue and not match. Then Smitty found the right shade and offered either shade for sale. Ump-Attire also sells two shades of the "MLB Blue", powder and polo. I think polo matches the original MLB shade.

Correct…I recall when they initially introduced these shirts at the MLB level the color they called it was polo blue and was meant to be a darker blue not a “powder.  Believe “Carolina blue” is the official color of the Majestic shirts (much different than polo blue.)

Keeping this straight? 🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐

[Velho]

54 minutes ago, ArchAngel72 said:

Oh Little League I am a one bagger, However I am contemplating 2

I go two bags (now that we're allowed to handle the baseballs). I get as many baseballs as I can and don't like over stuffing the one bag. And symmetry (did I mention OCD?).

[ArchAngel72]

Just now, Velho said:

I go two bags (now that we're allowed to handle the baseballs). I get as many baseballs as I can and don't like over stuffing the one bag. And symmetry (did I mention OCD?).

Did I mention how well the grey bags go with the grey pants.

Once you see it you will like it.

 

[SeeingEyeDog]

I am a double bagger...always. Even if I am not fully stuffing them with baseballs, I like the extra room for my book, indicator (at rest) and brush. By the way, I bought some Dry-Lo ball bags and they are really great...worth the extra money. Very sturdy, they clean up nice and don't get wrinkly. I also like that you can get them either with compartments sewn into the inside or plain interiors. I carry one of each. Supposedly, the fabric was chosen by the inventor because it keeps the baseballs drier but, I haven't really noticed a difference there. Finally, there is a home plate shaped notch cut for the belt and belt loops and that's a nice touch.

As for light blue shirts...what a nightmare. 2 years ago I bought Carolina Blue Smitty shirts and was promptly told the first time I wore one, "Uhhhh...Carolina Blue is a softball shirt. We wear powder blue."

So, I have legit powder blue too, now but...I've noticed there are lots of varieties there, too. They come in black collars and sleeves, red white and blue collars and sleeves and on and on...

~Dawg

[MadMax]

4 hours ago, ArchAngel72 said:

Did I mention how well the grey bags go with the grey pants.

Fastest way to get demerited on a college-level plate job – wear grey ball bags. 

Supposedly, grey ball bags are for softball, which I find odd considering that softball still cannot make up its mind (ironic that most softball players are women, no?) as to which shade of grey to use for pants: charcoal or heather. Wear heather ball bags on charcoal pants, you’re just asking for tsks and eye-rolls. I’ve defended TheOfficialsChoice on their extravagant shirt colors before, but when they started to offer ball bags in both shades of grey, camo... and pink... I gave up. 

I have two black ball bags for any/all games using or complementing black or black-trimmed shirts. For those stubborn hold-out states that still insist on using navy shirts, I have a pair of navy ball bags. The only other navy-trimmed shirt that uses these bags is red; and, of course, I use a navy hat, and have a navy mask and navy harness. If I feel like making a sartorial point, and illuminating the absurd devotion to “standards and protocols” in the amateur game, I’ll even wear navy shoes (on bases). But these occasions have largely died off, and are rare nowadays... 

... because I do not do softball. Talk about a house divided, NCAA Softball actually went the route of trotting out Navy with Powder Blue panels, and Powder Blue with Navy paneled shirts for the NCAA WCWS. While I’m disappointed that they’re sticking with navy as their base color, I applaud them on promoting the more modern style. Whole state associations can’t even do that! 

At last count, I have 11 different colors spanning 4 styles, giving me 18 different shirts, without counting duplicates. Granted, most of my ≈ 400 games are in black, but the only thing I and most of my colleagues request is that we use other colors or older black shirt styles on day games, else our rather expensive, latest-edition black shirts fade in the oppressive sun. 

Important point with ball bags – unless you’re working in an environment where there’s a ready resupply of baseballs – no less than 4 at a time – then don’t wear just one ball bag! Wear two; it is the dumbest delay and look to a game that you’re out of baseballs, or that the clubbie / ballboy is bringing you only 3 at a go because you can’t fit them into your one lone ball bag because you want to look oh-so-big-league.

 

[rhinolith]

I have only black bags. My favorites are the ones I got from Honig’s but I can’t remember the manufacturer. The cut out for the belt loop is in the shape of home plate. These bags seem to be a little bigger and the internal pockets are bigger, too, and fit plate brushes and other crap I carry.

I recently ordered the Smitty regular and XL sizes. I will stick with the XL. But the internal pockets are not as big as I would prefer. Quality seems good.

 

[FranklinT]

2 hours ago, rhinolith said:

I have only black bags. My favorites are the ones I got from Honig’s but I can’t remember the manufacturer. The cut out for the belt loop is in the shape of home plate. These bags seem to be a little bigger and the internal pockets are bigger, too, and fit plate brushes and other crap I carry.

 

These are the “dry lo” bags created by former AAA umpire Mark Lollo and now sold by Force 3

[ArchAngel72]

14 hours ago, MadMax said:

Important point with ball bags – unless you’re working in an environment where there’s a ready resupply of baseballs – no less than 4 at a time – then don’t wear just one ball bag! Wear two; it is the dumbest delay and look to a game that you’re out of baseballs, or that the clubbie / ballboy is bringing you only 3 at a go because you can’t fit them into your one lone ball bag because you want to look oh-so-big-league.

 

Heh  me working little league at this point in the season I am struggling to find 3 new balls from both teams for a game.

 

[LRZ]

Somewhere in the attic is my stash of Elbeco button-down shirts.

[BT_Blue]

I dont think I even own navy bags anymore. I'm actually going to be selling off all of my navy stuff (this includes a Thermabase jacket) during the off season.

As for what they are. I have the ballbags that Ump-Attire used to sell. They are double lined and have a storage zipper on the back.

I liked the idea of the lining on both sides of the bag because of my location in the world. It is wet here, especially in the spring (as shocking as that is). So the idea that I can at least keep the balls dry to some point from the rain was quite appealing.