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Fryowa

Fryowa

Administrator
I coach a 12u travel team that plays strictly on weekends, and two town rec 5th grade teams. Been with this group since they were 2nd graders (my son is in this grade) and as far as rec goes I will be with them next year before they start junior high ball. Travel team will continue as long as there's interest. Here are my questions for those of you involved in rec ball. Keep in mind we are a town of 5,000 ish people with only one full time rec director anda semi-part time assistant.

1) How much do you guys pay your umps?

2) How do you find umps? Parents, high school, college kids?

3) What do you do to encourage people to umpire games.

Here's the context...

Travel ball is never a problem because they're all tournaments with (usually) trained umps who make a decent rate for a Friday night/Saturday all day.

Rec ball, different story...In our 8 town local league, the home team provides two umps. Our rec department pays $10 a game, and they are assigned to two games a night - one 5th and one 6th grade. Our rec director says he has a tough time finding umps and it's rare that I see the same one twice. Normally it's a former high school baseball player who's home from college and it goes pretty well, but other times...

Last night we played at home and our RD comes up to me and says, "Fryowa, I could only get one ump for tonight so he's going to have to call B/S from behind the mound." Not a huge deal I thought, went to go meet the kid and he looked scared to death and as I was walking away he goes, "So are you guys going to bat first?" Holy shit.

I feel bad for him because he obviously had no clue and probably got guilted into it, but I was wondering what you guys in smaller towns do to cover your umpire needs. After this season is over I'm going to sit down with our RD and talk about ways we can get better at it. I'm 100% volunteer and don't work for the city, so my suggestions will have no weight behind them. I want to be as persuasive as I can, knowing that the easiest solution (more money) is going to be the hardest to get approved.
 
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Fryowa said:
1) How much do you guys pay your umps? $20 per game

2) How do you find umps? Parents, high school, college kids? High school players, former players, one local retired guy that is a HS umpire

3) What do you do to encourage people to umpire games. We've never had a problem finding umpires. In a pinch, we have the rec director's assistant, who is usually a college kid, umpire the bases. We've never had an opposing coach, to my knowledge, have a problem with this.
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I think $20 should be the minimum. $40 a night, three times a week to umpire rec ball isn't bad pay at all.

Our high school players have BP on nights they don't have games that the players actually started on their own. They go in starting around 6:30 and can come and go as they please as long as they get 2 rounds in and sign off. Getting one of those guys to ump is tough in our town. Now if it was $20 a game I bet a few would be willing to shuffle things around.
 
I've tried the parent route too and have gotten nowhere. What surprises me is that from talking to parents, only three fathers out of the 17 kids I coach ever played high school baseball. Two of those help me coach.
 
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Fryowa said:
I coach a 12u travel team that plays strictly on weekends, and two town rec 5th grade teams. Been with this group since they were 2nd graders (my son is in this grade) and as far as rec goes I will be with them next year before they start junior high ball. Travel team will continue as long as there's interest. Here are my questions for those of you involved in rec ball. Keep in mind we are a town of 5,000 ish people with only one full time rec director anda semi-part time assistant.

1) How much do you guys pay your umps?

2) How do you find umps? Parents, high school, college kids?

3) What do you do to encourage people to umpire games.

Here's the context...

Travel ball is never a problem because they're all tournaments with (usually) trained umps who make a decent rate for a Friday night/Saturday all day.

Rec ball, different story...In our 8 town local league, the home team provides two umps. Our rec department pays $10 a game, and they are assigned to two games a night - one 5th and one 6th grade. Our rec director says he has a tough time finding umps and it's rare that I see the same one twice. Normally it's a former high school baseball player who's home from college and it goes pretty well, but other times...

Last night we played at home and our RD comes up to me and says, "Fryowa, I could only get one ump for tonight so he's going to have to call B/S from behind the mound." Not a huge deal I thought, went to go meet the kid and he looked scared to death and as I was walking away he goes, "So are you guys going to bat first?" Holy shit.

I feel bad for him because he obviously had no clue and probably got guilted into it, but I was wondering what you guys in smaller towns do to cover your umpire needs. After this season is over I'm going to sit down with our RD and talk about ways we can get better at it. I'm 100% volunteer and don't work for the city, so my suggestions will have no weight behind them. I want to be as persuasive as I can, knowing that the easiest solution (more money) is going to be the hardest to get approved.
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Recruit!
 
Not baseball, but my 2 cents. In soccer I did from my own travel soccer team and also coached rec. I think refs and umps would be about the same challenge. I did coach HS baseball. Some of the best umps/refs are not officially trained and some never played. Find a local kid that never played and REALLY knows the game. Every town has one.

Here are some suggestions not exactly what you asked for.

1. If you get HS kids make sure they are good and have moxy.
2. State your objectives clearly when you hire them and before the game. Key on sportsmanship, rules and flow of the game. If one side is much better than the other discuss how the game evolves with umping ahead of time.
3. Talk to your parents consistently about behavior expectations. Have your umps' back. They are human and 2 people can witness the same and see something differently.
4. If you only have one ump the only place to do it from is from behind the pitcher.
5. Ask them to ask for feedback from both coaches on balls/strikes and a couple of parents.
6. Younger officials like pizza.
7. there are some girls who are very good.
 
HawkGold said:
Not baseball, but my 2 cents. In soccer I did from my own travel soccer team and also coached rec. I think refs and umps would be about the same challenge. I did coach HS baseball. Some of the best umps/refs are not officially trained and some never played. Find a local kid that never played and REALLY knows the game. Every town has one.

Here are some suggestions not exactly what you asked for.

1. If you get HS kids make sure they are good and have moxy.
2. State your objectives clearly when you hire them and before the game. Key on sportsmanship, rules and flow of the game. If one side is much better than the other discuss how the game evolves with umping ahead of time.
3. Talk to your parents consistently about behavior expectations. Have your umps' back. They are human and 2 people can witness the same and see something differently.
4. If you only have one ump the only place to do it from is from behind the pitcher.
5. Ask them to ask for feedback from both coaches on balls/strikes and a couple of parents.
6. Younger officials like pizza.
7. there are some girls who are very good.
Click to expand...

I was a shy high school kid who umped for a couple of years many years ago. A couple of the coaches were the worst kind you can imagine. #1 is so true as you have to be really good and have moxy, which, at the time I didn't have.

One yelled at me to pull my head out. He yelled that I was the worst ump in the league even though that wasn't true. Another 6' 5" 250 lb. guy threatened me that he was going to get me after the game, me being about 150 lbs. at the time. I didn't get a lot of support from the bosses either who didn't seem to care. Sucked man.
 
SteveGarvey1 said:
I was a shy high school kid who umped for a couple of years many years ago. A couple of the coaches were the worst kind you can imagine. #1 is so true as you have to be really good and have moxy, which, at the time I didn't have.

One yelled at me to pull my head out. He yelled that I was the worst ump in the league even though that wasn't true. Another 6' 5" 250 lb. guy threatened me that he was going to get me after the game, me being about 150 lbs. at the time. I didn't get a lot of support from the bosses either who didn't seem to care. Sucked man.
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In college I played on a softball team. There was a men's and a women's team. I agreed to ump. It was our tourney. The final play of the women's game was a play at the plate and the opponent slid under the tag though the ball was there a tad early. No one else in the place new it but the other ump (other than the two involved players. Called her safe which she was and our team lost. You'd have thought I was Pol Pot or something like that. Terrible. The other ump did come up and said it was the right call.
 
HawkGold said:
In college I played on a softball team. There was a men's and a women's team. I agreed to ump. It was our tourney. The final play of the women's game was a play at the plate and the opponent slid under the tag though the ball was there a tad early. No one else in the place new it but the other ump (other than the two involved players. Called her safe which she was and our team lost. You'd have thought I was Pol Pot or something like that. Terrible. The other ump did come up and said it was the right call.
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Guess you were supposed to be dishonest for the team.
 
HawkGold said:
Not baseball, but my 2 cents. In soccer I did from my own travel soccer team and also coached rec. I think refs and umps would be about the same challenge. I did coach HS baseball. Some of the best umps/refs are not officially trained and some never played. Find a local kid that never played and REALLY knows the game. Every town has one.

Here are some suggestions not exactly what you asked for.

1. If you get HS kids make sure they are good and have moxy.
2. State your objectives clearly when you hire them and before the game. Key on sportsmanship, rules and flow of the game. If one side is much better than the other discuss how the game evolves with umping ahead of time.
3. Talk to your parents consistently about behavior expectations. Have your umps' back. They are human and 2 people can witness the same and see something differently.
4. If you only have one ump the only place to do it from is from behind the pitcher.
5. Ask them to ask for feedback from both coaches on balls/strikes and a couple of parents.
6. Younger officials like pizza.
7. there are some girls who are very good.
Click to expand...
I’m squared away on all that, it’s just a matter of being able to get people who are available and want to do it. The more I think on it the more it seems to me like money is going to be the only thing that really helps. Going from $10 to $20 I think would go a long ways. Three nights a week for 8 weeks would be $480 instead of $240. That’d be attractive.
 
I live in the Corridor (Iowa City - North Liberty - Cedar Rapids) where there are a ton of teams and umpires. My two boys are travel ball and have not done the REC league for years now. I'm not sure but I wonder if the umps in this area are getting $25-$35 a game for REC ball? Anybody know.

I tell my boys that this would be a good gig when they are old enough. Pretty decent money for a kid to do on the side and still get to be around the game and help instruct kid's to a point. Hell, we had to play a tournament game a couple weekends ago for 11U and had to go with only 1 umpire in travel ball. Of course he was late to the game. A young guy. He definitely guessed on a couple plays to the bases, but, it is what it is.
 
Corridor Youth Umpires (USSSA) are getting between $40-45 a game. Most do a game or doubleheader one night a week and then have a tournament just about every other weekend (if not every weekend) where they do 6-10 games.
 
I cannot imagine umpiring a ball game for $10. Most of these youth games last between 1:30-1:45 hrs. $10 isn't worth showing up for. I would up your pay to at least $20-25 a game. If you cannot afford to pay two umps, pay the home plate ump and require the home team to supply the base up. Or your league has back to back games scheduled each night, if I play the the first game, I have to supply a base ump for the 2nd game and vice versa.
 
MelroseHawkins said:
I live in the Corridor (Iowa City - North Liberty - Cedar Rapids) where there are a ton of teams and umpires. My two boys are travel ball and have not done the REC league for years now. I'm not sure but I wonder if the umps in this area are getting $25-$35 a game for REC ball? Anybody know.

I tell my boys that this would be a good gig when they are old enough. Pretty decent money for a kid to do on the side and still get to be around the game and help instruct kid's to a point. Hell, we had to play a tournament game a couple weekends ago for 11U and had to go with only 1 umpire in travel ball. Of course he was late to the game. A young guy. He definitely guessed on a couple plays to the bases, but, it is what it is.
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What age are your boys? My son played 13-U tournaments in April and early May before his AAU basketball season kicked into high gear. One of the teams he played against was from Cedar Rapids Prairie. The Prairie school district always produces good athletic teams.

I was at a game in Platteville last night where the plate umpire didn't know what the infield fly rule was. Sure enough the third baseman dropped a pop-up with bases loaded, stepped on third, and got the runner on first caght in a rundown where he eventually became another out. I asked about the infield fly and two adults in the bleachers were asking me what an infield fly was. The defensive team specifically the third baseman, definitely got away with one there. It was a pony league game. The infield fly should have been enforced.
 
Northside Hawk said:
What age are your boys? My son played 13-U tournaments in April and early May before his AAU basketball season kicked into high gear. One of the teams he played against was from Cedar Rapids Prairie. The Prairie school district always produces good athletic teams.

I was at a game in Platteville last night where the plate umpire didn't know what the infield fly rule was. Sure enough the third baseman dropped a pop-up with bases loaded, stepped on third, and got the runner on first caght in a rundown where he eventually became another out. I asked about the infield fly and two adults in the bleachers were asking me what an infield fly was. The defensive team specifically the third baseman, definitely got away with one there. It was a pony league game. The infield fly should have been enforced.
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I just have one; he's 11. Tournaments aren't a problem around here, most of the umps are paid well and are either current or former HS umps.

It's the rec league where we have the issue. The easy solution would be to pull out of rec ball and just play travel team, but I have a good number of kids who aren't super skilled but still have the drive to play ball. There are 17 total, too may for one team so I split them into two for rec and pull a random sub over for the second team. Travel ball I just have 11 kids but they are all pretty solid.

My kid is a 5th grader (rec in my town goes by grade instead of age), and I'm 99 percent sure I'm going to bow out of it after next year when they hit junior high. I have some parents that want me to keep going because they have kids coming into 3rd grade now, but to be honest after 4 years of two rec teams and travel ball in the summer I'm getting a little burned out. I've passed on quite a few fishing trips, house/yard work gets neglected sometimes, and I'd like to just be able to come home from work and relax when I want to. I don't know how long they will want to keep doing travel ball in addition to middle school practice every night.

As far as umps, it's probably two issues combined. Pay is one, and the fact that HS baseball (at least where I'm at) is in decline so you don't have a ton of kids able to do it. My town canceled the Freshman season because there were only 5 kids out. Those 5 went straight to JV which is thin also, and varsity only has I believe 4 seniors.

Either way I'm reluctant to get too pushy with the city about the umpire thing because I doubt I'll be coaching much longer until my own son is out of the house and I have more free time. It will definitely be nice to be able to sit in the stands and actually watch him play a game for the first time.
 
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