Rich- a professional umpire!

Hello everyone. Rich here, usurping Kim’s posting rights. I am saying hello and wanted to let you all know about some exciting news.

This past Thursday I received an e-mail from the head of the umpire school I went to in January. It said that they had an Independent League opportunity. At first I thought it was a mass e-mail and they were trying to fill spots. So I called all of my umpire friends that I kept in contact with and none of them received an invitation. Then I e-mailed them back and asked where and when and if this was some kind of try-out? They responded that, no it is not a try-out and that I had been placed in this league based on my performance at the school.

Since I have been back I had really turned the page and decided to focus on doing local umpiring along with my current job. It has been a lot of fun and I benefited from the school. I was assigned to working two playoff games this year, which is a major complement for a second year umpire. I was truly shocked to receive an assignment because they did not mention that I would be a candidate when I left school.

Kim and I decided that I would take the assignment. It is called the Boise Collegiate Summer League. You can view the website www.boisesummerleague.com if you’d like.

With the decision to go I am viewing this as a resume builder for all of the local umpiring I will be doing wherever we end up moving in the future. I will also use it to make connections in the umpire world.

So here is to a dream come true, the honor of being referred to work in a league by the most respected umpiring school in the country!!!

(And from Kim- I am sad he is going! So feel free to call anytime! But I am also excited for him and interested to see where it all leads. Oh, and because he didn't mention, he'll be gone starting this week for 2 months.)