The Daily Oklahoman from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma • 40

The Sunday Project is a weekly series devoted to the interesting and in-depth in Oklahoma sports. The Project will touch on sports off the beaten path, stories from Oklahoma's past and tales unique to our state. To suggest a story, e-mail: mkoehleroklahoman.com '0 THE SUNDAY OKLAHOMAN 12-C SUNDAY, JULY 7, 2002 Wanted: a few good umps Parents of youth-league players make it tough on the men in blue STAFF PHOTO BY NATE BILLINGS Umpire Jeff Delgado talks to coach Michael Easterling of the Denton, Texas, Bulldogs on Saturday during a game at Legends Sports Complex. Umpire Scott Delgado explains a pitching rule to little-leaguer Lawson King of Denton, Texas, on Saturday afternoon. STAFF PHOTO BY NATE BILLINGS By Bob Colon Senior Staff Writer t's the vocal five percent of parents who are ruining youth league baseball, says one longtime city-area sports administrator.

Others say the vocal group is much larger than five percent and bad conduct in major league sports is filtering into the kids leagues. "Society is not very forgiving right now," says Ron Cox, baseball commissioner at the Putnam City Optimist complex in Dolese Park. "The big deal in T-ball is interference. Why is the third baseman standing in the base line? It's because he doesn't know any better. "The coach told him he was the third baseman and showed him where to stand.

The base runners should run around the fielder and not knock him down. A lot of (coaches and fans) want our umpires to call interference. "Parents make quicker and harsher judgments than in the past. They think they know the rules, but they don't. If umpires don't have the capacity to not listen to fans, they have a tough time.

"Fans are close to the field and become more involved in games. They are more apt to boo and hiss a call." Some youth leagues have trouble getting umpires, and some are forced to use people with little experience. Roger Adair, a high school and college umpire who conducts rules clinics for the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association, talked about how the son of a friend got into umpiring. "He went and filled out an application," Adair said. "He got a call one day at 4 p.m.

and was told he needed to have a blue shirt and blue cap and needed to report at 5:30 p.m. to call his first game. That was the extent of his training. "Youth umpires talk about parents getting on them. They expect them to call the games like it's the World Series." Bob Prieto, who runs Davis Field in south Oklahoma City, has no problem finding umpires.

"As soon as the high school season is over, we have plenty of umpires," Prieto said. "We use some guys who were playing high school ball." Davis Field pays cash on the spot instead of mailing checks and that makes it easier to hire umps. Prieto said the younger the team, the more vocal the parents. "You have a bunch of T-ball parents treating games like it's the World Series." Three years ago Greg Biagini was managing the Oklahoma RedHawks and last summer he was a minor league hitting instructor for the Boston Red Sox. Now he's handling baseball and umpires at the Edmond All Sports complex.

"I've found this job is more in dealing with parents and coaches," Biagini said. "The biggest thing I tell our umpires is not to deal with the parents. Just explain rules to coaches. Don't stop the game to argue with a parent or the (parent serving as) scorer." Biagini had Wes Hamilton, Pacific Coast League umpire who lives in Edmond, give a rules clinic for umpires. Umps were also given a written test.

"I would like to see coaches take the test," Biagini said. "I took the test. It was open book and I didn't use the book and missed only seven (out of 100 questions). When I was managing I had a rule book and kept on reading it." There is a tournament going on at the Legends complex in northwest Oklahoma City this weekend and Paul Krahm and Tyler Beaty were working four straight 11-12-year-old games Saturday. They both said they umpired for the extra money and were enrolled with the high school association.

Both looked the part with gray slacks and professional quality blue shirts. ABOVE: Umpire Jeff Delgado talks to little leaguer Taylor Brown of the Blackwell Orioles during a baseball game at Legends Sports Complex on Saturday. LEFT: Umpires and brothers Scott (left) and Jeff Delgado talk during a timeout at a little-league game Saturday. STAFF PHOTOS BY NATE BILLINGS ivWj Jib Paying the Umps Youth Leagues PCAA fields (Britton Road): $14 to $15 a game. PC0 (Dolese Park): $1 1 to $12 an hour, $16.50 for 1 12-hour game, cash paid on site.

Davis Field (South May): $12 for T-ball up to $20 for preps, cash paid on site. Edmond All Sports: $15 for T-ball and machine, up to $24 for prep tournaments. High School Varsity: $40 single, $70 for doubleheader. State Tournament: $40 a game. Junior Varsity: $30 a game.

Junior High: $20 to $25 a game. State Colleges Single game: $75. Doubleheader: $125. Big 12 Conference $1 75 per game and $525 for three-game series. Meal Money: $75 or $85 for the weekend.

Travel and individual hotel rooms paid. BY BOB COLON Plate umpires at the two midgets fields opted to work with only a mask as protective equipment and had their caps turned backwards. Experienced umpires wear the mask over the cap without turning it backwards. "We have some hot times," Beaty said after working a 23-0 game, stopped by a run rule in the top of the third. It was a 90-minute time limit and the umpire game fee was $17.50, about average in the area.

Some things about kids baseball haven't changed, with parents offering plenty of advice to their children. On one field at Legends a father talked nonstop as his son was batting. "You don't need to bunt," the father said. "Swing away. You're stepping out.

Step toward the pitcher." The son was called out on strikes as the father complained about the call. One parent at Legends said some umpires know how to calm down coaches and fans. "They can embarrass a guy just enough to shut him up," the parent said. One coach, who made all-state and played four years of major college baseball, asked umpires the distance down the lines at Legends. "My kids don't want to over-swing," the coach said.

It was hot Saturday morning and the catcher of the team that lost 23-0 laid on home plate, using his glove as a pillow, during a conference on the mound. Ken McQueen, who umpires college baseball, used to hire umpires for a youth complex. "It was machine pitch of just a little older game," McQueen recalls. "A father came up and was just livid and said a call cost him a game. His son was eating an ice cream bar.

I asked the son who won the game and he shrugged his shoulders. He said the ice cream was good." Andy Giachino, a longtime umpire and assignor, said there is an umpire shortage at all levels. "Nobody wants to stand out there for two hours and get yelled at," Giachino said. "Parents are yelling some crazy stuff. I was working a (high school age) game the other night and a team gets ahead 11-0 and ends up losing 12-11.

The parents are yelling at us. We were to blame for their team losing after being 11 runs ahead." STAFF PHOTO BY NATE BILLINGS Jeff Delgado gives the count from behind the plate at a little-league game Saturday at Legends Sports Complex..