I don't know if mine is lessening, but it's definitely shifting to other things.
This COVID related mess is really the only reason to have summer baseball. Fall ball in the north and spring in the south are better time slots in all cases. I played K-college, coached, and umpired for the last 34 years in Iowa so of all people I'm not biased towards summer ball.
Actually I just now realized that this will be the first year since I was 4 years old that I haven't been involved in baseball other than youth practices. My kid is a junior high student (no school ball allowed in Iowa for middle school), and I gave up all my umpiring contracts because of the uncertainty of scheduling once COVID hit.
I honestly don't know if I'll go back. It's fun and very rewarding more often than not, but several times a year the following happens...
Leave straight from work, drive an hour one way, try to find my partner that I've never met, get dressed for the bases because my partner hasn't shown up yet and that way I'm the nice guy by working the varsity plate (which no one wants), Then he gets there 5 minutes before first pitch and says he "thought he brought his cup but must have left it at home," so then you have to change and work two plates in a row. Strip to your underwear again (now there are tons of people around), and put on different pants, shoes, shirt and hat (all different for the plate), bags, mask, hope you remembered your cup and indicator, all of it in 107* heat index. Then Karen (you guys know Karen...it's Brayden or Kayden or Tayden or Hayden's mom...) tells you after her kid goes down looking that the pitch bounced in the dirt and you suck, and then you hear her tell Felicia how the umps last night were way better. By that time the sweat's in your eyes, you've inhaled gnats, and whatever school you're working for allows one free mini Powerade per night from concessions. Then @99topdawg comes out of the dugout and says, "Sir, that pitch was UP HERE! How are my guys supposed to deal with that, sir??" and motioning that the strike you just called was chin level. Yeah, I don't miss that part. Sitting on my deck grilling steaks sounds better every year.
I heard it straight from the mouth of an IAHSAA employee who'll remain nameless that if baseball and football didn't take place they'd be facing layoffs, and I do know that they're bare-bones staff to begin with. If the IAHSAA has to start making cuts you're going to see the quality of HS sports administration/organization/governance nosedive. It will not be a good thing for Iowa kids.
Keep doing that. Seriously.
Unless there's an insurance or medical related rule that prohibits it, I think next time your partner can work the plate without a cup.This COVID related mess is really the only reason to have summer baseball. Fall ball in the north and spring in the south are better time slots in all cases. I played K-college, coached, and umpired for the last 34 years in Iowa so of all people I'm not biased towards summer ball.
Actually I just now realized that this will be the first year since I was 4 years old that I haven't been involved in baseball other than youth practices. My kid is a junior high student (no school ball allowed in Iowa for middle school), and I gave up all my umpiring contracts because of the uncertainty of scheduling once COVID hit.
I honestly don't know if I'll go back. It's fun and very rewarding more often than not, but several times a year the following happens...
Leave straight from work, drive an hour one way, try to find my partner that I've never met, get dressed for the bases because my partner hasn't shown up yet and that way I'm the nice guy by working the varsity plate (which no one wants), Then he gets there 5 minutes before first pitch and says he "thought he brought his cup but must have left it at home," so then you have to change and work two plates in a row. Strip to your underwear again (now there are tons of people around), and put on different pants, shoes, shirt and hat (all different for the plate), bags, mask, hope you remembered your cup and indicator, all of it in 107* heat index. Then Karen (you guys know Karen...it's Brayden or Kayden or Tayden or Hayden's mom...) tells you after her kid goes down looking that the pitch bounced in the dirt and you suck, and then you hear her tell Felicia how the umps last night were way better. By that time the sweat's in your eyes, you're inhaling gnats right around every 3 minutes, and whatever school you're working for allows one free mini Powerade per night from concessions. Then @99topdawg comes out of the dugout and says, "Sir, that pitch was UP HERE! How are my guys supposed to deal with that, sir??" and motioning that the strike you just called was chin level. Yeah, I don't miss that part. Sitting on my deck grilling steaks sounds better every year.
The cup isn’t actually required. I’d never work a plate without a cup, which is why I always have a spare in my vehicle. After seeing what Yadier Molina went through with surgeries etc it’s just not worth it. If I somehow showed up without one and my partner wouldn’t work two plates I’d walk away. That’s how strongly I feel about it, but it’s also why I’m so hardcore about never forgetting it.
They used to be really good like a lot of the private Catholic schools in Iowa, but they’ve fallen off.
The high school closed in 2013, middle school was a couple years after that, and the only thing open now is K-6th in Alton. Spaulding "officially" merged with Gehlen, but there were a lot of families that went to RSM too. That's part of why Gehlen sucks now is because most of the
Have you done a game with Blaine Harpenau pitching for Remsen St. Mary's? That kids is one of the best I've seen in person at a 1A school since I saw Wordekemper for Storm Lake St. Mary's in 2002. Kid's unreal.
No but I did a couple with Dekkers last year. That kid's terrifying because he bumps into the 90s without total control of it. I don't get nervous very often but I did with him. I could tell his catcher was pretty stressed.
I was a catcher for 15 yrs, umpired for 7, NEVER a game without a cup lol
