Love of game draws umpires Select group works World Series

BANGOR – It’s easy to take umpires for granted.

If they do a good job, nobody notices and if they make the wrong call, everybody notices.

And as far as them being there, well, nobody really thinks much about that.

A lot went into the presence of the 12 men in blue this week at the Senior League World Series.

They come from Quebec, San Diego, Philadelphia, and Indianapolis as well as lesser-known locales like Escanaba, Mich.; Mukilteo, Wash.; Leesburg, Va.; and Ingleside, Texas.

And they come at their own expense.

Randy Parsons, Bob Peterson, Jim Parker, Kevin Fauer, Jim Hill, Marc Disalvo, Bob Robinson, Kevin Reilly, Marc Gratton, Ed Gafner, Mark Bernstein, and Jim Smith represent the cream of the Little League umpiring crop – and they’re all happy to be here.

“I was thrilled to find out I was coming here because I spent 17 summers in New Hampshire and I know the area,” said Parker, who traveled here with wife Sandy from Meridian, Texas. “When you get called, it doesn’t really matter where you’re working, though.”

Once notified by Little League officials of their assignments, umpires travel at their own cost to the site cities. Once there, their hotel expenses are taken care of by Little League.

It’s considered a plum assignment for most umpires.

“This is a quest I’ve been on for 10 years. You have to go before your DA’s [district administrators], you do your sectional tournaments and district tournaments and get reviewed all the time,” Parker explained. “And we have probably a thousand umpires in the state of Texas alone.”

Parker has been umpiring more than 20 years and estimates he has worked 50 state, regional, district and sectional tournaments. His profile is similar to his 11 peers and they are all first-time Series umpires.

“For myself, the goal is at some point to go to the Little League World Series in Williamsport [Pa.], but this is a close second,” said Bernstein, a 26-year umpiring veteran from San Diego. “It’s a select group and they like to give as many guys as possible a chance to work a World Series, so you’re only allowed to work two Series [any level] in your career.”

Umpires are recommended for playoff tournaments by their district administrators, who submit their names to their respective regions. Regional reps, in turn, review the candidates and forward their names along to LL headquarters in Williamsport. The finalists are notified in December.

So why go through the hassle and expense of travelling, in some cases, to the opposite coast just to volunteer your time to work ballgames in the scalding heat?

“I love baseball. You have to love the game,” said Bernstein. “I started playing when I was 7 and umpired my first game when I was 16. “And then it’s all about the kids. Plus I enjoy watching good baseball.

Despite searing heat almost every day of the Series, the umpires say they’ve enjoyed their time in Maine, a state which few have visited before now.

“The people here have been just fantastic,” Bernstein added. “The hospitality and help we’ve gotten, and the way we’ve been embraced is phenomenal.”

Parker isn’t fazed by the heat. It was 102 degrees with 85 percent humidity in Meridian when he left.

“I’ve never been to the northeast part of the country, but it’s great,” said Parker, a former Little League coach who became an umpire after his sons stopped playing. “People have been fantastic. You always hear about southern hospitality? Well I guarantee you can find the same thing up here. We want to be back if we can.”