The starting point

am a frequent visitor to several Internet message boards for umpires. One of the themes that keeps reappearing is the question of just how good are the umpires in professional baseball compared to those of us in the amateur ranks. Often some anonymous person claiming to be a professional umpire will chime in and tell us amateurs we are lower than dirt. I doubt these are real pro umpires since the few I know don’t look at amateur umpires in that light. To make matters worse, a few know-it-alls also criticize our brethren on TV for the mistakes they make or the mistakes someone thought they made. I’ve gotten tired of this debate, and so in dramatic style I am going to tell you which group I think is better. It’s amateurs versus pros, and the winner is BOTH! See below how I arrive at that significant decision.

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