Umpire Pay and Where to start

[quincy]

DD played with 1 umpire a lot. School ball always had 2 umpires.

If I was to do it I think would try to find out were the schools get thier umpires. Would nice to have another blind person to help you. Lol

 

[EdLovrich]

Depending on the state and location within that state, either ADs contract the umpires themselves or local umpire associations get the contracts from the ADs and assign within their association members. I THINK there may be some state HS associations that assign directly during the regular season, but not sure. Again, best way to find out particulars in your area is contact an umpire or your local AD to see how they handle it.

 

[The Man In Blue]

LL BB and SB: LL is all volunteer but they DO pass the hat at most places in this area. So, pay depends on the crowd.

Now that is very interesting! Just curious what the results of that usually are (range, average, etc.). Do you see a difference if the fans are "those fans" (or is you LL pretty good and you don't have those issues)?

 

[radness]

Now that is very interesting! Just curious what the results of that usually are (range, average, etc.). Do you see a difference if the fans are "those fans" (or is you LL pretty good and you don't have those issues)?

And my humor kicked in
Is that tipping as the game progresses?

Nickel here, a dollar there.
Maybe a ten spot for a decision overturned...


Hmmm seriously pass the hat may give people a good reason to chip in for better umpire and KEEP them around!

 

[The Man In Blue]

DD played with 1 umpire a lot. School ball always had 2 umpires.

If I was to do it I think would try to find out were the schools get thier umpires. Would nice to have another blind person to help you. Lol

As @EdLovrich said, different areas and even different schools do it differently. Finding out is very important. Some schools handle it themselves (it is part of the AD's duties), some schools contract an assignor (the AD passes the buck). In some areas that assignor is the local umpire association, in some areas the assignors are just any person who can get contracts and a group of umpires.

Since the one umpire thing got mentioned ... that is a very big point of contention with me. If that becomes the norm, that is the point I get out. I will not do that. Yes, I have done it a few times out of last minute necessity or for a scrimmage where two clubs got together, but there is NO WAY that should be an acceptable practice for tournaments or school ball. I've seen tournaments where the TD is just being cheap -- unacceptable. Most NFHS affiliated states have in their by-laws that a contest can NOT be played with only one official, however I hear of more and more removing that or accepting schools only hiring one official. We need to put a stop to this.

@flash277 ... that is where umpires need to speak up and unite to refuse to do those games. Throwing you a pittance on top is an insult. Like I said, this is a difficult subject to bring up as we (at least most of us) aren't in it for the money, but we are not here to be abused (and yes, improper pay is a form of abuse) either. Our time is not valueless.

Let me ask this of the umpires here ... You are an independent contractors, so do you get contracts for your games? My experiences have been few schools still use a proper paper or digital contract. That's it. I have been contemplating writing my own standard contract and requiring places to sign it.

 

[EdLovrich]

I do have contracts for all school games, for pay AND liability issues. If an umpire cannot fulfill a contract at the last minute and no one is available to fill the slot, the school has the option to reschedule or divvy the same amount of money over the officials who are there (for BB/SB that would be double pay, for a football crew, typically a 20-25% increase)

 

[eddieq]

The going rate around here for single games is around 50. I got that for the league 12u games consistently the last few years. Tournaments depends on the organizer. I have had as low as 40 per game and as high as 65.

 

[flash277]

As @EdLovrich said, different areas and even different schools do it differently. Finding out is very important. Some schools handle it themselves (it is part of the AD's duties), some schools contract an assignor (the AD passes the buck). In some areas that assignor is the local umpire association, in some areas the assignors are just any person who can get contracts and a group of umpires.

Since the one umpire thing got mentioned ... that is a very big point of contention with me. If that becomes the norm, that is the point I get out. I will not do that. Yes, I have done it a few times out of last minute necessity or for a scrimmage where two clubs got together, but there is NO WAY that should be an acceptable practice for tournaments or school ball. I've seen tournaments where the TD is just being cheap -- unacceptable. Most NFHS affiliated states have in their by-laws that a contest can NOT be played with only one official, however I hear of more and more removing that or accepting schools only hiring one official. We need to put a stop to this.

@flash277 ... that is where umpires need to speak up and unite to refuse to do those games. Throwing you a pittance on top is an insult. Like I said, this is a difficult subject to bring up as we (at least most of us) aren't in it for the money, but we are not here to be abused (and yes, improper pay is a form of abuse) either. Our time is not valueless.

Let me ask this of the umpires here ... You are an independent contractors, so do you get contracts for your games? My experiences have been few schools still use a proper paper or digital contract. That's it. I have been contemplating writing my own standard contract and requiring places to sign it.

I told my assigner that I will not do any more one umpire games, not so much that I can't do them (I have done plenty of them), but it's ridiculous that I only get $5 more to do the job of 2 umpires. I brought this up to the guy who runs our organization that we should at least get 1.5 of the fee, but he had no good answer for me. Why in my pocket when it can go in his pocket, I guess.

Like you and many umpires have said here, I don't do it for the money, I do it for the love of the game, put don't take advantage of me.

 

[The Man In Blue]

I'll even be a rebel and say I would take a small pay cut if places would hire 3-man crews.

 

[SoulFY]

I've seen posts recently here and on social media about shortages. I've considered umpiring as DD may be retiring soon. I found a great post here about gear, Ump Gear, and I've seen posts about per game pay. Seems to be in the 30-50 range per game.

But starting out, how much should one expect to make? Obviously depends on what you do. Around here, what I know about, rec is pretty limited though there are select leagues through the week. Then weekend tournaments, mostly what DD played and I see looking for umpires is USSSA. I know there are other orgs around like USA and NSA. Then there's school ball (Jr and High).

So just curious any opinions on how/where people start out and how many games may expect do on a league night and then at one of these local weekend tournaments to kind of figure out pay. How much "training" will there be before getting to do games.

If there's good posts buried here let me know and I'll check them out. I'll admit I didn't look hard.

In my opinion, I think starting out in the high school season is the best way. That is how I did. I had zero experience umpiring. No little league, youth, weekend ball, nothing. Just played baseball and my younger sister played softball. Saw they make a decent about of money in the high school side and as a person coming out of college is was a nice job.

We had excellent training here. In classroom discussion of the rulebook with a weekend of on the field training. Plus 2 weeks of scrimmages that the schools use to get ready. That was really important on the job training where you can mess up and no one really cares.

Not sure if you can experience that in usssa tournaments. You just might get thrown in a real game with just rulebook training and maybe some onfield mechanics.

Another thing that was nice of high school games is that the coaches know they have to answer to a state association if they get in trouble. Most of the time they behave because if a ejection happens, it could have consequences with employment and missed games. It's a whole lot better than weekend travel ball where sometimes the coaches and fans feel like they can do whatever they want.