Greetings and Salutations true blue believers,
Before I begin, I was just handed an urgent bulletin from the BCN Update Desk…VHSL First Round State games will be Tuesday, June 10th at Madison HS, West Springfield HS, Heritage HS, Independence HS and Gainesville HS. Umpire assignments have not yet been finalized. Secondly, congratulations to the umpire crew for the 2025 Congressional Baseball Game which is Wednesday, June 11th at Nationals Park in DC. Your umpires Craig Alden, John Vena, Jerry Park and Dave Diesselhorst will arbitrate the contest
I’m also pleased to announce that the humble offices of The Blue Crew News are growing again! Brother Steve Levine alerted us to a very, very important change to the state laws in Virginia in regards to legal protections for sports officials. So, we’ve got Steve sharing half a suite part-time on the 3rd floor while he serves us as Special Legal Correspondent. Please read our legal bulletin here.
Brother Rick McIntosh also reached out asking for some space to talk about income taxes, specifically as it relates to sports officials and things to consider when working as a 1099 independent contractor. So, we have Rick in the other half of the third floor suite as he will serve us as Special Tax Correspondent. Rick’s piece is available here.
Association President Dave Maher is here too of course. In this edition he has some recognition for a newly reconstituted group within the association who have been in service for the greater good, some very important updates regarding the state of the ongoing update project of the association’s constitution and by-laws and finally a teaser for what sounds like is going to be another fun event in July full of what else…baseball and the umpire brotherhood. Check out Dave’s regular address here.
Vin Vena is taking the rotation for this edition from our rules group. Vinny has a rundown of designated hitter and courtesy runner rules. Maybe Vin could consider conducting a master class on time management as I do not comprehend how he works all the games he does and still carves out time to cover some rules for all of us. Thanks as always, Vin and don’t miss his article here.
Gary Reals, our resident hard-charging interviewer extraordinaire, has returned once again from parts unknown to bring us another insightful umpire profile. This edition’s man of the hour is someone I’ve enjoyed getting to know while working together over the past six months here at Blue Crew News…Michael Chmar. Settle in with Gary and grab Mike’s profile here.
Our final feature is from Paul Porto’s consiglieri in the training department, Anthony Mayer. Brother Mayer has a very timely mechanics piece for us covering the emergence of the double-bag at first base and how to adjudicate it. NFHS has given the individual states the option of using a double-bag at first base. It looks like Virginia might be deploying these more and more across the state on our fields. Update your umpire skills with the double-bag file here.
In closing, the training cycle is in full swing and new umpires are reaching out and joining the association. Brother Dave Diesselhorst collects used equipment and uniforms for redistribution to our rookies and our umpires in need. Please go through your gear and uniforms and if you have anything to donate or, if you wish to make a monetary donation (Rick McIntosh, tax deduction opportunity?) which Dave could then use to purchase equipment or uniforms, please contact Dave directly at: 703-220-1380 or [email protected] and thank you for your support.
Excelsior,
Robert Fobian
Editor, Blue Crew News