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GOING PRO umpiring!!!


Cyrus Cassidy #45437

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No kidding, last night I found out I've been hired to umpire professional baseball.  This is not MLB or even MiLB, but rather an independent league (there is professional baseball besides MLB!).  Umpires don't get paid jack squat, so this remains a "jobby" (combination job and hobby).  I will still be working my regular job as well as the Army Reserves.  I also remain a high school umpire -- the high school season is March-May, and this league's season is June-August.  

 

The specific league I'll be umpiring for is known as the Pecos League.  This is a step up from high school umpiring, but lower on the totem pole than college (college Division 1 is my goal, so it's a step in the right direction).  The majority of players are current college players who are trying to get noticed even more.  The college season ends in late May, and the Pecos League begins in June, so they go from their college team to their pro team.  The majority of pitchers are former college pitchers who didn't move up.  So one of the seasoned umpires described it as "very good high school pitching with college hitting."  

 

The Pecos League has teams in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, and I think California.  I will be traveling a little bit to work games in all those areas, taking vacation from my real job to go umpire baseball for $90 / game :)  

 

God bless baseball!

 

EDIT:  I just looked up where the teams are, and the league is divided into two divisions.  I'll be working in the Mountain Division, with seven teams in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas.  The Pacific Division has six teams in California.

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What Cypress said, congratulations.

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Upward! Onward!  Congrats!!!

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1 hour ago, Crazy Gun Barney, SASS #2428 said:

When you full MLB pro, remember that benefit of the doubt goes to the Dodgers! :lol:

Can't happen.  MLB pros come from the MiLB; they work their way through the minor league system the same way as players.  But to be hired by MiLB, an umpire has to attend one of two month-long professional umpire schools at their own expense.  It would cost something like $7000 to attend pro school, and I would have to quit my well-paying job to do that.  Then I would have to be one of the top 10 or 15% of students who get a job in MiLB making circus peanuts.  My family would starve.

 

So I'm keeping it as a jobby and shooting for Division 1 college baseball.

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5 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

So, do you have a wild guess at the number of people working the various leagues and divisions as paid umpires.

 

not counting the thousands of kids who get paid $5 or 10 to do little league games.  )))

No idea.  And the kids are making $50 per game.  Adjusted for inflation, that’s about 75% of the pay from 1990.

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