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Event Information
UPAC Event Calendar
Latest News
Umpires Protective Association of Chicago
UPAC meeting for March 19, 2010
Friday @730pm
This Meeting will be Merrimac Park (16 inch clinic)
6343 West Irving Park Road
Chicago, IL 60634-2406.
Need more information?
Email Ed Solger
Friday @730pm
This Meeting will be Merrimac Park (16 inch clinic)
6343 West Irving Park Road
Chicago, IL 60634-2406.
Need more information?
Email Ed Solger
The Umpire Clinic held on
March 7, was a huge success
with over a 100 Umpires and
prospective Umpires in
attendance. Visit our Photo
Gallery .
March 7, was a huge success
with over a 100 Umpires and
prospective Umpires in
attendance. Visit our Photo
Gallery .
2010 Membership Dues are now upon us. Download an
application on the contact us page and send it in.
application on the contact us page and send it in.
Download a copy of the UPAC
Oct. 2009 Presidents Letter.
Please find attached the
President Letter for October
2009.
It has important information
regarding nominations/
elections for the 2010
officers.
OCT 2009 PRESIDENT LETTER
AND OFFICER LETTER
Oct. 2009 Presidents Letter.
Please find attached the
President Letter for October
2009.
It has important information
regarding nominations/
elections for the 2010
officers.
OCT 2009 PRESIDENT LETTER
AND OFFICER LETTER
UPAC Members be sure you
pay your dues so you are
covered under UPAC insurance.
Visit the contact us page if you
need information.
pay your dues so you are
covered under UPAC insurance.
Visit the contact us page if you
need information.
UPAC Members if you have a photo or information you like to
share or have posted on our website just email the UPAC
Webmaster.
share or have posted on our website just email the UPAC
Webmaster.
UPAC Members, we are
looking to hire new Umpires. If
you know of someone interested
in Umpiring, have him or her
show up at the next UPAC
meeting or go to the contact us
page fill out an application. If
interested person has questions
they can call or they can fill out
the form and we will get right
back to them.
looking to hire new Umpires. If
you know of someone interested
in Umpiring, have him or her
show up at the next UPAC
meeting or go to the contact us
page fill out an application. If
interested person has questions
they can call or they can fill out
the form and we will get right
back to them.
UPAC Members you can now
contact our president via email at
dhoffmanpresident@upac.us
contact our president via email at
dhoffmanpresident@upac.us
UPAC Members if you haven't
been paid for a game or games
you have done contact your
assignor in a timely manner. Do
not wait for months to pass
before contacting him.
been paid for a game or games
you have done contact your
assignor in a timely manner. Do
not wait for months to pass
before contacting him.
UPAC, Would like to
congratulate UPAC member
Paul Lopez on becoming
certified thru the IHSA. Great
Job Paul!!
congratulate UPAC member
Paul Lopez on becoming
certified thru the IHSA. Great
Job Paul!!
Umpires Protective Association umpire Mike Planthaber
(center) and Don Kirch (left) joke with Liverdogs' captain Phil
Cammarata after the Liverdogs won the championship game of
the Jefferson Park Tuesday and Thursday league in Chicago on
Thursday, August 6, 2009.
(center) and Don Kirch (left) joke with Liverdogs' captain Phil
Cammarata after the Liverdogs won the championship game of
the Jefferson Park Tuesday and Thursday league in Chicago on
Thursday, August 6, 2009.
For 91 years, the association has back-stopped those who maintain the integrity of softball in the city of its birth. It reflects the
passions of an era when players would take their frustrations out physically on the men in blue. Upon the death of one early
member, his son said of the group: "It was named that because in a city like Chicago, umpires needed protection."
The Umpires Protective Association claims to have authored the first softball rule book and, from its inception, claimed moral
authority over all diamond sports in Chicago. In 1923, it scotched a rumor that White Sox players who threw a previous World
Series planned a comeback on the city's sandlots, simply by announcing that its umps wouldn't officiate any such games.
The Umpires Protective Association once numbered 600, Planthaber said. Its members were a fixture on the city's ball fields and
sports pages. Newspapers reported its doings alongside tidbits about the city's professional teams.
When a police captain of the 1940s claimed he didn't see the city's wide-open gambling dens and strip clubs, a columnist
suggested he was being scouted by the Umpires Protective Association's "talent procurement division."
More recently, the group's ranks have been thinned by defections to breakaway groups and changing fashions in local sports.
The membership list is down to 100 names, but the silver lining is that the remaining umpires rarely need protection.
In Planthaber's case, it's because he is 6-foot-5 and solidly built, with an extra measure of proud solidity around the midsection.
A beer belly is as much a part of a softball enthusiast's uniform as a jersey advertising a corner bar.
But the dust-ups also are fewer because the umpires and players sense themselves as mutual keepers of a declining faith:
16-inch softball -- long the only real kind to a true Chicagoan.
"I don't want to blame the younger generation," said Planthaber, giving the plate a preliminary dusting. "But I do."
Don Kirch, the second member of the umpiring crew, nodded in agreement. Planthaber had earlier explained that an umpire
backs up a fellow umpire, even if he misses a call.
"The way I see kids today, a lot of them are more interested in going to school than playing sports," said Kirch. "They want to be
doctors and lawyers. We wanted to be ballplayers."
Kirch still does, which is why he umpires at age 62. Like golf and bowling, softball is rare among sports for the length of time
players can stay with it. Fifty-year-old infielders and outfielders are common.When playing days are finally over, passionate
alums can stay on the field as umpires. Planthaber calls it a chance to "see the game from the other side of the chalk line." At
51, he is relatively a junior among umps, and he's been doing it for 27 years. John Wisniewski, who was umpiring another game
that evening, is 72. Wisniewski said it would be hard to be an umpire if you haven't been a player. The Chicago-style game
differs even from close relatives, baseball and the form of softball that employs a smaller, 12-inch ball. He cited his Army
experience.
"At Ft. Leonard Wood, I saw GIs with this little ball, wearing gloves," Wisniewski said. "I said, 'What's this?' "
Chicago-style softball has unique rules -- besides requiring players to go after the ball barehanded and enjoining slow pitching.
"There's no batter's box," Planthaber explained. He added that the pitcher's rubber is more or less advisory. As long as a pitcher
is within a foot of the rubber, it's OK.
Untethered, pitcher and catcher wander around, even as the pitcher sends the ball plate-ward -- in a trajectory statisticians call
the normal distribution curve. The ball goes sharply up as it's released, then sharply downward approaching the plate.
Batters have to either swing up at the ball, like a boxer throwing an upper-cut, or bat it down with a stroke like a tennis serve. An
umpire has to judge a ball descending like a dive bomber, while measuring its arc against the distance from below the shoulders
to above the knees of a batter also in lively motion.
"When you blow a call and it costs a team the championship," said Kirch, "it stays with you the rest of your life."
In the short run, Planthaber's working philosophy is to let aggrieved players vent -- up to the point of directing profanities his
way.
"That's when I say, 'You're out of here,' " Planthaber said.
The recent game Planthaber officiated was peaceable. The only things he tossed out of the park were a beer bottle indiscreetly
revealed on a team bench and Madelynn Rose Hoff. A player's 11-month-old daughter, she was being carried too close to the
field of play.
Her father's team, the LiverDogs, beat the Wild Turkeys 14-5, to win the park's Tuesday/Thursday league championship. The
winners' starting pitcher, having built up a solid lead, left the game early to play for another team in another park.
Years back, playing multiple games in a single evening was commonplace.
There is less of that these days. Planthaber blames 16-inch softball's failure to attract new blood on "youngsters having too
many distractions, like computers."
Stephan Fouche, 28, a physical instructor at Jefferson Park, thinks the higher-ups don't give the game the support it once
enjoyed. They look upon softballers as "overgrown kids," he said. Wisniewski notes that recent immigrants play soccer.
Indeed, at the other corner of Jefferson Park from where LiverDogs were crowned champions, Nacereddine Bouchama was
drilling his sons, Samy, 7, and Walid, 11, in soccer fundamentals. The family is from Algeria. Chicago parks will continue to host
sports -- just different ones.
Yet that's less comforting -- from a perspective behind home plate. Wisniewski, who lives not far from Shabbona Park, on
Addison Street, near Harlem Avenue, sees something troubling when driving by.
"The lights are still on," he said, "but nobody's playing softball."
passions of an era when players would take their frustrations out physically on the men in blue. Upon the death of one early
member, his son said of the group: "It was named that because in a city like Chicago, umpires needed protection."
The Umpires Protective Association claims to have authored the first softball rule book and, from its inception, claimed moral
authority over all diamond sports in Chicago. In 1923, it scotched a rumor that White Sox players who threw a previous World
Series planned a comeback on the city's sandlots, simply by announcing that its umps wouldn't officiate any such games.
The Umpires Protective Association once numbered 600, Planthaber said. Its members were a fixture on the city's ball fields and
sports pages. Newspapers reported its doings alongside tidbits about the city's professional teams.
When a police captain of the 1940s claimed he didn't see the city's wide-open gambling dens and strip clubs, a columnist
suggested he was being scouted by the Umpires Protective Association's "talent procurement division."
More recently, the group's ranks have been thinned by defections to breakaway groups and changing fashions in local sports.
The membership list is down to 100 names, but the silver lining is that the remaining umpires rarely need protection.
In Planthaber's case, it's because he is 6-foot-5 and solidly built, with an extra measure of proud solidity around the midsection.
A beer belly is as much a part of a softball enthusiast's uniform as a jersey advertising a corner bar.
But the dust-ups also are fewer because the umpires and players sense themselves as mutual keepers of a declining faith:
16-inch softball -- long the only real kind to a true Chicagoan.
"I don't want to blame the younger generation," said Planthaber, giving the plate a preliminary dusting. "But I do."
Don Kirch, the second member of the umpiring crew, nodded in agreement. Planthaber had earlier explained that an umpire
backs up a fellow umpire, even if he misses a call.
"The way I see kids today, a lot of them are more interested in going to school than playing sports," said Kirch. "They want to be
doctors and lawyers. We wanted to be ballplayers."
Kirch still does, which is why he umpires at age 62. Like golf and bowling, softball is rare among sports for the length of time
players can stay with it. Fifty-year-old infielders and outfielders are common.When playing days are finally over, passionate
alums can stay on the field as umpires. Planthaber calls it a chance to "see the game from the other side of the chalk line." At
51, he is relatively a junior among umps, and he's been doing it for 27 years. John Wisniewski, who was umpiring another game
that evening, is 72. Wisniewski said it would be hard to be an umpire if you haven't been a player. The Chicago-style game
differs even from close relatives, baseball and the form of softball that employs a smaller, 12-inch ball. He cited his Army
experience.
"At Ft. Leonard Wood, I saw GIs with this little ball, wearing gloves," Wisniewski said. "I said, 'What's this?' "
Chicago-style softball has unique rules -- besides requiring players to go after the ball barehanded and enjoining slow pitching.
"There's no batter's box," Planthaber explained. He added that the pitcher's rubber is more or less advisory. As long as a pitcher
is within a foot of the rubber, it's OK.
Untethered, pitcher and catcher wander around, even as the pitcher sends the ball plate-ward -- in a trajectory statisticians call
the normal distribution curve. The ball goes sharply up as it's released, then sharply downward approaching the plate.
Batters have to either swing up at the ball, like a boxer throwing an upper-cut, or bat it down with a stroke like a tennis serve. An
umpire has to judge a ball descending like a dive bomber, while measuring its arc against the distance from below the shoulders
to above the knees of a batter also in lively motion.
"When you blow a call and it costs a team the championship," said Kirch, "it stays with you the rest of your life."
In the short run, Planthaber's working philosophy is to let aggrieved players vent -- up to the point of directing profanities his
way.
"That's when I say, 'You're out of here,' " Planthaber said.
The recent game Planthaber officiated was peaceable. The only things he tossed out of the park were a beer bottle indiscreetly
revealed on a team bench and Madelynn Rose Hoff. A player's 11-month-old daughter, she was being carried too close to the
field of play.
Her father's team, the LiverDogs, beat the Wild Turkeys 14-5, to win the park's Tuesday/Thursday league championship. The
winners' starting pitcher, having built up a solid lead, left the game early to play for another team in another park.
Years back, playing multiple games in a single evening was commonplace.
There is less of that these days. Planthaber blames 16-inch softball's failure to attract new blood on "youngsters having too
many distractions, like computers."
Stephan Fouche, 28, a physical instructor at Jefferson Park, thinks the higher-ups don't give the game the support it once
enjoyed. They look upon softballers as "overgrown kids," he said. Wisniewski notes that recent immigrants play soccer.
Indeed, at the other corner of Jefferson Park from where LiverDogs were crowned champions, Nacereddine Bouchama was
drilling his sons, Samy, 7, and Walid, 11, in soccer fundamentals. The family is from Algeria. Chicago parks will continue to host
sports -- just different ones.
Yet that's less comforting -- from a perspective behind home plate. Wisniewski, who lives not far from Shabbona Park, on
Addison Street, near Harlem Avenue, sees something troubling when driving by.
"The lights are still on," he said, "but nobody's playing softball."
UPAC Members below is an Article from the Tribune 8/16/09 featuring
Softball Chief Umpire Mike Planthaber, great job Mike.
Softball Chief Umpire Mike Planthaber, great job Mike.
UPAC Members would like to
wish Bill Vitro good luck In Miami.
Bill has been a mentor to
several of the UPAC members
for several years and will be
truly missed by the UPAC. Bill's
knowledge of the rules of
baseball is 2nd to none. Bill has
been quite a leader with the
UPAC and I personally will miss
my friend and Mentor. We all
wish you the best of Luck in your
future endeavors... Good Luck
in Florida Bill.. P.S. Your
Always welcome back
wish Bill Vitro good luck In Miami.
Bill has been a mentor to
several of the UPAC members
for several years and will be
truly missed by the UPAC. Bill's
knowledge of the rules of
baseball is 2nd to none. Bill has
been quite a leader with the
UPAC and I personally will miss
my friend and Mentor. We all
wish you the best of Luck in your
future endeavors... Good Luck
in Florida Bill.. P.S. Your
Always welcome back
UPAC 90th Annual Installations of Officers was a huge
Success Thanks to our President Drue Hoffman an Master of
Ceremonies Doug McLaughlin. Our 2010 Officers are
updated Congratulations are in Order.
2009 Awards Photos Just Click Here
Success Thanks to our President Drue Hoffman an Master of
Ceremonies Doug McLaughlin. Our 2010 Officers are
updated Congratulations are in Order.
2009 Awards Photos Just Click Here
UPA members we have created a new page on our site. Check
it out. All the clinics we do during the off season we now will
be posting this information on the Clinics Page
it out. All the clinics we do during the off season we now will
be posting this information on the Clinics Page
UPA Would like to thank UPA
members an Officers Paul
Lopez an Lou White for an
exceptional presentation on the
fine art of calling Balks at the
UPA annual balk clinic in
Jan, 2010
members an Officers Paul
Lopez an Lou White for an
exceptional presentation on the
fine art of calling Balks at the
UPA annual balk clinic in
Jan, 2010
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