Welcome to Blue Crew Diaries, an Umpire podcast.
My name is Daryl and I will be your host as we take a look behind the mask, so to speak,
sharing stories, insights and experiences from the unique perspective of the baseball
umpire.
In this episode, we're going to take a look at my gear, uniforms and what I bring to the
field for each and every game.
If you have any questions, comments or ideas for future episodes, drop me a line at BlueCrewDiaries
at gmail.com.
So if you're ready, grab your indicator and plate brush and let's hit the field.
Alright everybody, welcome to another episode of Blue Crew Diaries, an Umpire podcast.
In this episode, we are simply going to basically take a look at my gear bag, everything that
is in my gear bag and yeah, it kind of goes without saying that everything that I'm going
to go through here or almost everything, I bring to the field with me for each and every
single game and we'll get into why I do that here towards the end of the episode.
Starting off with, obviously, everybody needs some way to transport all their gear and equipment
to and from the field.
This year I am upgrading to the Force III Ultimate Umpire Equipment Bag.
Last year I had just a diamond, let's just call it a baseball duffel bag.
It was more, I mean they called it an Umpire bag, but it was more for bats and things like
that.
Worked well, but there really wasn't too much organization to it.
So I have switched out to the Force III Ultimate Umpire Equipment Bag for this season and we'll
see how that works.
It's nice, it's got a telescoping handle, it's got wheels so you can roll it around
versus carrying it.
A few more pockets and compartments for things.
You can really, really figure out how you want to place equipment in there and it stays
there.
It just doesn't go all over the place.
So looking forward to trying that out.
I will say for me it's about the right size, maybe a little bit small for all of the gear
that I have.
But it'll serve it's purpose quite nicely.
So after that we'll get into plate gear.
So not really, there's only a couple of updates to my plate gear for this year versus last
year.
But last year, the 2023 season, was my first season umpiring anything.
Umpiring Little League.
So I decided to go with the, what I call the umpire in a box.
So I went with the ChamPro Varsity Umpire Kit.
I bought it off of Amazon, it was only a couple hundred bucks.
And it has almost everything that you need to initially start umpiring as far as working
behind the plate.
It comes with a Pro Plus umpire chest protector, the ChamPro Lightweight Umpire Mask, Low Profile
Pro Plus umpire leg guards, just a standard ChamPro wooden handle plate brush, a cheapo
plastic four dial indicator, and a ball bag.
That's it.
But everything is all in this one box.
So if you're on a budget or you haven't decided whether or not umpiring is right for you,
then this might be the way to go to really get your plate gear all together.
The only thing that I kind of wish it came with that it doesn't is a dangling throat
guard for the mask.
As those of us who work Little League know, a dangling throat guard is required for catchers.
It is not required for umpires, however, it is very highly recommended.
So I would like to see ChamPro just throw one of those in there.
But that's neither here nor there.
As far as upgrades to plate gear, or upgrades to what came in the box for the 2024 season,
I am upgrading to the Force III Defender mask.
I've heard nothing but good things about it.
And I only took one hit to the face last season, and it was just kind of a glancing blow off
the right side of the mask.
The only reason I knew it happened was because obviously it kind of stunned me for a second.
So I closed my eyes, and when I opened my eyes I was looking at the left side of my
mask.
The whole mask had turned about 45 degrees to the right.
So just as a precaution, you never know what can happen on the baseball field.
So I am going with the Force III Defender.
One thing about that mask is even though I hadn't even worked a game with it yet, I was
not a fan of the stock harness that it comes with.
So I did just upgrade that to the UMP Life harness.
Again, I've heard nothing but great things about the UMP Life harness.
So we'll see how that works out.
The other upgrade versus what's in the box is I decided to go with a different plate
brush for this year.
I went with the Holy brush as they call it.
This brush is kind of different.
It's got regular bristles like a normal plate brush, but the handle has like a scraper on
one side.
So if you've got a muddy home plate, or if you've got the kind of breakaway bases that
have the nubs on the bottom.
I've had it happen before I've sat there trying to dig mud out from between those nubs just
to get the base back on its mount.
Did that a couple of times last year.
So could be useful for that as well.
But the biggest thing is the handle on this thing is huge.
And the reason it's huge is because in the center of the handle is a two and five eighths
inch hole that is pressed into the handle.
Very, very helpful for the beginning of the season.
Or if you get into All Stars tournament time, you got to check all the bats, make sure that
they're not any bigger than two and five eighths diameter.
Now Little League sells just a plastic bat gauge that you can slide over the bat.
But now I've got a plate brush that I can do the same thing with.
And it looks, in my opinion, it looks cooler.
I pull out this gigantic plate brush and everybody goes, whoa, what is that?
So yeah, there's that.
So other than the couple of upgrades that I've made, the Champ Pro Varsity Empire kit,
the Empire in a box, it does the job.
It does what you need it to do.
I believe All Star also makes a version of it.
I'm not sure who else.
I think Wilson might make a version of this kit as well.
But moving on, let's get into uniforms.
So I'm currently using all Jerry Davis sports products.
I've got the Performance Essentials shirts and I've got two pairs of the Davis charcoal
pants.
As far as the shirts, I have both black and blue, blue colored, like the light blue.
I've got those in both base shirts and plate sized shirts.
My black ones actually have, Jerry Davis will do a Little League embroidery on the front
and then put the Little League patch on the left sleeve.
The blue ones, the blue shirts that I have, I didn't get that.
But I will in the future.
It makes it look a little bit better when you walk out onto the field for a Little League
game and you have that patch on your shirt just like the players have.
It gives you a little bit more credibility that look, this person, they know Little League.
They may umpire middle school, high school, college, whatever, but they took the time
to get a shirt that has Little League on it.
So it might give you a little bit more credibility with coaches and parents.
As far as the Davis pants, I have both base pants and combo pants.
Now before you all start screaming at me, why did you get combo pants?
A lot of people don't like combo pants.
The reason I got them is because that was the first set of pants that I got.
And I wore those for about the first half of the season, working both the plate and
on the bases.
And I realized after a few games working on the bases that it felt like I was running
around with a couple of parachutes hanging off my legs.
So then I got the funds to buy another set of pants, so I went with the base pants.
I may get a straight set of plate pants sometime in the future, who knows.
As far as underneath the uniforms, obviously it's always good to have something underneath
it.
I'm running an Under Armour Heat Gear Compression undershirt.
I've got the Shock Doctor athletic supporter with the cup.
Obviously if you're a male umpire, you're going to want some kind of protection down
there.
I've got just generic compression knee braces.
They're just like a compression sleeve that goes up over the knee.
I don't necessarily need extra bracing for my knees.
I'm sure it does help.
But the main reason that I run these is for some sort of protection to my knees from the
shin guards.
The first few games that I worked the plate, of course you're down, up, down, up, running
around the field with these leg guards on.
After the second or third game, the tops of my knee caps were red and just hurt like crazy.
Just from the constant down, up, and those shin guards, the knee caps on the shin guards
constantly rubbing against the skin on my knee caps.
Just run these compression knee braces just for a little bit more protection to my knees.
On the outside of the uniform for colder days, I do have a couple of Smitty jackets.
I've got a fleece lined full zip umpire jacket for the really cool days.
Or if it's just a little cool or maybe a little breezy, something like that, I've got the
quarter zip pullover, just regular Smitty Major League style umpire jacket.
I'm also going to start wearing this year a pair of Under Armour Storm glove liners
for those cool days where I need a little more protection to my hands.
Try to retain a little bit more heat there.
As far as shoes, plate shoes, I'm wearing the standard New Balance 460 V3s.
As far as a base shoe, I'm currently with the Mizuno Ambition 2s.
I was going to go with the New Balance base shoes as well and then I started looking at
them and I, to be perfectly honest, I just don't like the looks of them.
Just where the big N is up towards the toe box on the shoe, it just looks weird to me.
I like the look of the Mizuno's.
Yes, the bottom sole of the Mizuno is white and a little bit of white shows on the sides
of the sole so they are a little more of a pain to keep clean but yeah, it's manageable.
As far as everything else I've got in my bag, I've got for the plate a Richardson 4-stitch
umpire hat.
I went with the adjustable one that's got the snaps in the back.
Simply because the custom fit stretch ones, yeah, I want to make sure that it stays on
my head.
I don't want to wear a hat that's too tight and then I feel like I'm squishing my head
all the time but then I don't want one that's too loose, go the next size up and then every
time I pull my mask off, the hat goes with it.
So I just got the adjustable one.
As far as a base hat, I'm just wearing the standard New Era 3930 Little League umpire
hat and that's literally I bought it from Little League.
It has the Little League logo on the front and on the back it says Little League umpire.
I am working now with the Smitty Deluxe XL expandable ball bags.
I may upgrade those later in the season or possibly next season to the umplife neoprene
ball bags but the Smitty bags, they're nice, they hold a good number of baseballs.
I do run two so I can keep all my baseballs on the right side and normally I'll either
keep you know used balls in the left side or during the summer months or in fall ball,
I've actually gotten into the habit of keeping a water bottle, just a regular you know off
the shelf bottle of water in that left side pocket so I have it right there you know in
case I need to drink in between innings or you know different batters or whatnot.
I am I've got the Smitty lineup card holder just to flip up style honestly I don't know
why I have that.
Out of the almost 20 games I worked last year I literally only received one lineup card
and that was my very first junior game.
Yeah apparently lineup cards just aren't a thing up here I don't get it, it's weird.
But I still have that lineup card and I plan on keeping it because it was the very first
line up card.
I plan on keeping the lineup card for the very first plate game that I worked period
but yeah that didn't happen like I said lineup cards are not really a thing up here and even
the one that I got was I literally showed up I was about 45 minutes early for the game,
I walked onto the field and the visiting team coach came right over to me introduced himself
and gave me the lineup the lineup sheet.
You don't even wait for the plate meeting just oh here you go all right whatever.
But one thing that I do have speaking of the lineup card holder is on the inside I have
two sets of just notes.
One is like pregame plate meeting notes things to talk about points of emphasis you know
stuff like that the other is literally an equipment checklist.
So when I'm loading my gear back to go to the game I can just go down through this checklist
and make sure I have everything.
As far as an indicator I am using the all-star heavyweight indicator I carry that obviously
when I'm working the plate but I also have it when I'm working the bases just to keep
track of the count.
I did have a few instances last year where the plate umpire would look at his indicator
and think well no this isn't right and then look at me and signal to me like hey I lost
the count you know give me the you know I just look up and he'd give me the what's the
count signal and I just you know show it back to him and oh okay he update his indicator
and whatnot.
And it can happen you can lose track of the count you know a ball gets away from the catcher
and you're trying to deal with that you're trying to you know you're waiting for a runner
to come home on the pass ball you know just any number of things can happen.
So I always keep that indicator in my hand and follow along with the count even when
I'm working the bases.
I do like the all-star heavyweight because it's a nice metal indicator it's got nice
metal dials but the thing with the dials is the ball strike and out dials are notched.
So whether you have zero strikes one strike two strikes those different positions on the
dial are notched differently.
Same thing with the ball dial same thing with the out dial.
So without even looking at the indicator once you memorize what each notch feels like on
each dial you can just kind of feel it and go okay one ball two strikes one out.
You don't even have to look at your indicator after every pitch.
And the last thing that I've got in my gear bag is a red umpire signal flag.
I only carry that now when I'm working the bases and luckily I haven't had to use it
yet because when I did finally get it I actually got it after my what ended up being my last
majors game that I worked.
So I only worked junior games after that and a couple of fall ball games and in juniors
you don't have to maintain you know contact with the base until the ball reaches the batter.
So a little late on that one but that's what it's it's for if you're working majors or
below where they have to maintain contact with the base until the pitch ball reaches
the batter not the plate reaches the batter.
If they leave early you can throw that flag out there just as a signal that hey runner
left early.
If they get called out you know on say they're attempting to steal or something like that
then it doesn't matter.
But it's just one of those things you got to you got to figure out as an umpire you
know did leaving early allow them to get into you know the next base safely.
Well it all depends on how early they left and and there's a little bit that goes into
that.
But I do have that in my in my gear bag now.
So that's that's it that's everything I've got.
Like I said in the beginning everything in this gear bag everything that I have talked
about even like now that I have two masks I bring them both because you never know what
can happen to a primary mask.
You could get hit with a ball and you know something happens you can no longer use it
or I can just go to my bag grab my my backup champro throw that on I'm good to go.
Everything comes with me to the field.
The primary field that I that I work at has a scoring tower behind home plate behind the
fence it's two story tower obviously they run the scoreboard and do the announcing stuff
from the second floor overlooking the field.
The first floor is where they keep you know the rakes and all the grounds equipment that's
usually where the boxes of baseballs are when when we get there as umpires we can unpackage
a few baseballs put them in our ball bags we're ready to go.
I usually bring that bring my gear bag up and set it in that room in the base of the
tower it's right there I literally walk out the gate by the dugout and 20 feet I'm at
my bag.
Everything comes with me to to the field and the reason being is even if you're working
the bases bring your plate gear.
If any of you watched the little league world series tournament for 2023 the northwest southeast
regional game I forget which two teams were were in it but this is little league baseball
in the third inning or after the third inning they switched home plate umpires and reason
being is the plate umpire was getting a little overheated it was stupid hot that day it was
muggy and he just he couldn't continue which is perfectly understandable to my knowledge
he ended up actually being transported to a local medical facility where he was given
some fluids he was checked out you know and and ended up being perfectly okay he was released
later on that day but it's just just something you never know what can happen you could have
your you know have your plate umpire go down due to heat they could take a shot to the
mask and you know possibly have a concussion or anything can happen so you've got to be
ready in that northwest southeast game I believe it was about a 10 minute game delay while
the alternate umpire who was there was in the umpire's room getting his gear on and
then he came out and continued the game you know and and that that's the nice thing about
the world series is you're most of the time always going to have four umpires on the field
and then an alternate sitting behind the fence waiting in case something happens and they
can fill in at any of the four positions on the field at your local regular little league
game you are not most likely ever gonna have five umpires you know you're lucky if it's
you and another person out there the the one minors game that I worked last year it was
just me then that that was an experience not having somebody on the basis and now I have
to try to cover everything and looking back on it I probably should have called that game
from behind the pitcher's mound I didn't I called it from behind the plate luckily nothing
big happened I ended up not missing anything I think there's only two to three times during
the entire game that the ball was actually put into play so it it wasn't that big of
a deal but you always want to be ready you always want to be prepared have your gear
because nothing is worse than okay the plate umpire just you know just rolled their ankle
you know doing something they can't continue so you know hey you base umpire you you got
to take over the plate um well all all my plate gear is back at my house 20 minutes
away so that that's a 40 minute you know turnaround to go from here home grab my plate gear get
back and then I still got to get dressed so now we're talking about delaying the game
for almost an hour because you didn't bring your gear with you you know even with me I
don't even leave my gear in the truck I bring it up to kind of my staging area even when
I don't work at that particular field I still leave my bag right near the gate at the at
the other field that that we do minors games at I I bring everything to the physically
to the field with me I don't even leave it in my vehicle because that's just more time
that I would have to use up to walk out to my vehicle grab my gear and bring it back
so that is about it for my my loadout as always if you have any questions comments ideas for
future episodes drop me an email blue crew diaries at gmail.com I was really looking
forward to hearing from you I've I've noticed the podcast is kind of starting to take off
a little bit and for that I I say thank you I I appreciate everybody who listens to this
podcast hopefully you are getting out of the podcast what you want to get out of it if
you are fantastic if there's anything else you would like again drop me drop me an email
you know I I'm I'm doing this podcast for you guys and girls you know for for new umpires
or people that are you know thinking about possibly getting into umpire in Little League
that is what this podcast is for so thank you everyone for listening and hopefully I
can can help you get get out there and call some games so with that said as always again
thank you all very much for listening and I will see you on the diamond