Editor's Message

Greetings and salutations true, blue believers,

With the MLB wild card games beginning this past Tuesday, here is a list of this year’s wild card umpire crews: https://www.reuters.com/sports/mlb-sets-umpiring-crews-wild-card-series–flm-2026-09-28/ Congratulations to Erich Bacchus on his third Wild Card Series slot and congratulations to Dan Merzel on his first Wild Card Series slot and second overall post-season assignment! Best wishes to our additional local brothers Segal, Wills, and Miller on post-season slots.

Since meeting my wife, I’ve had occasion to visit our extended family many times in Buffalo, NY. (We like to tell people, “We winter in Buffalo…”) Flight time from DC to Buffalo is about 90 minutes. That’s just enough time for takeoff, the pilot to come on and tell us we’re at cruising altitude, the crew serves a drink and snack, the pilot announces our descent and approach and we land. Not enough time for a movie. That’s kind of how the fall baseball season hits me. Springtime and Opening Day are a huge part of baseball tradition, of course, but there’s something very pleasurable about baseball in the fall. Unfortunately, like that DC – Buffalo flight, as soon as you get comfortable with it, it’s time to start thinking about finishing it up. Fall is a great time for an umpire to try new stuff. Maybe there’s a new mechanic you’re working on, or your timing on tag plays, or your positioning in The Wedge, etc. Fall is also a great time to test, try and adjust to a new piece of equipment. I remember a few years ago, I got interested in using a metal indicator. And yet, when I went to actually use one in a high school game, it didn’t feel right so, I wasn’t right in that game. After the game, I immediately threw it back in my bag and didn’t pull it out again until late-June. It still felt uncomfortable and unfamiliar at first and gradually after a few games, it was my go-to indicator. Lesson learned…

We’ve got an abbreviated edition for you this month. Perhaps The Blue Crew Digest for this September of two-thousand and twenty-six? Association President Dave Maher is here this month. Dave was amongst our early umpire profiles. Dave is one of the few umpires still in the association whose time served goes back to the 1900’s. It would be a fun exercise to try and calculate roughly how many games he has worked and then multiply that to a factor of how many calls an umpire typically makes in a game. Look…it’s a big number. We know this. Dave’s made a lot of calls. Well, this month Dave is making a different kind of “call” off the field in his monthly President’s Message. It might be amongst his most important calls. My question for you is, brothers…How will YOU answer that call? You can read all about it right here.

Gary Reals is also here this month continuing his tradition of journalistic interviewing excellence. It is my pleasure to announce Darren Schuberg stepping into Gary’s spotlight. Darren, or “Schu” as he is fondly known, is the complete package. He combines his gifts with hard work, dedication and focus with the goal of taking the field for every game giving his very best on every play and every situation. For our newer members of the association, like all of our profiled umpires here at The Blue Crew News, if you haven’t worked a game yet with Schu, I highly recommend reaching out to the assignors and requesting a slot with him. In addition to working with one of the nicest people in this association, you will also go home with a concise and helpful list of constructive feedback. You can find Gary’s piece and photos here.

Just a quick reminder that the NVBUA Annual Awards Banquet is right around the corner and will happen a bit earlier this year. An official message will come in a few weeks with all of the details but, for now, please note the banquet is on the evening of Saturday, November 21st. The evening is a highlight of our year as a celebration of brotherhood, umpires and umpiring excellence. I hope to see you all there and that’s it for this edition of …The Blue Crew News!

Excelsior,
~Robert Fobian
Editor, Blue Crew News