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Welcome to Blue Crew Diaries, an Umpire podcast.

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My name is Daryl and I will be your host as we take a look behind the mask, so to speak,

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sharing stories, insights and experiences from the unique perspective of the baseball

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umpire.

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In this episode, we're going to take a look at my gear, uniforms and what I bring to the

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field for each and every game.

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If you have any questions, comments or ideas for future episodes, drop me a line at BlueCrewDiaries

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at gmail.com.

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So if you're ready, grab your indicator and plate brush and let's hit the field.

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Alright everybody, welcome to another episode of Blue Crew Diaries, an Umpire podcast.

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In this episode, we are simply going to basically take a look at my gear bag, everything that

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is in my gear bag and yeah, it kind of goes without saying that everything that I'm going

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to go through here or almost everything, I bring to the field with me for each and every

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single game and we'll get into why I do that here towards the end of the episode.

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Starting off with, obviously, everybody needs some way to transport all their gear and equipment

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to and from the field.

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This year I am upgrading to the Force III Ultimate Umpire Equipment Bag.

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Last year I had just a diamond, let's just call it a baseball duffel bag.

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It was more, I mean they called it an Umpire bag, but it was more for bats and things like

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that.

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Worked well, but there really wasn't too much organization to it.

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So I have switched out to the Force III Ultimate Umpire Equipment Bag for this season and we'll

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see how that works.

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It's nice, it's got a telescoping handle, it's got wheels so you can roll it around

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versus carrying it.

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A few more pockets and compartments for things.

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You can really, really figure out how you want to place equipment in there and it stays

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there.

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It just doesn't go all over the place.

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So looking forward to trying that out.

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I will say for me it's about the right size, maybe a little bit small for all of the gear

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that I have.

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But it'll serve it's purpose quite nicely.

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So after that we'll get into plate gear.

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So not really, there's only a couple of updates to my plate gear for this year versus last

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year.

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But last year, the 2023 season, was my first season umpiring anything.

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Umpiring Little League.

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So I decided to go with the, what I call the umpire in a box.

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So I went with the ChamPro Varsity Umpire Kit.

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I bought it off of Amazon, it was only a couple hundred bucks.

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And it has almost everything that you need to initially start umpiring as far as working

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behind the plate.

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It comes with a Pro Plus umpire chest protector, the ChamPro Lightweight Umpire Mask, Low Profile

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Pro Plus umpire leg guards, just a standard ChamPro wooden handle plate brush, a cheapo

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plastic four dial indicator, and a ball bag.

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That's it.

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But everything is all in this one box.

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So if you're on a budget or you haven't decided whether or not umpiring is right for you,

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then this might be the way to go to really get your plate gear all together.

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The only thing that I kind of wish it came with that it doesn't is a dangling throat

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guard for the mask.

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As those of us who work Little League know, a dangling throat guard is required for catchers.

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It is not required for umpires, however, it is very highly recommended.

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So I would like to see ChamPro just throw one of those in there.

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But that's neither here nor there.

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As far as upgrades to plate gear, or upgrades to what came in the box for the 2024 season,

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I am upgrading to the Force III Defender mask.

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I've heard nothing but good things about it.

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And I only took one hit to the face last season, and it was just kind of a glancing blow off

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the right side of the mask.

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The only reason I knew it happened was because obviously it kind of stunned me for a second.

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So I closed my eyes, and when I opened my eyes I was looking at the left side of my

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mask.

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The whole mask had turned about 45 degrees to the right.

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So just as a precaution, you never know what can happen on the baseball field.

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So I am going with the Force III Defender.

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One thing about that mask is even though I hadn't even worked a game with it yet, I was

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not a fan of the stock harness that it comes with.

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So I did just upgrade that to the UMP Life harness.

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Again, I've heard nothing but great things about the UMP Life harness.

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So we'll see how that works out.

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The other upgrade versus what's in the box is I decided to go with a different plate

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brush for this year.

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I went with the Holy brush as they call it.

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This brush is kind of different.

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It's got regular bristles like a normal plate brush, but the handle has like a scraper on

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one side.

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So if you've got a muddy home plate, or if you've got the kind of breakaway bases that

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have the nubs on the bottom.

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I've had it happen before I've sat there trying to dig mud out from between those nubs just

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to get the base back on its mount.

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Did that a couple of times last year.

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So could be useful for that as well.

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But the biggest thing is the handle on this thing is huge.

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And the reason it's huge is because in the center of the handle is a two and five eighths

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inch hole that is pressed into the handle.

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Very, very helpful for the beginning of the season.

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Or if you get into All Stars tournament time, you got to check all the bats, make sure that

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they're not any bigger than two and five eighths diameter.

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Now Little League sells just a plastic bat gauge that you can slide over the bat.

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But now I've got a plate brush that I can do the same thing with.

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And it looks, in my opinion, it looks cooler.

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I pull out this gigantic plate brush and everybody goes, whoa, what is that?

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So yeah, there's that.

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So other than the couple of upgrades that I've made, the Champ Pro Varsity Empire kit,

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the Empire in a box, it does the job.

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It does what you need it to do.

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I believe All Star also makes a version of it.

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I'm not sure who else.

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I think Wilson might make a version of this kit as well.

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But moving on, let's get into uniforms.

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So I'm currently using all Jerry Davis sports products.

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I've got the Performance Essentials shirts and I've got two pairs of the Davis charcoal

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pants.

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As far as the shirts, I have both black and blue, blue colored, like the light blue.

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I've got those in both base shirts and plate sized shirts.

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My black ones actually have, Jerry Davis will do a Little League embroidery on the front

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and then put the Little League patch on the left sleeve.

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The blue ones, the blue shirts that I have, I didn't get that.

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But I will in the future.

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It makes it look a little bit better when you walk out onto the field for a Little League

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game and you have that patch on your shirt just like the players have.

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It gives you a little bit more credibility that look, this person, they know Little League.

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They may umpire middle school, high school, college, whatever, but they took the time

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to get a shirt that has Little League on it.

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So it might give you a little bit more credibility with coaches and parents.

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As far as the Davis pants, I have both base pants and combo pants.

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Now before you all start screaming at me, why did you get combo pants?

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A lot of people don't like combo pants.

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The reason I got them is because that was the first set of pants that I got.

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And I wore those for about the first half of the season, working both the plate and

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on the bases.

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And I realized after a few games working on the bases that it felt like I was running

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around with a couple of parachutes hanging off my legs.

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So then I got the funds to buy another set of pants, so I went with the base pants.

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I may get a straight set of plate pants sometime in the future, who knows.

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As far as underneath the uniforms, obviously it's always good to have something underneath

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it.

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I'm running an Under Armour Heat Gear Compression undershirt.

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I've got the Shock Doctor athletic supporter with the cup.

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Obviously if you're a male umpire, you're going to want some kind of protection down

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there.

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I've got just generic compression knee braces.

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They're just like a compression sleeve that goes up over the knee.

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I don't necessarily need extra bracing for my knees.

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I'm sure it does help.

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But the main reason that I run these is for some sort of protection to my knees from the

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shin guards.

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The first few games that I worked the plate, of course you're down, up, down, up, running

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around the field with these leg guards on.

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After the second or third game, the tops of my knee caps were red and just hurt like crazy.

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Just from the constant down, up, and those shin guards, the knee caps on the shin guards

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constantly rubbing against the skin on my knee caps.

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Just run these compression knee braces just for a little bit more protection to my knees.

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On the outside of the uniform for colder days, I do have a couple of Smitty jackets.

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I've got a fleece lined full zip umpire jacket for the really cool days.

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Or if it's just a little cool or maybe a little breezy, something like that, I've got the

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quarter zip pullover, just regular Smitty Major League style umpire jacket.

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I'm also going to start wearing this year a pair of Under Armour Storm glove liners

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for those cool days where I need a little more protection to my hands.

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Try to retain a little bit more heat there.

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As far as shoes, plate shoes, I'm wearing the standard New Balance 460 V3s.

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As far as a base shoe, I'm currently with the Mizuno Ambition 2s.

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I was going to go with the New Balance base shoes as well and then I started looking at

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them and I, to be perfectly honest, I just don't like the looks of them.

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Just where the big N is up towards the toe box on the shoe, it just looks weird to me.

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I like the look of the Mizuno's.

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Yes, the bottom sole of the Mizuno is white and a little bit of white shows on the sides

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of the sole so they are a little more of a pain to keep clean but yeah, it's manageable.

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As far as everything else I've got in my bag, I've got for the plate a Richardson 4-stitch

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umpire hat.

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I went with the adjustable one that's got the snaps in the back.

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Simply because the custom fit stretch ones, yeah, I want to make sure that it stays on

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my head.

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I don't want to wear a hat that's too tight and then I feel like I'm squishing my head

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all the time but then I don't want one that's too loose, go the next size up and then every

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time I pull my mask off, the hat goes with it.

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So I just got the adjustable one.

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As far as a base hat, I'm just wearing the standard New Era 3930 Little League umpire

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hat and that's literally I bought it from Little League.

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It has the Little League logo on the front and on the back it says Little League umpire.

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I am working now with the Smitty Deluxe XL expandable ball bags.

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I may upgrade those later in the season or possibly next season to the umplife neoprene

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ball bags but the Smitty bags, they're nice, they hold a good number of baseballs.

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I do run two so I can keep all my baseballs on the right side and normally I'll either

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keep you know used balls in the left side or during the summer months or in fall ball,

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I've actually gotten into the habit of keeping a water bottle, just a regular you know off

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the shelf bottle of water in that left side pocket so I have it right there you know in

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case I need to drink in between innings or you know different batters or whatnot.

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I am I've got the Smitty lineup card holder just to flip up style honestly I don't know

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why I have that.

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Out of the almost 20 games I worked last year I literally only received one lineup card

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and that was my very first junior game.

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Yeah apparently lineup cards just aren't a thing up here I don't get it, it's weird.

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But I still have that lineup card and I plan on keeping it because it was the very first

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line up card.

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I plan on keeping the lineup card for the very first plate game that I worked period

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but yeah that didn't happen like I said lineup cards are not really a thing up here and even

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the one that I got was I literally showed up I was about 45 minutes early for the game,

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I walked onto the field and the visiting team coach came right over to me introduced himself

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and gave me the lineup the lineup sheet.

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You don't even wait for the plate meeting just oh here you go all right whatever.

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But one thing that I do have speaking of the lineup card holder is on the inside I have

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two sets of just notes.

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One is like pregame plate meeting notes things to talk about points of emphasis you know

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stuff like that the other is literally an equipment checklist.

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So when I'm loading my gear back to go to the game I can just go down through this checklist

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and make sure I have everything.

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As far as an indicator I am using the all-star heavyweight indicator I carry that obviously

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when I'm working the plate but I also have it when I'm working the bases just to keep

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track of the count.

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I did have a few instances last year where the plate umpire would look at his indicator

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and think well no this isn't right and then look at me and signal to me like hey I lost

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the count you know give me the you know I just look up and he'd give me the what's the

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count signal and I just you know show it back to him and oh okay he update his indicator

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and whatnot.

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And it can happen you can lose track of the count you know a ball gets away from the catcher

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and you're trying to deal with that you're trying to you know you're waiting for a runner

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to come home on the pass ball you know just any number of things can happen.

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So I always keep that indicator in my hand and follow along with the count even when

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I'm working the bases.

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I do like the all-star heavyweight because it's a nice metal indicator it's got nice

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metal dials but the thing with the dials is the ball strike and out dials are notched.

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So whether you have zero strikes one strike two strikes those different positions on the

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dial are notched differently.

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Same thing with the ball dial same thing with the out dial.

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So without even looking at the indicator once you memorize what each notch feels like on

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each dial you can just kind of feel it and go okay one ball two strikes one out.

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You don't even have to look at your indicator after every pitch.

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And the last thing that I've got in my gear bag is a red umpire signal flag.

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I only carry that now when I'm working the bases and luckily I haven't had to use it

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yet because when I did finally get it I actually got it after my what ended up being my last

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majors game that I worked.

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So I only worked junior games after that and a couple of fall ball games and in juniors

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you don't have to maintain you know contact with the base until the ball reaches the batter.

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So a little late on that one but that's what it's it's for if you're working majors or

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below where they have to maintain contact with the base until the pitch ball reaches

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the batter not the plate reaches the batter.

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If they leave early you can throw that flag out there just as a signal that hey runner

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left early.

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If they get called out you know on say they're attempting to steal or something like that

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then it doesn't matter.

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But it's just one of those things you got to you got to figure out as an umpire you

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know did leaving early allow them to get into you know the next base safely.

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Well it all depends on how early they left and and there's a little bit that goes into

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that.

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But I do have that in my in my gear bag now.

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So that's that's it that's everything I've got.

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Like I said in the beginning everything in this gear bag everything that I have talked

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about even like now that I have two masks I bring them both because you never know what

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can happen to a primary mask.

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You could get hit with a ball and you know something happens you can no longer use it

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or I can just go to my bag grab my my backup champro throw that on I'm good to go.

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Everything comes with me to the field.

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The primary field that I that I work at has a scoring tower behind home plate behind the

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fence it's two story tower obviously they run the scoreboard and do the announcing stuff

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from the second floor overlooking the field.

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The first floor is where they keep you know the rakes and all the grounds equipment that's

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usually where the boxes of baseballs are when when we get there as umpires we can unpackage

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a few baseballs put them in our ball bags we're ready to go.

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I usually bring that bring my gear bag up and set it in that room in the base of the

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tower it's right there I literally walk out the gate by the dugout and 20 feet I'm at

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my bag.

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Everything comes with me to to the field and the reason being is even if you're working

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the bases bring your plate gear.

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If any of you watched the little league world series tournament for 2023 the northwest southeast

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regional game I forget which two teams were were in it but this is little league baseball

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in the third inning or after the third inning they switched home plate umpires and reason

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being is the plate umpire was getting a little overheated it was stupid hot that day it was

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muggy and he just he couldn't continue which is perfectly understandable to my knowledge

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he ended up actually being transported to a local medical facility where he was given

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some fluids he was checked out you know and and ended up being perfectly okay he was released

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later on that day but it's just just something you never know what can happen you could have

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your you know have your plate umpire go down due to heat they could take a shot to the

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mask and you know possibly have a concussion or anything can happen so you've got to be

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ready in that northwest southeast game I believe it was about a 10 minute game delay while

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the alternate umpire who was there was in the umpire's room getting his gear on and

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then he came out and continued the game you know and and that that's the nice thing about

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the world series is you're most of the time always going to have four umpires on the field

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and then an alternate sitting behind the fence waiting in case something happens and they

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can fill in at any of the four positions on the field at your local regular little league

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game you are not most likely ever gonna have five umpires you know you're lucky if it's

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you and another person out there the the one minors game that I worked last year it was

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just me then that that was an experience not having somebody on the basis and now I have

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to try to cover everything and looking back on it I probably should have called that game

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from behind the pitcher's mound I didn't I called it from behind the plate luckily nothing

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big happened I ended up not missing anything I think there's only two to three times during

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the entire game that the ball was actually put into play so it it wasn't that big of

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a deal but you always want to be ready you always want to be prepared have your gear

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because nothing is worse than okay the plate umpire just you know just rolled their ankle

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you know doing something they can't continue so you know hey you base umpire you you got

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to take over the plate um well all all my plate gear is back at my house 20 minutes

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away so that that's a 40 minute you know turnaround to go from here home grab my plate gear get

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back and then I still got to get dressed so now we're talking about delaying the game

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for almost an hour because you didn't bring your gear with you you know even with me I

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don't even leave my gear in the truck I bring it up to kind of my staging area even when

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I don't work at that particular field I still leave my bag right near the gate at the at

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the other field that that we do minors games at I I bring everything to the physically

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to the field with me I don't even leave it in my vehicle because that's just more time

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that I would have to use up to walk out to my vehicle grab my gear and bring it back

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so that is about it for my my loadout as always if you have any questions comments ideas for

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future episodes drop me an email blue crew diaries at gmail.com I was really looking

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forward to hearing from you I've I've noticed the podcast is kind of starting to take off

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a little bit and for that I I say thank you I I appreciate everybody who listens to this

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podcast hopefully you are getting out of the podcast what you want to get out of it if

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you are fantastic if there's anything else you would like again drop me drop me an email

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you know I I'm I'm doing this podcast for you guys and girls you know for for new umpires

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or people that are you know thinking about possibly getting into umpire in Little League

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that is what this podcast is for so thank you everyone for listening and hopefully I

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can can help you get get out there and call some games so with that said as always again

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thank you all very much for listening and I will see you on the diamond