Editor's Message

Greetings and salutations, true, blue believers,

I would like to begin this month by acknowledging and thanking Mike Chmar for taking the helm here at The Blue Crew News last month while I was on vacation. Oh…and apparently Chmar is such a gamer, he covered for me while he HIMSELF was on vacation! There is no quit in that guy.

Over the winter here at the glass-enclosed nerve center of The Blue Crew News, I installed an ancient teletype machine I found on eBay. One of the many wire services I’m always anxious to read is that of Cooperstown All-Star Village, the 12-field youth baseball complex run by Ripken Experience in Oneonta, NY. Transmissions from there are fairly infrequent but, when they come in, it’s always with a bang!

It is my pleasure to inform you that the elite duo of Marcus May and Terence Phillips have done it again. Last year, they worked the Week 13 Gold Medal Championship Game. This year, they were again assigned to the Week 5 Gold Medal Championship Game with Brother May on the plate. Also checking in for Week 5 and doing it again were Ed Craig and former NVBUA umpire Tim Bowden. As they did in 2025, Ed and Tim again both worked the Gold Medal Semi-Final Game! To put this in perspective, there are approximately 50 umpires there each week from all over the world, many of them Wendelstedt graduates and D1 umpires. Congratulations to Marcus, Terence, Ed and Tim on continuing the NVBUA tradition of excellence at Cooperstown! Mission accomplished!

Association President Dave Maher has his folding chair out and is looking for his flip-flops and a cold beer. Keepin’ it frosty! That’s our president. You can read Dave’s monthly address here.

Although the high school baseball season is over, summertime is always an important time for the high school game and the high school umpire. This is the time of year when the NFHS meets to review, discuss, propose, and approve or reject rules changes. It’s always a bit like a holiday morning in July for me…what has the FED Fairy brought us this year? Is it a Steve Austin, Six Million Dollar Man action figure (if you know…you know) or is it coal? I will leave the final judgments up to you, brothers. I’m just the messenger. Mel Simon is here this month with a review of the 2027 rule changes…and he even has a look at something for 2028, too! He’s also posted a link to the full NFHS rule changes memo if you want to go granular. Check out Mel’s piece here.

Our soldier-scholar, Collin Agee, continues his dive into the stacks of great baseball books. This month, Collin reviews a selection of books written by umpires across several eras. My favorite part of reading a book by a former umpire is reading and learning about how much the game and umpiring have changed! Was it harder to umpire the game in Nestor Chylak’s day or John Tumpane’s day?

My personal recommendation is the book “Ruling Over Monarchs, Giants & Saints: Umpiring In The Negro Leagues & Beyond” by Bob Motley. They say don’t judge a book by its cover…well, check out the cover of this book! Imagine going to the ballpark and seeing an umpire making a call like that! Very inspiring…The Negro League put on a show of talent, skill, speed, and power in a way Major League Baseball did not, and the umpires were absolutely part of the show.

You can read about all of Collin’s selections here.

In closing, I want to leave you with a hot weather tip I just started using this year. It’s helped me, and I hope it helps you. On your way to your game, roll the windows down and don’t run your car’s air-conditioner. This will help acclimate you to the conditions upon arrival. Stay cool, stay hydrated, stay fed, and keep making all the right calls!

Excelsior,
~Robert Fobian
Editor, Blue Crew News