Introduction

First off, there is no better way to get quick cash in your pocket than umpiring. A part-time weekend gig, you can't beat officiating the great game of baseball. For one thing, you’ve got the best seat in the house—except you have to stand.

For Bren, age 11, who jumped on the chance to call ball, this was a no-brainer. Signing up for a few meetings at KWAA (Kingswood Athletic Association) in West Omaha to what you’d call a mini-umpire camp, Brendan was behind the plate in no time. Run by a young 20-something umpire Jason with more than a few games under his belt, approximately 25 would-be umps spent two days in the gym and then two in Dave and Sharon Ernst’s make-shift ball field. They were more than a some excited to put a some cash in their pockets.

However, mini-camp is not enough if you want to jump into the $40/game circuit of travel team and tournament ball. Showing up for two-hour Sunday afternoon umpire meetings at “Denny’s Church” in the Omaha suburb of Ralston will get you earning a few thousand dollars over the summer for part time work.

Dropping down a flight of stairs to the churches basement, you will listen to Denny as well as two former Metro Umpire protégé’s on occasion, Roy and Bill, who took things ump-wise a big step further. They are now officiating baseball on the double AA circuit.

Because Jones is the umpire assigner for virtually all the baseball games in the Omaha Metro area, everything from rec ball to the travel team Slumpbuster tournament that takes place about the same time the CWS (College World Series) is in town, you’ll be able to umpire more youth baseball games than you could ever imagine. Chip in $35 to get in on the Metro website, and serious umpire summer work is guaranteed.

Now, while I’m the first to gripe—I mean, meetings where the main course is listening to “balk” or “interference” or “obstruction” discussions—I do remember hearing veteran umpire Jerry say, “When it’s a can of corn.”

I perked up. “Can of corn? Now what the heck could that possibly mean? Suddenly, I realized that there may well be a baseball lingo, a language I was not familiar with, yet every ump knew. (A "can of corn" in baseball is when someone catches a pop-up ball. The can of corn got its name back when merchants always used to put cans of corn up on the top shelf (reason unknown) and they had to use something to knock it down and then they caught it.)

Still, there’s got to be something faster and easier than sitting through 20+ hours of meetings from January to March. Meanwhile, have umpiring be a fun time for Bren, not a parent-yelling hassle.

I mean, it doesn’t matter if the players are 9-years-old, just starting baseball; parents and coaches take each game seriously. The pressure on umpires is often true: be a 100 per cent then make steady improvements.

So, to help out, jot a few things down. Yet, this is much tougher than I thought. Only after I watched fellow umps, watched Bren umpire T-ball, dissected my own games, what went right, what went wrong, did my notes become a book. A lucky break? Break it down to plate and base mechanics. As school administrator, I explored the How-to of successful teacher behaviors in the classroom. This became the How-to of successful umpire behaviors at the game.