This year we are the proud sponsor of the Kentuckiana Baseball Umpire Association 4th Annual Golf Scramble on August 29th.
This is our first sponsorship for the KBUA event, our local high school baseball umpire group who have provided us with a great deal of support over the years. We are very happy to return the favor.
The 4 person scramble will include local umpires, friends, family and others with shotgun start at 8 A.M. and will be held at the Sun Valley Golf Course in Louisville with prizes going to the 1st and 2nd place teams.
We encourage all umpires in the Kentuckiana area at all levels, baseball or softball, to join in as well. The KBUA hopes to make this there largest event to date.
If you are interested in registering, do so no later than August 15, 2010. Register as a team or be paired up as a single.
Preregistration with advance payments can be made to:
Checks should be made out to "KBUA"
Send to: Kentuckiana Baseball Umpire Association (6th and 7th Region Non-Profit Umpire Association) PO Box 37168 Louisville, Kentucky 40233
Fee of $50.00 includes T-shirt, cart, greens fee, refreshments and catered lunch at the conclusion of play.
Contact Anthony Wilder at 502.523.1553 or awwmlbump@aol.com for more information.
Sun Valley Golf Course is located at 6505 Bethany Lane off exit 1 on I-265. (Turn right onto Dixie Hwy and first left onto Bethany).
We added the following popular items to our shopping cart and comparable items to that at Honigs.com and what did we find?
Short Sleeve Wicking Referee Shirt
Long Sleeve Polyester Referee Shirt
Deluxe or Elite Knickers
Richardson Wool Blend or Performance Cap
Reebok Low Quag II Shoes
NCAA/NFHS Fitted Socks
1 1/4 Leather Belt
Cloth Penalty Flag
Double-Sided Throw Down Bag
Fox 40 CMG Whistle and lanyard
Nylon Slide Marker
Elastic Down Indicator
Honig's Price: $227.80 Our Price: $208.98 (Savings of $18.82)
So whatever your reason - to save, for service or for for more innovative, new and U.S. made products - feel better when you shop with us in 2010 for your football referee apparel.
The Reebok NFL Low Quag II Referee Shoes as pictured in our advertisement in the August (and next month's September) issues of Referee Magazine is inaccurate (see below).
Yes, Reebok will have these field shoes, but they are the same ones available since 2009 (pictured at right and also available in all-black) and not the new ones above pictured and featured in the magazine's ad.
Reebok had mistakenly listed and pictured these in their 2010 catalog although they are not available. The mistake was not revealed until we received our football shipment of Reebok shoes, too late to change the ad.
We are certainly not happy about the error, but we do sincerely apologize for the mistake and would like to offer you $5 off the popular Reebok Low Quags (no coupon necessary and while supplies last).
I'm a big believer that if you are going to do something, you should do it well.
We do baseball well, I think. We stay abreast of trends, even influenced a few of late. Our service staff has a great amount of product knowledge and passion in baseball. I played through college and umpired after for a while. We always have more new products in baseball each year than our competitors. All good.
But soccer? Nope, not been strong there, not at all really, when compared to our other sports, especially to the baseball standard we have set. It's true we have made money on the sport where what is worn, at least in shirt colors and patterns, changes quite a bit and without much notice due to our little influence there.
Sure, we could try harder and still continue to be profitable with soccer, but not enough to justify any focus and time it could take away from our other sports where our strong growth continues. So, we have decided to discontinue our soccer referee apparel, just 4 years after adding it.
This "to do soccer or not to do soccer" has been on my mind for over a year, and we have already quietly cleared most of our items. Some remain here.
We wanted to take this opportunity to thank our soccer customers and vendors. We hope those of you who officiate other sports will stick around for them, all of which we will continue to bring to you for years to come.
I recently enjoyed watching several games in the Vintage Baseball World Series at French Lick, Indiana, only a short hour and a half drive from here.
The games I observed, occurred July 10-11, and were played, fittingly, on the lazy lawn of the historic West Baden hotel.
Part Civil War style re-enactment and part competitive sport, 6 teams or clubs including the Cincinnati Buckeyes, Indianapolis Blues, Batesville Lumbermen and St. Louis Unions competed for the yearly Vintage World Series Base Ball crown while kids and adults alike licked ice cream cones and between innings a small brass band could be heard playing tunes such as "Good Ole Summertime", "Sweet Georgia Brown" and, of course, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".
Vintage Base Ball Overview So what is vintage baseball? It's "base ball" played by 1864 rules, customs and terminology. Yes, baseball was spelled with two words then, and I will pay homage to the baseball gods by doing so for the remainder of this post.
Markedly different than today's game as we know it, the players, or ballists as they were called, dawned old-style uniforms, wore no gloves and pitched underhanded. Besides these obvious differences, outs could also be recorded by simply catching a ball hit off of one bounce in addition to in the air.
And any field would do even those that might have an obstacle or two in it as defenders or fieldsmen could play a ball off any; such as a tree as happened often, and in interesting fashion, in far left field of the World Series played over the weekend.
Base ball in the mid-nineteenth century was considered a gentleman's sport. During that time and at the matches I attended, captains would introduce the ballists on their club before each match as well as deliver parting words after. In one match, the losing captain of the local Indiana club thanked the opposing team for "the fine lesson in baseball they were given today." (see below)
The Vintage Base Ball Umpire In relation to the umpire, or arbitrator as they were referred to then, their role was diminished in comparison to today's more authoritarian standards.
Ballists would often make their own calls while the arbitrator, and typically there was only one, would step in only to resolve a dispute or to announce a mutually decided upon call to the cranks (or fans) through a simple "the striker is dead" (or out) or in a more thorough manner if the call warranted it. In that way in addition to introducing the captains before the game and by announcing the score after each inning to the fans, the umpire of 1864 served as sort of an on-field Master of Ceremonies in addition to his role as arbitrator.
(Umpire or arbitrator turns to announce score to fans)
The base ball arbitrator during the mid-nineteenth century did not need to wear protective gear and merely stood to the side instead of behind the plate. Typically, they would dress in formal attire. See Dan Lion of Cincinnati here in long sleeve shirt, vest and pants with a top hat. No, we do not plan on adding a category to our umpire caps for top hats anytime soon.
I spoke after the game with Mr. Lion, who only umpires vintage base ball and just started doing so, about what he knew of umpiring in the early days. He reiterated their role as basically a facilitator in a game with high standards of sportsmanship and congenial play. He added that in some instances, arbitrators, if no one was sure, might even "be inclined to ask the spectators what they thought if he felt they had a better view of the play". What a refreshing (or scary) idea!
He also mentioned that often umpires during that time period would wear tuxedos complete with a long tail. We have certainly come a long way in nearly 150 years with our performance apparel of today at least as far as comfort is concerned.
(Lion uses his hand as an indicator for outs or hands down)
Other Things a mid-1800s Arbitrator Might Say
"Striker to the Line" to start a game (or half-inning) instead of "Play Ball"
"2 Hands Down" meaning two outs
"The St Louis Unions have recorded an ace" indicating to the tallykeeper (scorekeeper) that a run had scored.
Other Interesting 1864 Rules Differences
Balls were fair or foul based on where the ball first hit the ground.
A runner could risk being tagged out if overrunning first base.
Strikes or balls were not normally called.
The striker received three swings and misses before being called dead with foul balls not counting toward strikes.
Should the arbitrator determine the striker was not swinging at reachable pitches or if the hurler was not throwing fair pitches, the arbitrator could then warn either the striker or hurler and begin calling balls and strikes.
After a warning, the strike zone was between the striker's shoulders to one foot off the ground.
So what do you think? Could you imagine yourself as an umpire in 1864? Are there any facets of mid 1800s game rules or customs that should be integrated back into modern baseball? Feel free to comment or simply ponder on your own.
This year we are the proud sponsor of the Kentuckiana Baseball Umpire Association 4th Annual Golf Scramble on August 29th.
Sun Valley Golf Course is located at 6505 Bethany Lane off exit 1 on I-265. (Turn right onto Dixie Hwy and first left onto Bethany).
