the other place

[strkumpire]

i know this is a cdp place, but since i can not go to cdp my usual week
i was thinking of going to all star village to try it. they said the have built a
umpire barracks for this year. anyone here been there and gave me any info.
can you wear different colors like at cdp? or any other info

[jfernish]

Pretty much the same clothing rules as CDP, you will enjoy the restaurant/bar at the to of the hill.

When I went 2 years ago, the umpire atmosphere was setup for a family experience vs. hard core baseball at CDP. This environment might have changed as the umpire coordinator has changed. An example, the umpires were told to look the other way if the player hit a Homeun and then missed touching a base...ie don't take a home run away from any player.

[yawetag]

An example, the umpires were told to look the other way if the player hit a Homeun and then missed touching a base...ie don't take a home run away from any player.

This is a good thing?

[jfernish]

I didn't care for the style umpiring. But I did enjoy going to the top of the hill to enjoy a few beers at the end of the day.

[Scuzzyfeller]

I didn't care for the style umpiring. But I did enjoy going to the top of the hill to enjoy a few beers at the end of the day.

"Visited" but did not umpire....

I thought the "Top Of The Hill" was OVER priced for a simple CTB...cold tasty beer...[hey Marty...yah hear me?]

Scuzz

[mulgrew]

The new Umpire in Chief there is Mike from CDP in 2009. I was wondering where he went after that summer.

[cordon blue]

I was at Cooperstown All Star Village in August 2009 (a place that shall remain “Nameless here for evermore” with my apologies to Edgar Allan Poe). So I cannot comment on any umpire barracks you mentioned. But I do have a lot to share with you.

First, the place is nowhere near Cooperstown. Their website describes the location as being on the outskirts of Cooperstown. In reality, it is located in the town of Oneonta about 28-30 miles away. The site itself stands alone away from Oneonta so you are pretty much stuck at the village if you have not rented a car. While it is true that they give you one ticket to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown there is no bus or any regularly scheduled transportation service to the museum. That means you will have to rent a car in advance or make some other arrangements to get to the museum. That is, of course, if you are interested. If you just want to umpire you can work as many games as you want.

At the scheduled umpire meeting before the tournament began, we were told that over half the games that week were already filled with local umpires. It seems that most teams do not bring an umpire with them and just pay the penalty. The figure mentioned while I was there was less than half of the visiting teams actually bring an umpire–the week I was there only 12 out of the 25 teams brought an umpire and that was unusually high for them.

As for scheduling it was just a matter of raising your hands and saying “I do, I do” over and over to the scheduler and UIC who is asking who wants Field 28 at 3:00 or whatever. They say they expect you to work two games a day during the tournament but if you do that then you never have a chance to go to the museum. So do not volunteer to work one day at least. Now this system of scheduling may not sound so bad considering the situation but it was also the way they scheduled the playoff rounds.

It didn't matter who had distinguished himself during the week or who had seniority or anything else. After pool play the same system was employed to determine the umpire schedules for the bracket rounds leading to the championship game. And to show how serious they were they wanted six umpires for the championship game on a Little League configured field. More to follow.

[cordon blue]

You ask about uniforms. Yes, it is true that they give you two jerseys but if you work several games they are not nearly enough. Bring several of your own. Of course, you will have to confer with your scheduled partner to sync up.

They do have laundry service on site but it is not very good. And be sure to label your clothing with your name. The laundry service wasn’t very particular about getting clothes back to the right person.

If you work one of the late games, you will miss the laundry pickup at your bunkhouse. In other words, the clothes you wore in the last game will remain stinky, sweaty for at least 24 hours. Also, the laundry service just washes your clothes—they come back to you wrinkled. The emphasis of the service is speed not care.

Someone mentioned the restaurant/bar at the top of the hill being overpriced. He wasn’t kidding! Not just the beer but everything else was very pricey. I worked a late game one night and missed the scheduled dinner time. After the game I was famished and had to trek up the hill to eat. It was costly and very tiring. And walking down the hill isn’t easy either especially in the dark.

[cordon blue]

More should be said about the hill. It is almost vertical and I am not exaggerating. The hillside trail is a winding one (I think they are called switchbacks) to actually get to and from the village at the bottom. I don‘t know how old you are but everyone except the kids had trouble trekking up and down the hill. I think the proprietors like the hill because it provides a natural separation for the campers from the parents.

You see, the bunkhouses and the swimming pool are at the bottom of the hill but all the meals were scheduled in a pavilion at the top of the hill; the restaurant/bar is also at street level and so are the other stores, main tent, and offices. I dubbed the hill “Cardiac Hill.”

[cordon blue]

If they have not built an umpire bunkhouse, then you would probably bunk with your sponsoring team. There are no closets or anything to hang up your clothes. There are no wash basins and not nearly enough electrical outlets. Recharging your cell phones and/or your laptops is not an easy thing to do.

Since you are bunking with a bunch of 11-12 year old boys there are no window curtains or shades. The logistics of changing clothes or getting dressed for games were quite difficult. And the kids never wanted to go to sleep so that means you won’t get any sleep either.

When I was there my team and I were assigned to the furthest bunkhouse from the bathhouse. That put us about 75 yards from the nearest toilet, wash basins, and showers. You haven’t lived until you have awakened at 2:30 a.m. and tried not to disturb anyone else in the bunkhouse to walk out and down the stairs to go to the bathroom 75 yards away (and two of the nights it was raining).

So I hope you are right and they have built a separate umpire facility.

[semper_fi_72]

They have built a umpire barracks and it is air conditioned.

[strkumpire]

Thanks for all the feed back. To answer your age question I am 60 and I don't think a cardiac hill is for me. It looks like I will try for week 7 at CDP instead.