2009 EMEA Junior Baseball Tournament

Day 2 of Games - Heat, Humidity, and Lots of Runs

Day 2 of the Tournament has concluded and not too soon for the group of umpires who spent the day working hard in the heat and humidity of Kutno in July.  In response to the anticipated heat later in the day, both umpire crews for the morning games picked Powder Blue as the shirt color trying to stay cooler.  Not sure how much it helped but made us all feel better having a choice.  One of the afternoon crews with Bobby Gump on the plate went for the lightest we have - Cream!  Game was also short - only 4 and half innings as Italy won over Poland on a 10 run rule.  The last game crew, led by Z Man from Lithuania went with Black shirts with black undershirts.  They looked good but were pretty hot. 

Three of the four games today were setled on the 10 run rule - Germany (Americans) over Germany 14-0, Italy over Poland 21-1, and Belarus over The Netherlands 22-2.  I think you can tell from the scores that these were pretty lopsided affairs, and you might think the losing teams took the losses badly.  Well, quite the opposite - all the teams are here to have fun and good sportsmanship, but I think we all agree the team from The Netherlands is having the most fun.  Here is a good photo of this team getting ready to run the bases after losing.

Opening Ceremonies at the Junior Tournament

Tonight was the Opening Ceremony.  All of the teams and the umpires marched onto the field, local dignitaries spoke, the Polish and American anthems were played, and three players recited the Little League Pledge in English, Polish and Polish - the littlest player from Poland!  

 

Here is a great photo of  the umpire team and the team from Poland in front of the Stadium Scoreboard. 

Pool Play Begins, Umpires Pick Out Best Looking Wardrobe....

Pool Play Games began today!  Its warm and humid here with lots of cloud cover, but this is not stopping the umpires from picking out the best looking shirts to wear!  The first crew went out in Black Polo with red undershirts, my Crew went with the Cream over black to stay cooler.  Didn't work.  Later today is the Opening Ceremonies so we all be in our Navy Blue EMEA Tournament shirts with red undershirts.  Here is a great picture of our Umpire in Chief Bobby "The Sheriff" Marshall from Texas in the Umpire Changing room.  My gear is the stuff under the "California 4" hat.

Games were interesting already.  I was 2nd base umpire in a game between Netherlands and Poland.  The Polish manager spoke no English, his coach is a young lady who is supposed to be his English interpretor but this never came into play!  The Dutch team had no numbers on their new uniforms, so they sewed tape on the jerseys overnight by hand.  The game was pretty uneven- 16 to 14 in seven innings and almost 3 hours.  Constant pitching changes and numerous fielding errors made for a long game, but in the end both teams exchanged congratulations and went off in good spirits.  I made a bonehead call, mostly because I was trying to remember how many outs there really were - called a Polish player out when the Dutch player tagged himith his glove, except the ball was in his hand not the glove!  We laughed between innings on that one.  Pretty fun to hear Dutch, Polish and English on the field. 

Umpires Enjoy a Night Out, Games Begin Tomorrow

All of the umpires have arrived at the EMEA Regional Headquarters except one from Warsaw, Poland.  There are 12 of us here - two from Lithuania, one from Texas, one from Earth (which is what his badge says, because he is from Aruba and Netherlands), and 7 from California!  Several of the guys on the team have been here many times and keep coming back.  Some have been to LL World Series, LL Regionals, one is headed to the Big League World Series this summer.  But for the next week we are here working together.

Today was filled with meetings - first the Umpire Meeting to get organized, followed by the Coaches Meeting to explain tournament rules and to seed the games.  There are 8 teams here is Kutno - Lithuiana, Belarus, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Germany (United States players), Sweden, Poland.  One of the teams showed up in new uniforms without numbers - they are out tonight finding a place to put them on.  Games begin tomorrow.

Tonight the umpires were hosted in town to dinner by a local baseball supporter.  They are passionate about the game here.  Needless to say, beer and wine was freely flowing around the table with a few holding back. 

Tomorrow is also Opening Ceremonies with local dignitaries.  We will be looking for good photo opportunities so keep looking.

Arrived in Poland

Arrived in Poland
Finally arrived in Warsaw Sunday night after traveling from San Francisco Saturday and then sitting in Paris Airport for six hours.  Its July and all of Europe is on holiday so you get to see people from everywhere in six hours.
Warwaw Airport is ver nice and all my bags arrived with me.  That's great because I will need that umpire gear. I was awakened this morning with a phone call from Tom from the Little League office.  He has sent the driver to pick me up to take to Kutno, about 120 kilometers away.  Along the drive we will see much of the countryside which from the air looked open and green. 
Tonight we have an umpire meeting where we will all meet and review mechanics.  I think Roger Buhlis will lead us in stretching first....I will let you know.

Travel Day to Warsaw

In the air now today to Warsaw via Paris.  Hopeful that my two bags will follow me to Warsaw.  I have one bag of umpire equipment - chest protector, leg guards, mask, 3 colors of ball bags, two male anatomy protectors, three ump caps of various designs, one pair of steel toed plate shoes, one pair of base shoes, two belts, 5 pairs of socks, indicators, brushes.  One bag of clothes that include 5 umpire shirts of different colors, 4 pair of pants. 

 But along with my personal items, the Umpires headed to Europe are bringing supplies to help out the leagues in attendance.  Access to gear is difficult for some countries, so each of us are bringing baseballs and throat guards.  Thanks to the Walnut Creek LL, I am bringing a dozen new Senior level balls and a dozen throat guards.  This will be given to the teams along with stuff other Blues bring along.  I have some other Walnut Creek stuff in my bag to trade or hand out - just one of the things we can do.

Next post will be from Kutno.........

One Day to Leaving - Packing Up and Finishing Details

Its Friday and last minute details are being completed.  Packing up all the umpire gear and umpire uniforms took so time and space in the luggage.  Just enough room for some personal items and clothing.

My wife, as a real LL supporter, took on the challenge of sewing on the American Flag patches on my umpire shirts.  She told me a couple of years ago that she would not be sewing on any more uniform patches - lucky for me LL came out with the iron on patches.  But these flags were not iron on, so she stepped up to help out here.  Thanks Honey!

Trading Pin Album Has Been Posted!

We have added a new album of the Trading Pins we are taking with us to Poland.  You can find them on the Right Hand column at the top of the page. 

You may be asking "What is all of this about Pins?"  This is a great tradition in Little League tournament play and with umpires.  Check out this site for more on Pin Trading.  http://www.littleleague.org/Learn_More/museum/pop/pop05/pop_0510_oct_05.htm

Preparing for travel to Poland ....

Its four days before I head to Poland but I busy getting all of the stuff I need to take ready to go. 

Most important is to get all of my Little League pins organized and ready for the trip!  I am using my new Pin Bag my son bought for me!  Thanks to my sister in law Susi who brought me a whole collection of pins from the Arcata Little League, my pin collection has grown.  I have my own personal pin to trade as well, hope to come home with some pins traded with others.