The more things change...

[TPBD Blue]

tl:dr - back to give back (again)

I started umpiring back in 1981 (mainly HS and Pony with a few semi-pro games thrown in). Retired in 2001 - bought a new house, so no longer had free weekends (worked 9-5 on the weekdays, so no games there). I retired in Jan 2023, so now free on weekdays and am back to work. The money is better, a lot of administrative work (scheduling, communication) is done online, some mechanics have changed, smartphone cameras at every game yet game management is pretty much the same. I'm glad to be back though I'm taking it season to season. The kids (players) have been good, had a few run-ins with coaches (expected) and the fans haven't been troublesome. Still, the aches and pains take longer to recover from and I had my first serious injury in my career:

Gratefully (according to the doctor), there's a muscle group their that protects the carotid and jugular or it would have been much worse

Anyway, read on this thread another umpire who returned after ten years. Ran into another umpire at clinic who also returned after ten years, so hope it's a trend. Also gave my ump business card to a catcher who umpired the in-house league. Hope that he'll sign up when older

Finally, two more anecdotes; 1) was able to umpire with a student (I was a HS teacher) who I introduced to umpiring back when he was in HS AND also umpired with his son, who followed in this footsteps, and 2) umpired the son of a HS student (his dad would return to coach the next game - it was a fun reunion)

Glad to give back to the game that continues to give back to me

[Scissors]

Welcome back. Please upgrade your chest protector though. With modern CPs you should barely feel the hit.

[Velho]

Happy you're back.

Nasty shot. Glad you're ok. Trying to think through how you got hit so hard there. Was that hit a straight shot, ball bounced up off ground, or what? It's common to have CP ride too low so was that a factor?

[TPBD Blue]

thanks for the welcome back, Scissors. The foul ball struck me right above where the inside chest protector covered me and just past where the throat guard would have deflected it - it was a lucky/unlucky hit

[TPBD Blue]

hey, Velho - the foul ball caught be just above where the CP covered and just past where the throat guard would have deflected it away. Gratefully, there was a athletic trainer on site (I umpire in the south burbs of Chicago). Unfortunately, I was working the game solo and still had a few more innings to go 😬 which is why I couldn't ice it immediately, resulting in the swelling and nasty bruise