IDK, makes sense...

[BLWizzRanger]

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1AUgZKpsNJ/

 

Lol

 

Sent from my SM-F721U1 using Tapatalk

 

 

[The Man in Blue]

Non Facebook link version?

[Velho]

 

[SeeingEyeDog]

Nobody asked me but...

I don't know this guy, personally...I'm really not a fan of his content. I think he means well and is enthusiastic but, he needs a mentor to talk with him to think about what he is putting out there.

~Dawg

[JSam21]

9 hours ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

Nobody asked me but...

I don't know this guy, personally...I'm really not a fan of his content. I think he means well and is enthusiastic but, he needs a mentor to talk with him to think about what he is putting out there.

~Dawg

Had this same discussion with a group of people. 

Here is the thing though. Everyone has a place in the game. I put him in the same group with guys like Blue Lou and Lathan, they are honestly more worried about making content than umpiring. Not everyone is meant to work at a high level. if they are content with what they are doing, best of luck to them. The only issue is, they then begin to be looked at as "experts" and give bad information. 

I think a bigger "danger" are accounts like Tattooed Ump who are wrong more often than not, but refuse to listen to anything because they have a following. 

[BLWizzRanger]

I will confess.  I only posted the video to stir the pot here about doing one man.  I actually thought to myself how naive he is so I am going to give him some benefit of doubt.  He is only like 19 or 20 years old.  He seems to have a passion for umpiring at an early age that hopefully serves him well. 

But, I do find him more annoying than anything.  And there are certain instances where he isn't entirely accurate on some subjects.  Like getting paid for Little League (which is supposed to be a volunteer organization.... I know, I know) or his video of D1 opportunities for one or two years experience (which he clarified later to say summer leagues and fall ball, plus, that he had to hustle the assigner (my words) to get a chance).

With that being said, I see his attempts to be more in line to the teenager crowd and just the basics. I haven't seen any video for game management yet.  Maybe his approach will bring more to the world of umpiring or officiating.

[834k3r]

Like others here, I appreciate his enthusiasm for The Craft. However, the video gives off vibes of Billy May (RIP):  creepy salesman, overly enthusiastic, with statements that are mostly, technically, true.

Show me an area that pays $100 for LL or JV and I'll tell you where I need to move next. And there's no way LL pays 1.5x or 2x for solo games.

[SeeingEyeDog]

If someone is able to generate interest in umpiring from those currently not umpiring, this is a good thing and I support that. As we see here on U-E every day, the inner workings of every amateur umpire market are far from universal. Many YT channels are out there speaking things that may be true in their markets in a way that suggests it's like that everywhere. Is there money to be made umpiring baseball and officiating youth sports? Absolutely! And I also understand like any job that pays money, there are ambitious people trying to improve themselves and work up the baseball food chain and there are people who simply see this as a job and don't care to improve. They cover games and don't go to clinics.

LL is of course a great gateway to umpiring. There're guys working MLB and MiLB who got their start in LL. And frankly, LL guys who elevate to Williamsport are better umpires than I'll ever be. (And we see them make mistakes, too..."And we want to remind everyone watching that these umpires are 100% volunteers...")

Perhaps this would be viewed as insidious but, an enterprising league or umpire association could make a huge impact by engineering a YT channel featuring a young person as the face of the channel, who is presenting skits with content vetted  by senior leadership that actually showed correct mechanics and provided factual information about working the amateur game.

And yes, the Billy Mays vibe was a turnoff when I saw Billy do it and it's a turnoff here, too...as my father liked to say when someone pitched him (usually a car dealership...), "I came here to BUY a car. I did not come here to be SOLD a car."

~Dawg 

[Jay R.]

2 hours ago, 834k3r said:

Show me an area that pays $100 for LL or JV and I'll tell you where I need to move next. And there's no way LL pays 1.5x or 2x for solo games.

Don't know what their current practices are but Alexandria LL in Northern VA paid quite well 2013-19. 

My base rate was $60 (or maybe $65?) in 2019. I got a $10 bonus for 70- or 90-foot diamond games (the chapter had through LL Seniors, I think), and anything solo was 1.5x. So a solo LL Majors game was at least $90, and a solo LL Intermediate $105. (We weren't scheduled to do 90' games solo but it happened once or twice, especially in the fall.)

[The Man in Blue]

Thank you @Velho, though now I am sorry that I "gave him a click."

If nothing else, I can say "thank you" to this thread for finally making the math work out.

A solo umpire doing twice the work at 75% of the accuracy and efficiency collects a check and a half.

1 x 2 x .75 = 1.5

 

One more edit: I'm not clicking on any more videos on his channel, but gauging by his uniform and the pictures, he isn't an umpire.  He is a content creator and a groupie.  Granted, it has gotten him some access and some things in life I will never experience.  This is where I struggle.  I want to happy for people like that.  Sadly, they are all people with, as my students would say, "have very punchable faces."

[JonnyCat]

 

[BLWizzRanger]

I just saw his video of where he did a ~5 game stint with the Bananas (and more importantly got to do the games in MLB stadiums). So he has that going for him....

[The Man in Blue]

I saw that, and that is where I get conflicted on this stuff.

Happy for the kid having these opportunities and success.  Would much rather that happened to people who were a bit more educated, serious, and authentic about the things they create content for.

It is a bit of a slap in the face and diminishment to all the hard working men and women out there.

I know, I don't know this kid and these are my old man biases.

 

On a side note: ever try to buy Bananas' tickets?  I think I am asking for  the nuclear launch codes.

[Velho]

On 1/25/2025 at 7:06 AM, The Man in Blue said:

On a side note: ever try to buy Bananas' tickets?  I think I am asking for  the nuclear launch codes.

That's appropriate in mind given how destructive they are to baseball 😁

[UMP45]

On 1/25/2025 at 9:01 AM, BLWizzRanger said:

I just saw his video of where he did a ~5 game stint with the Bananas (and more importantly got to do the games in MLB stadiums). So he has that going for him....

I equate this with the umpires who crossed the line when the MiLB umpires went on strike. They tell people 'I worked pro ball." No, you didn't.