March 2009 ABUA Newsletter

IBAF in the WBC…

In November 2008 at the Major League Baseball Umpire Clinic in Compton , Calif. , nine International Baseball Federation (IBAF) umpires were selected to work the 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) by Dick Runchey, Director of Umpires.

It was here that Carlos Rey (Puerto Rico), Willie Rodriguez (Puerto Rico), Corrie Davis (Canada), Stephane Dupont (Canada), Paul Hyham (Australia), Luis Ramirez (Mexico), Daniel Toledo (Mexico), Jorge Perez (Cuba), and Edgar Estivison (Panama) began their journey. Working under the direction of MLB Umpires Supervisor, Rich Rieker, at a one week umpire camp, the team became familiar with the MLB four-man system, was evaluated by MLB Umpire Supervisors and prepared for the 2009 WBC from March 5March 23 in seven different venues around the World.

MLB Holds Camp For Marines

SAN DIEGO -- Former Padres great and San Diego State manager Tony Gwynn held an impromptu chat on Monday morning with a group of prospective umpires on a field adjacent to the campus stadium that bears his name. "Take charge," said the Hall of Famer and .336 lifetime hitter in his 19 seasons with San Diego, a career that ended in 2001. "Control the game. Take charge of the game. It's your game. We'll follow."

It was no ordinary group of umpires listening to Major League ump Hunter Wendelstedt describe how to judge the strike zone. The event was the first of its kind -- a free, one-day umpiring camp conducted by Major League Baseball's Umpiring Dept. in an effort to train members of the U.S. Marines in the fine art of calling a game.  

The camp was coordinated by MLB's Department of Baseball Operations with the idea of giving members of the military -- who already have the discipline and the focus -- to take advantage of the rare opportunity to transfer those skills to umpiring.

The next step for those interested is an invitation to the annual one-week school of umpiring, staged at baseball's Urban Youth Academy in Compton, Calif. This year, it will be held from Nov. 8-15.

As They See 'Em on the way to the Best Seller list!

Reviewed in the New York Times by Jim Bouton, a former pitcher for the Yankees and the author of Ball Four, is the commissioner of the Vintage Base Ball Federation.

Men in Blue: NY Times Book Review

No father ever lit up a cigar, pointed to his new baby and said, That kid is going to be a major-league umpire.

This is how Jim Evans, a former major-league umpire, greets students at his Academy of Professional Umpiring. Its one of two schools approved by Major League Baseball, a necessary step on the road to Americas most thankless occupation.

For future aspirants, the first step should be reading Bruce Webers As They See Em, a wonderfully detailed look at the craft of umpiring. The author, a reporter at The New York Times, spent a good part of three years in the Land of Umpires, hanging out with them, attending Evanss school and ultimately working behind the plate in a major-league spring training intrasquad game.