Another reminder to hydrate

[The Man in Blue]

22 hours ago, concertman1971 said:

from the wrist to the top of the bicep. Been wearing them for years now!

Ahh … when you say 3/4 length, I immediately thought of 

 

(another of my preferred off-field styles)

[MadMax]

On 7/22/2025 at 11:59 AM, The Man in Blue said:

Max, are you shaming the cream?!  My only issue is it gets dirty (ok, I get dirty) easily.  I never really cared for it or appreciated it until I went south. 

Not at all. I actually have (2016) cream w/ black panels, and (2010) cream with vertical black stripe. It’s a sharp look! I don’t shame anyone’s choice of color; instead, I heavily criticize imperatives – “You must wear blah blah blah*”, or “wearing this is a bad look”. Pffft, whatever. I could wear polka dots and be just as effective as an umpire as you. 

I once witnessed Gerry Davis conducting a game at Wrigley Field, in 97° heat, with easily 95% humidity, and he wore a bright, hazard orange cooling towel draped over his neck… all while calling B&Ks!! Every half inning, he’d leave the field, go in the tunnel, and get rehydrated and cooled off. His U1, Will Little, ran all the lineup cards. 
And I’m sure, somewhere, there’s some umpire-of-influence saying “that’s a bad look”. 

On 7/22/2025 at 1:16 PM, Thatsnotyou said:

but I don’t feel bad about having a water bottle or whatever on the field.

And you shouldn’t! You shouldn’t be shamed into dehydrating and imperiling yourself because the pedantic Style Police proclaim “it’s a bad look!” to bring a water bottle – of any size – onto the field! 
“The teams should / are obligated to take care of you.” Sure, admirable concept, but rarely performed, even at the NAIA or D-3 levels. Teams are shallow-of-thought, forget, or have short attention spans. And yes, while rare, teams do get that petty when they’re miffed at you. 

I’ve worked in Arizona for 9 years… I can actually count the number of games I’ve conducted without bringing my own water bottle on the field… with my keys clipped to it. 

Hydrate, guys, hydrate. And do so free of this pervasive “false machismo” that The U-stablishment keeps lugging around like a merit badge. You’re not a better umpire because of “style points”; you’re a better umpire because you’re able to stay cognitively engaged for the entirety of the game. 
 

* - unless, of course, you(r organization) provided said uniforms. That prioritizes things. 

[Velho]

2 hours ago, MadMax said:

once witnessed Gerry Davis conducting a game at Wrigley Field [snip]
And I’m sure, somewhere, there’s some umpire-of-influence saying “that’s a bad look”. 

Maybe GD can counter the LL influence that’s telling Regional umpires not to wear sweat bands 🤨

 

2 hours ago, MadMax said:

Not at all. I actually have (2016) cream w/ black panels, and (2010) cream with vertical black stripe. It’s a sharp look! I don’t shame anyone’s choice of color;

PSA for those that do want to look sharp: print on your undershirt shows through the cream (and often pink or even sky blue depending on the heaviness of the print).

[834k3r]

2 hours ago, Velho said:

PSA for those that do want to look sharp: print on your undershirt shows through the cream (and often pink or even sky blue depending on the heaviness of the print).

[The Man in Blue]

@MadMax … I have never even seen those cream shirts!

@Velho why are you wearing an undershirt with print on it?  Although I hate shopping at WallyWorld, my undershirt preference is their inexpensive Athletix shirts.  Need to splurge on some of those mocks that can be found around here … 🤔

[Velho]

32 minutes ago, The Man in Blue said:

@Velho why are you wearing an undershirt with print on it?  Although I hate shopping at WallyWorld, my undershirt preference is their inexpensive Athletix shirts.  Need to splurge on some of those mocks that can be found around here …

I can't explain others actions  

As for me, myself, and I, I only do it when I know it won't show. Specifically (shudder) navy, which I wear over red. I wear a red undershirt from my son's All Star team. White or black I wear plain 32 Degrees.

That said, one of the trophies (or reward - whatever word you want to use) folks give out is undershirts acknowledging levels worked. Like this one I got for doing a LL NorCal State Juniors (14U) game this year

 

[BLWizzRanger]

1 hour ago, Velho said:

I can't explain others actions  

As for me, myself, and I, I only do it when I know it won't show. Specifically (shudder) navy, which I wear over red. I wear a red undershirt from my son's All Star team. White or black I wear plain 32 Degrees.

That said, one of the trophies (or reward - whatever word you want to use) folks give out is undershirts acknowledging levels worked. Like this one I got for doing a LL NorCal State Juniors (14U) game this year

 

There is a joke here somewhere about ... "and all I got was this lousy volunteer t-shirt".

[Velho]

1 hour ago, BLWizzRanger said:

There is a joke here somewhere about ... "and all I got was this lousy volunteer t-shirt".

They also quadrupled my pay since it was a STATE game 🤣