Even The Pros Forget Gear

[834k3r]

Went to the TEX-NYY game on Thursday night. Umpires took the field, and first thing I saw was U1’s…white shoes. Seriously. They were white.

After the 2nd inning I saw him and U3 (who was the crew chief) run into the tunnel and re-emerge shortly before the top of the 3rd. U3 came out with his jacket on, but U1 still had his white shoes. Half inning later, U1 runs back into the tunnel. With just a few seconds before play resumed in the bottom of the third, U1 runs out from the tunnel—with black shoes! After the first batter he actually had to bend over and tie his shoes.

I’m not gonna lie:  it made me feel better that a pro forgot some of his kit, myself having forgotten a piece of equipment when dressing for a game.

[dumbdumb]

38 minutes ago, 834k3r said:

Went to the TEX-NYY game on Thursday night. Umpires took the field, and first thing I saw was U1’s…white shoes. Seriously. They were white.

After the 2nd inning I saw him and U3 (who was the crew chief) run into the tunnel and re-emerge shortly before the top of the 3rd. U3 came out with his jacket on, but U1 still had his white shoes. Half inning later, U1 runs back into the tunnel. With just a few seconds before play resumed in the bottom of the third, U1 runs out from the tunnel—with black shoes! After the first batter he actually had to bend over and tie his shoes.

I’m not gonna lie:  it made me feel better that a pro forgot some of his kit, myself having forgotten a piece of equipment when dressing for a game.

i am not saying what you saw was the ump himself or the company contracted to haul their gear from city to city. If you Google it, or go to some old games on you tube, you might find where the umps had to scavage up/use some players gear and go on the field. Sometimes the shipping of the priesmeyers/trunks/new soft equipment bags, have a shipping snafu and arrive late or not at all. I would imagine in this day and age there just might be some old used gear in every locker room that could be salvaged to use, but used shoes might not be one the items, nor is anyone on your crew the same size to help.

[834k3r]

22 hours ago, dumbdumb said:

i am not saying what you saw was the ump himself or the company contracted to haul their gear from city to city. If you Google it, or go to some old games on you tube, you might find where the umps had to scavage up/use some players gear and go on the field. Sometimes the shipping of the priesmeyers/trunks/new soft equipment bags, have a shipping snafu and arrive late or not at all. I would imagine in this day and age there just might be some old used gear in every locker room that could be salvaged to use, but used shoes might not be one the items, nor is anyone on your crew the same size to help.

That's fair. I had assumed the umpires just carried their own gear from city to city. Regardless of how it happened, it looked so freaking weird.

[TheRockawayKid]

22 hours ago, dumbdumb said:

i am not saying what you saw was the ump himself or the company contracted to haul their gear from city to city. If you Google it, or go to some old games on you tube, you might find where the umps had to scavage up/use some players gear and go on the field. Sometimes the shipping of the priesmeyers/trunks/new soft equipment bags, have a shipping snafu and arrive late or not at all. I would imagine in this day and age there just might be some old used gear in every locker room that could be salvaged to use, but used shoes might not be one the items, nor is anyone on your crew the same size to help.

From what I remember seeing/hearing, normally the plate umpire for a "first day" of a series will have their equipment shipped days in advance, so it's at the stadium waiting for them. Obviously base equipment can't be shipped so early. I THINK that it's Old Dominion that handles the logistics, but I could be wrong here.

But nothing is perfect, and sometimes there are delays in transit. So there have been times when umpires have had to wear whatever they could (whether it be civilian clothes or sometimes uniforms provided by the home team). 

These days, there are spare base uniforms in each stadium, so that there are fewer problems. So maybe they didn't have their shoes -- a very personal piece of equipment -- delivered. 

If you can look at the game again, see if the umpires had numbers on their uniforms. I would assume they didn't if they were taking a generic.