Did I Forget What Age I Was Umping?

Johnny Pitcher situates himself on the mound - a bit of a little foot dance to find where he will stand on the rubber. Johnny checks the runner on 1st, who is waving to his mom in the stands. Billy Batter nervously steps into the batters' box, barely having a grip on the bat. Johnny comes set, picks his nose, then hurls a wicked 20 mile-per-hour fastball. Billy tries to swat at the ball and misses. "SSSSTTTTEEEEERRRRIIIKKKKKKEEEEE THHRRREEEEE!!!!" The umpire screams. And Johnny gets his 7 year-old Ames Yankees teammates out of the inning. 

This is just one type of umpire you see on the field. He pretends like he is working a high school baseball game and overreacts on all pitches thrown. I hate to tell him this, but he looks ridiculous ringing up the kid with the right hand pulling back like he's trying to start a chainsaw. Not only that, but he dresses very unprofessionally. I don't care that it is little league. You don't go out on the field with your hat turned backwards under your mask, while wearing jeans and a light blue polo shirt. Last time I checked, I didn't see the ghost of Walter Matthau or Billy Bob Thornton in the dugout, so you aren't umping a Bad News Bears game.

 

Then you have the other umpire working the 14 year old game. He is definitely dressed for success - hat turned backwards and what looks like black capris. Clearly, he is not suited for a game like that. 

But let's not forget the other side of the spectrum. You have a 28 year old Seth Rogan working a 13 year old tournament game dressed like he working a World Series game. I swore I thought at first it was Jim Joyce, but then I saw it was just an overweight college dropout drenched in his own sweat after working a tough 7 innings on a cloudy day. There is no reason to wear a black shirt and diversify yourself from the other umpires who are wearing blue. If one of us looks stupid, it makes the rest of us look stupid. We don't need to have shirts with colors of the rainbow. None of us are working big time games here, so don't overdress. I didn't have to think I would need to criticize other umpires, but when we look so unprofessional, many of us shouldn't wonder why the parents and coaches are so quick to complain about calls they don't like.