Doug Hudlin 1922-­‐2014“Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed bethy name”

I use these words cautiously at therisk of offending many. But to know theplace of Doug Hudlin within the BCBUA andVictoria’s baseball community would be tounderstand how this exert of the Lord’sPrayer relate to a man who dedicateddecades of his life to the game of baseballand the art of Umpiring.

It is in his death that we rememberthe many, many wonderful things aboutDoug.

He was elected to not less than 4separate Hall of Fames for his contributionsto Victoria Minor Baseball, Little League,Victoria Sportsman’s, and of course theBCBUA.

The Hudlin family name issynonymous with sport in Victoria, and inthe community in itself. One of the firstAfrican American families to settle in thearea nearly a century ago, Doug took onactive roles in Black History and promotedequality for those less fortunate in BC. Apioneer to be sure.

He was President of severalorganizations, including the BCBUA. In 1974,he, along with a dozen other umpires and

baseball people in BC, met with theexecutive of BC Amateur Baseball. Theydecided that it was important that umpireshave an association to belong to. A groupthat could work towards better education,better organization, and a better future.Our association started with Doug Hudlin asour first President some 40 years ago, andthe other 4 founding members who are stillalive today were at his funeral to honourhim. It speaks to what he represented. Youonly need to mention the name Doug Hudlinto those remaining Founding membersHoward Chapman, Richard Christie, BillMurphy, and Chuck Blaikie and you will seethe level of respect in the way they reverehim. Murphy eulogized the man so perfectly,telling stories of his days in the boardroomand on the field, both when he was a playerand then a fellow umpire.

And any recollection of Doug Hudlinwould not be complete if we didn’tremember his outstanding career as anumpire. After quitting as a player, Dougvolunteered his time umpiring Little League.Eventually he went on to umpire at 2 LittleLeague World Series in Williamsport PA, aBig League Series, including the CanadianChampionships in Victoria. So well-­‐regardedand respected by anyone who went onto thediamond while he was the arbiter, he wasalways referred to as “the GentlemanUmpire”. High praise indeed.

Mostly we thank Doug for being arole model to so many, and an example ofwhat dignity is supposed to look like.

And so I repeat, “Our Father, whoart in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name”

Mr. Doug Hudlin, our Patriarch, ouroriginal member, Our (founding) Father. Hisspirit -­‐ clearly in Heaven after the many gooddeeds and good-­‐will he shared during histime on Earth. Hallowed be thy name,indeed.

Hey Blue!From The Chief's Desk

Volume 6 Issue 2Fall 2014

-By Provincial Supervisor, Steve Boutang

Inside This Issue

President's Reportpage 2

A Day in the Life...page 5

Tournament 12page 8

Area Reports

And More!

From the Editor"It was another exciting year forthe BCBUA with many of our

members finding success on theProvincial, National, and

International Stage. I am excited tobe able to help celebrate our

accomplishments and share thestories of our association. If youwould like to contribute please feel

free to send me an email."

-Matt Lowndesm.t.lowndes@gmail.com

www.bcbua.ca

Volume 6 Issue 2 Hey Blue! 1

The Official Newsletter of the British Columbia Baseball Umpires Association

President's Report -­‐ John BerryI’m delighted to welcome our new Hey Blue editor,

Matt Lowndes, to his first edition. He’s following an illustrious

line of past editors of this august publication. I’m sure he will

add some fresh approaches, and continue some of the ideas

and traditions that have made Hey Blue the great

communications vehicle that it is.

Your association has had a very busy year, and we’ve

really ramped up our efforts in umpire development. Kudos

to our partners in leagues and Baseball BC, who have been

very supportive of our efforts in umpire education and

development. Our increased emphasis on mentorship, on

non-­‐working supervisors at tournaments, at doing more on-­‐

field evaluations, improving our approach to clinics; all these

things have meant a busy and rewarding year for your

association. And we’ve surely learned from what we’ve done

– we had a board meeting in September where we reviewed

our progress this year, and will apply some “lessons learned”

as we develop our plans for 2015.

We’re having our AGM on November 22, in

Richmond. That’s a Saturday, which allows us to meet with

the current board that morning, and then with the new board

the next day. We hope to see many of you at the AGM.

Congratulations to our umpires who worked so many

tournaments this summer. Our members umpired at

provincial tournaments in various leagues, and we again sent

a very strong group of umpires to national tournaments

across the country. And as you’ll have seen elsewhere in this

issue, our own Vice-­‐President Rhonda Pauls represented

Canada and BC at the Women’s World Cup in Japan, a terrific

achievement.

Watch for the plans for the 2015 clinic season; we will

have clinics at all levels, and every one of us benefits from

attending a clinic, refreshing and adding to our knowledge

and ability, and enjoying the chance to interact with other

umpires as we get ready to work together on the field in the

new baseball year.

Finally, congratulations to Steve Boutang. Steve, our

provincial umpires supervisor, has just completed a three year

term following his initial appointment in 2011. His

reappointment to a new three year term was recommended

by the BCBUA board, and approved by the Baseball BC board

in September. Steve has accomplished a great deal in three

years, and we look forward to working with him for the next

three.

Ron Boutang UmpireScholarship

Umpire School is a tremendous opportunityto learn more about umpiring, the game ofbaseball, and yourself. If you have a desire toimprove, and take your game to the nextlevel. Or want to pursue a job in ProfessionalBaseball, our umpire scholarship can helpyou reach your goals.Application form can be found atwww.BCBUA.caFor more information contact Steve Boutangby email:sboutang@shaw.ca

Volume 6 Issue 2 Hey Blue! 2

Chloe Elston and Don Violette between innings

Congratulations to a Canadian BigLeaguerCongratulations to Regina's Stu Scheurwater who becamethe first Canadian to umpire in the Major Leagues this pastsummer since Victioria's Ian Lamplugh and Quebec's JimMcKean.

Scheurwater worked his first series at Dodger Stadium inlate April, and has since been called up again.

Scheurwater attended the Harry Wendelstedt School ofUmpires in 2006 later made his professional umpiring debutworking the Arizona Rookie League in 2007. He progressed

through the different levels of minor league baseball with stopsin the Northwest League and South Atlantic League (2008),Carolina League (2009), Texas League (2010 & 2011), while he’sspent the last three seasons including the early part of 2014working the triple-­‐A Pacific Coast League.

Prior to his professionalcareer, Scheuwater wasa member of BaseballCanada's NationalProgram.

Source credit:www.baseball.ca

As summer draws to a close , I have beenassigned to travel to the wilds ofSouthern Manitoba to observe and reportback on the intrepid group of umpirestrekking to Altona for theOlympics....sorry, the Pee WeeWesterns, almost the same thing.

This group, travelling by Caravan andthose new fangled flying machinesconsisted of yours truly, the Level 3Coordinator (L3C), Beel Keebler (theelf), Tremor Surfer Dude (TSD) andStevie Boats. L3C, The Elf and TSDwere travelling to put on a display ofWestern Umpiring for the local yokelsand Stevie Boats was travelling to be theLead Stupidviser.

All the spectaters, players and otherumps were agog...agog, I say at whatthey saw on the field from the 3 BCumps. I have never seen such a displayof sartorial splendour, amazingzoominess and being in chargeness in allmy years of reporting Baseball. Thestupidvisers were almost speechless,having never seen a display such as thatin all their years and were proud toaward all the BC umps their highestrating of Horse Sh.....ah Poop minus.

In celebration of their amazingtournament our intrepid group travelledup to Winterpeg to watch the Goldeyesplay The New Joisey Jackals. WhileStevie Boats and the L3C were analyzing

the on field performances at Shaw Field,"peas at the knees" yelled Stevie, a sexyyoung Tomato plucked...yes pluckedTremor Surfer Dude and Matt fromSaskapoon from the crowd to participatein the World Famous Burrito Racebetwixt innings.

Everyone was on the edge of their seatsin anticipation of this Titanic struggle.At first TSD's longer legs gave him theadvantage as they gathered their cheese,lettuce and meat. TSD had a substantiallead as they rounded the plate enroute tothe tortillas. Both runners stopped,dropped and rolled in their tortillas,popped up and started their hop to thefinish line. Matt from Saskapoon wasconsiderably shorter and this verticalchallengement was to his benefit as hedidn't have to hop as high and could getmore horizontal distance. Chalupa, thegod of Burritos, saw this and promptlytripped Matt from Saskapoon so TSDhad an easy hop from there to the finishline. The crowd went wild!!!!

The evening concluded when ChrisKissock, from Fruitvale, BC, came in forthe save, struck out the Pancake Batterand the Goldeyes won the day! The nextday Winterpeg flooded and nobody gotto eat pancakes after all.

This the intrepid reporter Eager Beaversigning off from the pretty little town ofAltona, MB.

LC3 Triolgy Book 7SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT IN SUMMER OF 2014by EAGER BEAVER

Volume 6 Issue 2 Hey Blue! 3

2014 Baseball CanadaNational Assignments

Congratulations to these BCBUA Membersthat represented our Association at a

Baseball Canada National ChampionshipRob Allan - Sr Men

Matt Lowndes - Jr MenDon Violette - Canada Cup

Kelly Hunter - MidgetDan Rogers - Bantam

Sean Sullivan - Peewee NationalPhil Bourgeois - Peewee AtlanticBill MacMillan - Peewee WestBill Keegan - Peewee West

Trevor Sharpe - Peewee WestMike Green - Sr WomenGary Webber - Sr WomenCorey Klein - Sr Women

Jerry Tregaskis - Sr WomenAndre Jean - Sr Women

Sean Weatherill - Sr WomenChloe Elston - Bantam Girls

Rob Allan, Mark Bodwell, Kris Hartley-Tournament 12Supervisors:

Rob Allan - Lead Supervisor Sr Women

Steve Boutang - Lead Supervisor Peewee

Area 3 AnnualReport

First of all I would like to Welcome ourProvincial Supervisor of umpires, SteveBoutang to Area 3 and look forward toseeing him on the field next year.

We started the year with 12 verySuccessful level 1 and 2 umpire clinics with104 Level 1’s Attending and 114 level 2Attending for a total of 222 of 243 umpiresregistered in Area 3. We had 87 of the 243umpires take the on line Level 2 and 3 testsfrom the BCBUA web site for the first timeand had the only Level 3 in the Province toarchive 100 %. Great job Ted Williams ofCoquitlam-­‐Moody. I would like to thankGeorge Smith, the BCBUA Secertary for allthe hard work in getting the Tests set up online.

The BC Minor Road show was held theweekend of April 12 and 13 in AldergroveAbbotsford, Poco and Ridge Meadows with

over 100 coaches attending and over 250players. Everyone received outstandingdevelopment instruction and had a greattime in doing so.

I would like to welcome Pat Casico the NewUIC of Coquitlam-­‐Moody and look forwardto working with him next year.

I want to thank Rhonda Pauls for her hardwork in getting the mentorship program upand running in Associations across theProvince and to Mike Pratt UIC inAbbotsford for his continued work on thementorship program. I had nothing otherthan great reports about the umpiringthere at every level.

On a little bit of a down note we had 78ejection reports sent in from Area 3 thisyear with just under 30 of them being fromBC Minor level teams.

The Midget AA Provincials were held thefirst weekend of August with 4 of the 9umpires being from Area 3.

We had 4 Area 3 Umpires at Nationals thisyear, 3 first Time National umpires and AllAdvanced to become level 4A Umpire.

Congratulations go out to Poco UIC TrevorSharp, Abbotsford umpires Mike Green,Gary Webber of Pitt Meadows and RobAllen of Maple Ridge. We also had oneInternational assignment this year forRhonda Pauls to the Woman’s Internationalin Japan.

To end the year, Chilliwack hosted a verysuccessful Midget AAAWesternchampionship. I would like to thank theChilliwack Association for a great time andJerry Tregaskis for supervising theumpires.

See you all next year,

GaryWebber

Area 3 Director Lower-­‐Mainland East

Volume 6 Issue 2 Hey Blue! 4

MLB # 85 Stu Scheurwater with Steve Boutangand Rhonda Pauls

Next years Baseball Canada NationalChampionships

Sr – Moncton, New Brunswick

Jr – Regina, SK

Canada Cup – Saskatoon, SK

Midget – Quebec (city tba)

Bantam – Vaughan, ON

Peewee National – Ontario (city tba)

Peewee Atlantic – Nova Scotia (city tba)

Peewee West – BC (city tba)

Sr Woman – tba

Bantam Girls – tba

A day in the life….Miyazaki Japan…WCWB 2014-­‐Rhonda PaulsMost mornings started out grey…overcast… and some mornings it rained… a lot. I tried not to assume what the daywould hold looking out my window each morning at the Pacific Ocean coastline, because the weather changed in aninstant. The one constant was the humidity.

Miyazaki was more like a rural fishing and surfing community that was alive during the tourist season but had shutdown when we got there.

There were two baseball stadiums in Miyazaki:Sun Marine and Ivy Stadium. Sun Marine wastheir premium facility (holds 30,000) and iswhere the Japanese pro league plays duringspring training. I was most fortunate to workevery game at that stadium. It was beautifuland well-­‐manicured. Every evening when Ilooked at the schedule to check my crew andassignment for the next day, I was amazed andfelt very blessed.

My first game was a plate for the 7pmtelevised game where Japan played Australia.You can think you are prepared all you want –but you never can be. You can draw rotationson a white board with your non Englishspeaking crew, and get nods of agreement, but when the game begins things are just not that straight forward. Ilearned very quickly to watch what everyone else did before I decided where to go…rotations are NOT the same inother countries. “Pause, Read and React” became “Paaaaauuuuuse, Read, Anticipate the next move, and React”!!!There is the TV crew, and the “guy” who will cue you when the commercials are over that you can start the nextinning. Warm up pitches??? Don’t worry how many they throw – starting the next inning before the break is over isnot ok. Translators are the “in thing”…everyone has one. An umpire should play Charades a lot leading up to aninternational assignment, as that will serve you as well as studying a manual – or maybe even better! I would sayadaptability and flexibility are the two most necessary skills at such an event.

To summarize my assignments is easy: Plate, 1st base, Plate, 1st base, Plate. I worked all USA and Japan games, manyof which were televised, and did the plate for the cross-­‐over between USA and Japan – both of which wereundefeated at that point. That game turned out to be the show-­‐down of the tournament. The weather was perfect.Both teams were hungry. Pitching was stellar. Both teams had seen me on the plate before so they knew what toexpect. I took a page out of Mariano Rivera’s philosophy on pitching in high pressure situations…extreme focus onthe pitch – like I was in a tunnel with the battery. Shut out everything else. Consistency was my goal. Both sidesplayed championship defense and neither gave up an error in the entire game. There were 6 hits between them…but only 1 run scored. The final for the game was 1-­‐0 for Japan. Thankfully my focus was good despite my nerves.These teams deserved my best.

(Continued on Page 6)

Volume 6 Issue 2 Hey Blue! 5

Volume 6 Issue 2 Hey Blue! 6

(A Day in the Life...Continued from Page 5)

As it turned out the Gold medal match-­‐up was the same teams as my cross over game, with Japan earning the right to behome team. I worked 3rd base and was the back-­‐up plate. It poured rain all that day. The start time was delayedsignificantly, and the game was disrupted during play. It was a good game with Japan winning 3-­‐0 against the USA despitethe playing conditions. However, I willhave to say…the cross-­‐over game willalways be my favorite assignment of thetournament. There was a recordedattendance of 14,000 fans – the highest ofthe tournament. The quality of that gameand the intensity of the players…howeverything happened in slow motion forme…how I could hear my own heart-­‐beatin my ears the whole game…will stay withme for a long time.

This crew of officials was like nothing Ihave ever experienced before with agroup of strangers. There were umpiresfrom Japan, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Australia, Venezuela, Canada, USA, Taiwan, and Nederlands. Within a day or two it waslike we had known each other forever. The Japanese umpires did such an outstanding job of acting as hosts to us, withsuch genuine enthusiasm, it was truly one of the best experiences I have ever had off-­‐field. We went sight-­‐seeingtogether. We shared many meals – where we had to learn HOW to eat things that we didn’t even know what they were.We gathered at night for “Sochu parties” where we learned about how the Japanese love their distilled rice, wheat andpotatoes . I simply can’t convey how amazing it was to thoroughly enjoy the company of people that (most of which) Ireally couldn’t even have a conversation with. Baseball truly is a universal language that draws the best of people from allwalks of life.

Obviously this opportunity came to me as a result of all the years of support, teaching, training, mentoring and advicegiven to me by our senior umpires, our quality programs, and the confidence of Baseball Canada. Having Steve come toJapan with me to encourage me when I was frustrated, calm me when I was rattled and advise me when I needed help,was something most people don’t get at such an event. From the bottom of my heart THANK YOU to all those who helpedmake this possible for me -­‐ and for us as BC Umpires to be represented internationally. From what I have seen being at aWorld Cup 3 years in a row now (the first 2 as a spectator), Canada has the highest quality of officials. We have much to beproud of and much to look forward to.

GOOD LUCK KRIS HARTLEY

One of our top umpires in the province has flown the coop and landed in Cochrane Alberta.Kris Hartley has taken employment as an elementary school teacher there after completing hisdegree this past spring. Alberta’s gain is our loss. Kris was a tireless worker as an Area Rep,local UIC in Kamloops, assignor for Thompson Rivers University, and one of the best umpires inour province. Not to mention being all around great guy. Good luck in Alberta Kris, and we’llsee you when you come home to visit!

Volume 6 Issue 2 Hey Blue! 7

National ClinicProvincial Umpire Supervisor Steve Boutang reports the Annual

National clinic are April 2-­‐5 in Kamloops has been confirmed. AllNational umpires Must attend as per usual. Any umpire not attendingwill forfeit their eligibility to receive a National assignment in 2015.

Further, there will be a number of Special Invites made toqualified level 3 umpires. Once Superclinic is completed and the level 3list is finalized for spring, any umpire interested in being consideredmust apply in writing to Steve.

Area 5-­‐2014 Lower Mainland South Report-­‐Rick Antoniak

Similar to 2013, the start to the 2014 season in Area 5 was a cold and wet one. Snow had an impact on our clinicschedule, however things went smoothly and 232 members received training in our 11 Level 1 and 2 clinics. Many thanksto the UICs and Clinic Instructors who spent time making that happen.

Ladner and Tsawwassen hosted the 2014 John Main Peewee AA tournament. 26 BCBUA umpires from all over theLower Mainland participated in the 16 team, 4 field tournament. Several of our National Program umpires volunteeredtheir time to come out and mentor umpires both on and off the field. A new Peewee umpire prospect was identifiedwhen Provincial Supervisor Steve Boutang took to the field to work his first Peewee game in 25 years as an injuryreplacement. Allocators in the Lower Mainland wishing to book Steve for their Peewee games should contact him directly.

Our area hosted four Provincial Championships this summer:

• 11U (Mosquito) AA – Newton – July 30th – August 4th

• 13U (Peewee) A – North Delta – August 7th – August 11th

• 13U (Peewee) AAA – Cloverdale – July 30th – August 4th

• BC Premier Baseball League – Whalley – July 30th – August 4th

Later in the summer, August 14th – 18th, Whalley also hosted the 2014 Senior Women InvitationalChampionships.Congratulations to umpires from Area 5 who are assigned to a National Championship in 2014:

• Bill Keegan – 13U (Peewee) Western – Altona, Manitoba

• Sean Sullivan – 13U (Peewee) – London, Ontario

• Phil Bourgeois – 13U (Peewee) Atlantic – Charlottetown, PEI

• Jerry Tregaskis – Senior Women Invitational – Surrey, BC

It was a terrific summer to be involved in baseball, whether you were umpiring, playing, or taking in the games. Thanks tothe umpires of all levels who participated in the various Provincial Championships and other BCBUA assignedtournaments. It takes commitment and hard work from a lot of people to successfully staff these events. Good luck withthe rest of your year, see you in 2015!

Tournament 12Mark Bodwell, Rob Allan, and Kris Hartley represented the BCBUAat Tournament 12 this summer. Below is a summary written by RobAllan.

Tournament 12 is a tournament that issponsored by Roberto Alomar and the Toronto BlueJays to showcase the best Canadian amateur playerswith college eligibility.

This tournament had 8 teams and was played atthe RogersCentre in Toronto. There were 6 games a day starting at8 AM, but the gameshad a couple modified rules than normal, which I liked.First off allbatters started with a 1-­‐1 count and secondly all gameswere on a 2 hourtime limit. We only had 1 game of 23 games played thatactually hit the 2hour time limit. Most games were in the 1:20 to 1:30time frame. I had thesemi-­‐final game on the plate on the final day and mygame was 1:10, but thenMark had the next semi-­‐final game and he had to beatme with the shortestgame of the tourney at 1:09.

We arrived on Tuesday afternoon and went rightinto classroom work on the 4-­‐umpire system as allgames were umpired in the 4-­‐umpire system. You wouldthink that the 4-­‐umpire system would be easy but itactually is morecomplicated than a 2 or 3 man system. After theclassroom work we went outonto the field at the Rogers Centre and did a warm-­‐upand then did somesimulated plays working on positioning and rotations.

The tournament started the next morning witheach of us working 2 games a day working with differentumpires each day. We had a total of 14 umpiresfrom coast to coast which included 3 workingsupervisors Andrews Higgins,Trevor Grieve, and Ron Shewchuk. We had at least 1supervisor watching eachgame and then after the game we would go onto thefield and do our post-­‐gamedebrief right on the field. It was great to do the debrief

right on thefield as we could really look at positioning and angles forplays muchbetter that you can on a white board.

Baseball Canada and the Toronto Blue Jays tookvery good care of us and were first class all the way.From the beginning being picked up from theairport by Toronto Blue Jays staff, to being put up in afancy hotel onlywalking distance from Rogers Centre, to being given atour of the Blue Jaysclubhouse and having Roberto Alomar waiting to giveeach of us anautographed bat. He personally thanked us for the toughjob that we do.

It was also neat to see some of the Blue JaysAlumni and friends like Lloyd Mosbey, Devon White,George Bell, Dwayne Ward, Sandy Alomar Sr, and othersas celebrity coaches for the teams. They and RobertoAlomar were there from the first pitch of the day to thelast pitch.

Tournament 12 was a very good experience withwhere I learned more about the 4 umpire system then Iever thought possible, and it was great to see that of the14 umpires there were 3 umpires from BC whorepresented us well.-­‐Rob Allan

Hey Blue! 8Volume 6 Issue 2

Volume 6 Issue 2 Hey Blue! 6

AREA 6 REPORTby Kris Hartley

This past year saw some change as I was out of my Area formost of the season due to umpiring and work commitments.Chris Connelly, Mark Wright and Joe Mallinson stepped up tolook after the area with my guidance in the background.

Mentorship:This was the year that Kamloops Minor Ball was hoping toget the mentorship program off the ground and while therewas some mentorship started at the Peewee and below levelthrough Chris Connelly (who took over as KMBA’s UIC) aswell as the partnering of some of our up and comers/national members with some of the bantam level umpires –this program is still limited due to the lack of umpirescapable of doing those Bantam and Above games as well asassisting Kelowna to fill their games on a regular basis.

Provincials:Kamloops hosted the Mosquito Provincials and under theguidance of Chris Connelly (Asst. Area Rep) this proved to bea very successful and rewarding experience for all umpiresinvolved. The 10 umpire crew consisted of Mark Wright,Richard Connelly, Matt Hicketts, Brody LaFrance, Rob Irving,Shyla Fryer, Joe Mallinson, Chris Penner, Jarrett Mirtle, andMichael Fryer. For 6 of the crew this was their firstprovincial championship, and everyone proved that theydeserved to be there. The weekend served as a greatlearning experience for our younger officials, and as anopportunity for our senior officials to develop theirmentoring skills. The gold medal crew, Brody LaFrance onthe plate and Matt Hicketts on bases, called a fantasticgame and ended the weekend on a very positive note.

Jr. Umpire of the Year2014 Jr. Umpire of the Year for Area 6 will be: Matt Hickettsof Kamloops. Matt stepped up this year and was one of thekey contributors to Area 6 umpiring. He was always willingto take whatever games his association asked him to doregardless of level and strived to improve his skills everygame. He assisted Kelowna a couple of times throughoutthe season and will be an umpire to keep our eyes on foryears to come.

Tournament 12

I was fortunate enough to be asked to umpire Tournament12 in Toronto at the Rogers Centre in mid-­‐September alongwith two other BC umpires (Mark Bodwell and Rob Allan). Itwas an amazing learning experience as all of the umpiresselected to umpire are all on the International Umpiringpathway. Games were umpired using the MLB 4 umpiresystem and a large emphasis was placed on developmentand analyzing umpiring as a collective group rather than thesometimes stressful evaluation process that occurs at mostNational Championships

Good LuckGood luck to Mark Wright and Joe Mallinson who have bothapplied for the Ron Boutang Umpire Scholarship, providedthrough the BCBUA, as they both are interested in pursuingthe opportunity to go to Professional umpiring school inFlorida this off-­‐season to better their skills and pursue acareer as an umpire. I look forward to hearing which one ofthe 4 candidates is selected by the committee.

Moving Forward:With my departure to the “SNOWY” Calgary area, Asst. AreaRep, Chris Connelly has agreed to step into the role on ainterim basis. Mark Wright who has been taking more andmore of a role in Area 6 as a Asst. Instructor, mentor, ,etc.will play a more dominant role as well as Joe Mallinson.

Andre Jean of Terrace BC, Selling the Out Call

Area 4 Report-Don Hass

Area 4 had the most clinics it hasseen in a number of years.Richmond and Burnaby continueto be solid with both hosting level1 & 2 clinics this year. Vancouverhas seen a resurgence and looks tobe a good partner in the future. Forthe first time in a long whilePowell River came on board. Witha new President running thatassociation they are very interestedon improving their umpire baseand should be on our radar everyyear.

On the Road toRecoveryFormer Provincial UmpireSupervisor (1974-­‐2008)Howard Chapman is on themend following heart surgerythis summer. While it knockedthe 74 year old out of actionfor the remainder of theseason, Chapman indicatesthat he is feeling much betterand is considering a return tothe field for next season. Mostimportantly we wish Howardall the best from a healthperspective as he recovers.

www.bcbua.ca

Longest Game in Trail Baseball HistoryThe Sr Men’s Provincials Finals went became an all-­‐day affair in Trail, BC over the Augustlong weekend.

Langley had to beat Kamloops twice to defend their title from 2013 but came upjust short.

The Defending Champion Blaze beat Kamloops 2-­‐1 in the first final but because ofthe double knockout had to win game 2, just half-­‐hour later.

Game 2 was a back and forth affair which began at 2pm and finished at 7:05 pm.Finally Kamloops won 4-­‐3 with a base hit in the bottom of the 15th inning.

Statistician Brad Elliott who has been living and umpiring in Trail for nearly 50years indicated that it was the longest game in the history of Butler Park!

Some fans who left midway through (Bill MacMillan being one of them) cameback for the end of the game (after they had gone grocery shopping, made dinner,watched the Jays game, consumed a few drinks, took a shower, and realized that thegame at Butler Park was still ongoing!)

In total, the clubs played 22 innings of baseball in 7 and-­‐a-­‐half hours and scoredjust 5 times each. The game time temperatures were in the high 30’s to top it off!

Congratulations to the very tired crew from the final:

Steve Boutang, PlateKris Hartley – 1st BaseRob Allan – 2nd BasePhil Bourgeois – 3rd Base

Annual General Meeting1:00PM

November 22, 2014Holiday Inn, 10720 Cambie Rd.

Richmond, BC