Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two part series on Senior League Umpires

So, you don’t think there was much difference from a standard ASA umpire (or any other organization) and a "senior league umpire?" Perhaps you are correct. It’s the same guys, the ones who officiate all the other leagues in the local softball program, but when they take the field for a senior league game, the rules and interpretations change radically. What would make this particular league of senior players actually require their own "specialized" umpires? Are there any specialized co-ed umpires out there? Have you ever heard of a group of unique men or women’s umpires?

Oddly enough, as far back as 1998 there was an attempt made to have a national organization of senior umpires. An organization known then as Senior Softball United States America (SSUSA) out of California began this lofty goal and managed to train many umpires at various qualifiers and world championships throughout the West and Northwest. I was there for over a dozen of them and must admit that each new batch of "experienced" trainees from each city were almost entirely in the dark as to umpiring a senior’s game. It was a valiant attempt, but the truth of the matter is that it comes down to your own homegrown umpires. The umpires who do the league games week after week. They are to be this "elite" group who really must master the senior’s game. This training has to begin at the grass roots level of the local umpire association. We must look this in the eye and realize that the umpires need a special review of the senior game. A closer examination is needed, of the special rules than just expecting the umpires to "read it on their own." That is not working. If you have a senior league in your softball program, now is the time to get control of this wall-eyed gal lout! The senior game has humbled more umpires out there than all of the high level men’s games they’ve done. I’ve seen it over and over and so have all of the hundreds of thousands of senior players out there.

What brought all of this on? Is there a need to actually train them specially? Almost all of the players feel that this is necessary. So how much can be done at the local level of the slopitch umpire association? All of it can be done here. The Umpire Association for each city recreation program has its training meetings for all umpires in early spring. Why can’t the various umpire associations seem to get them trained well enough (as was testified by 90% of the senior players polled in a recent survey)?

Perhaps during these various early spring umpire clinics and at a few of the subsequent meetings during the season, there could be time taken to go over the senior’s game. This would help immensely and imagine if there were an addendum in the rule book with precisely marked out and defined senior rules! If we do not get innovative along with these guys, the world of amateur softball will begin to experience a series of shock waves. This division ultimately affects ALL amateur players continuing to play. Sadly, year after year, the report keeps coming back that most of the umpires don’t have a clue when they go out and work the senior league games.

It is time for the umpire associations from the Northwest to Southeast to get serious about addressing this unique division of softball players. Most of our ASA regions are up on training their new umps well and maintaining on-going training for their vets. Let’s take these vets and give them some strong doses of senior ball, with all the rules and mechanics geared toward senior players. Plus, let them know that it’s actually a lot of fun to be a part of the senior game’s unique twists and its interesting short cuts. It’ll be a lot more fun for everybody if the umpires would meet this challenge head on and spend some time gathering up that "ounce of prevention."

The myriad of intricate, ever changing, rules is the first giant task that the umpire must conquer. If they do not conquer the rulebook his head will surly roll. From the very start, the senior softball game is fraught with its own rules, which are standard ASA rules. Most of the standard softball rules are kept in place, with little addendums attached here and there to various sections of the rulebook. All of the field dimensions and equipment requirements are left intact; but almost from there on, any section of the rules is open to modifications, additions and in some cases, very fanciful renditions.

Why DO seniors feel compelled to take such creative liberties with the rules? The number one reason is safety! Then, as things went on and developed, convenience slipped right in there and became necessity. Often it’s no little adjustment to be made to the standard rule. Every senior league has some alterations, such as the double home plate. Senior leagues throughout the country have adapted over a dozen or more super-additions, super-junctions super-supplements and a few yaws to their game. These generous interpolations inadvertently add to the umpire’s already bulging bag of rules (or is it "tricks"?). And it does get trickier if you are the umpire in a senior league game, as you go joggling along the path with them, loosely spilling out here and there. There is no foreseeable stopping of this tinkering either, as the reasons are as vast and lively as the imaginations of these veteran softball sooths, who apparently lie awake at night, scheming of yet one more way to be able to stay out there for a few more innings.