Only professional female ump released from Minor leagues

[Getpaddled]

Wasn't sure if this should be posted here or minor league so feel free to move it..........


http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1211&dept_id=169688&newsid=18598767&PAG=461&rfi=9


Thanx for the link Mass Haas.... totally forgot to post it.....

Ria Cortesio, pro baseball's only female umpire, was released by the minor leagues this week. Earlier this season, she became the first women in nearly 20 years to call a major league exhibition game.

Cortesio spent nine years in the minors, the last five in Double A Southern League, and hoped to become the first female ump in the majors.

+ I was really hoping to see her in the bigs....... Who is incharge of moving umps around?

[kgbaseball]

I didn't know they could be "released".

[DHonks]

generally speaking, umps have very few openings in AAA. Each year there are more young talented umps reaching A+ and AA (they have a time-limit...too long at one level and they won't be retained). Many quality umps leave the game due to poor timing (ie, few MLB and AAA umps retiring) or so they can make decent money

[Mass Haas]

This article's a worthwhile read on her career:

 

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1211&dept_id=169688&newsid=18598767&PAG=461&rfi=9

[brewcrewreview]

Getpaddled,

Why did you want her to make it? Is it just because she's a woman? She obviously wasn't qualified, hence the reason she was stuck in Double A for five years, when she should have only been there for three years max.

That would be like me saying I'd like John Doe to make it because he's a white male. It makes no sense. I don't want anyone in any field advancing because of their race, color, creed, orientation or whatever. Let's promote people who are the most qualified.

[Fatter than Joey]

She obviously wasn't qualified,

 

Cortesio started the season as the top ranked umpire in all of Double A at the beginning of the season.

 

the reason she was stuck in Double A for five years, when she should have only been there for three years max.

 

This probably has more to do with job openings in AAA than her ability. She certainly was qualified, if it was

just a matter of poor timing with job openings that certainly would be a shame.

 

I'd like John Doe to make it because he's a white male.

 

I have no doubt.

 

I don't want anyone in any field advancing because of their race, color, creed, orientation or whatever.

 

Right, because the USA and MLB has no history of suppression or discrimination.

 

Let's promote people who are the most qualified.

 

Right, I would love for MLB to continue their tradition of giving guys like CB Bucknor, Joe West, Eric Gregg Ken Kaiser and Bruce Froemming jobs for 20+ years

[SoCalBrewfan]

I'd like John Doe to make it because he's a white male.

 

I'd like him to make it because of his splendid work with X. Exene, too, for that matter.

 

OK, guys, obviously sensitive content here...let's play nice.

[brewcrewreview]

Fatter Than Joey,

I don't understand your last point at all.

 

Also, Bruce Froemming as we all know is retiring. That opens a job. They will probably take someone from Triple A which opens a job there. If she is that good, then why can't she take the potential Triple A job that will open?

 

Also, could you please point out one instance in the past twenty years where MLB has discriminated or suppressed on the merit of race, like you claim? The only number that is retired by every team in baseball is done in honor of a minority ballplayer. To me, it seems like all of Bud Selig's closet people are minority as well.

 

By the way, I also like how you take my John Doe comment clearly out of context combined with the assumption you made about my personal integrity.

[Fatter than Joey]

I don't understand your last point at all.

 

Fair enough -- I didn't make it well -- The idea that the best umpires are and have been umpiring MLB these last 20 years is really

an inaccurate one. MLB has employed a lot of bad umpires (Bruce Froemming, Eric Gregg, Joe West, Ken Kaiser, etc.) for a really long time.

MLB umpires do not have their job on merit in a lot of cases.

 

If she is that good, then why can't she take the potential Triple A job that will open?

 

Well -- as I pointed out she was the top ranked umpire in AA at the beginning of this season. I don't know why they released her -- it wasn't

because of her ability.

 

Also, could you please point out one instance in the past twenty years where MLB has discriminated or suppressed on the merit of race, like you claim?

 

I never specifically mentioned race nor did I make a claim, rather that given MLB and the USA's history of discrimination, I think paying attention

to minority hiring is probably a good thing -- but Dave Pallone comes quickly to mind, he was outed in a paper and fired shortly thereafter. Pat Postema

got a less than fair shake as well IMO.

 

The only number that is retired by every team in baseball is done in honor of a minority ballplayer.

 

Sure -- I think it is a nice gesture, but pales in comparison to what Jackie Robinson had to overcome.

 

To me, it seems like all of Bud Selig's closet people are minority as well.

 

If this in fact is the case, I am glad to hear that discrimination in the USA has finally been squashed, I just wish Bud could have had

made it a point to have more minority friends earlier in his life.

 

By the way, I also like how you take my John Doe comment clearly out of context combined with the assumption you made about my personal integrity.

 

Awesome, glad to oblige. I thought it was funny as well.

[homer]

"I just wish Bud could have had made it a point to have more minority friends earlier in his life. "

 

Bud Selig is a minority. Jews represent about 2% of the population I think.

[brewers19]

Why did you want her to make it? Is it just because she's a woman?

 

That's a little over-dramatic. Umpiring (and baseball as a whole, for that matter) is a completely male-dominated field. I don't see how there's anything wrong with hoping that a woman is able to attain a position at its most prestigious level. Stemming from outdated societal norms, the demographic composition does not remotely resemble the rest of the world, and it seems completely normal for someone to want to see that change.

[GAME05]

I don't see what the big deal is. it's about calling balls and strikes, or who gets to the base first. I've been known to be slightly masochistic, but I wouldn't have any problem with a lady ump in the majors: I don't see how gender would play a role. of course, i would definitely have a problem with a woman being promoted just because she's a woman.

[Zycho32]

....hmm. It's inevitable. More will come to take her place and pick up where she left off.

[logan82]

To be honest I really couldn't care less wether she made it or not any more than I would any other umpire. The only troubling part is that it sounds like she was a good umpire. It bothers me that good quality umpires are being let go while bad umpires are retained because of seniority.

[Minigoon]

I found this article with an interesting line in it.

 

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jg-5yjN5TR72rDXK0Bft9fkr09Vw

 

She's out! Ria Cortesio, only female umpire in pro baseball, released

She's out! Ria Cortesio, pro baseball's only female umpire, was released by the minor leagues this week. Earlier this season, she became the first woman in nearly 20 years to call a major league exhibition game.

"I've been prepared for it, to some extent, for a long time," she told The Associated Press on Wednesday from her home in western Illinois. "But I was surprised a little bit."

Cortesio spent nine years in the minors, the last five in the Double-A Southern League, and hoped someday to become the first female ump in the majors. In March, she worked a spring training game between the Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Her mask made it to the Hall of Fame. She handled the Futures Game and Home Run Derby at the all-star game in Pittsburgh last year. She once was called out by George Steinbrenner for squeezing the strike zone when Roger Clemens made a rehab start.

Cortesio cut her ponytail several years ago and lowered her voice for making calls, trying to be more inconspicuous. At five-foot-10, she was slender - Prince Fielder once gently lifted her out of the way so he could charge the mound.

She was at her off-season job, helping run the music system at the arena where the Quad City Flames of the American Hockey League play, when she got a call Tuesday from minor league baseball's umpire organization.

"They let you know around the World Series about next year. If they want to keep you, they send a letter. If they're going to let you go, they call," she said. "When I saw the number on my cell phone, I thought, 'Whoa, this is it."'

There are about 300 umpires in the majors and affiliated minors. Several minor league umps get released each off-season, with baseball trying to make a decision on their futures within a few years.

At 31, Cortesio wants to map out what's next. Her family runs a wine business and she's been a substitute teacher in high school. When she went to Rice University, she worked the scoreboard at the Astrodome.

"It does feel freeing, in a way," she said. As she spoke, she said she was putting on her Joan Jett-style makeup to go to work on Halloween night.

There have been six female umpires in the affiliated minor leagues, and none have made the majors. Pam Postema spent several years in Triple-A during the 1980s; after being fired, she filed a sex discrimination suit against baseball and settled out of court 5½ years later.

Cortesio said she had not decided whether to pursue legal action.

Her release came in a call from Mike Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation. He did not immediately return a call for comment.

Cortesio started this season as the top-ranked umpire in all of Double-A. If there had been an opening in Triple-A, it would've been hers.

There were no vacancies and when the new ratings by minor league supervisors came out in mid-season, her ranking substantially dropped. So, too, did her chance of getting a promotion and possibly making it to the majors someday.

A move up would have greatly changed her status - umpires in Triple-A are under the auspices of major league supervisors.

"I don't know if they wanted to make a call on me in the majors," she said.

Cortesio started out in the rookie Pioneer League in 1999 and later worked in the Midwest and Florida State leagues. She was an instructor at the Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring.

As a crew chief in the Southern League, she made about US$2,700 per month. Her three-person crew drove an average of 24,000 miles during the six-month season.

[D Miles Domination]

http://codeinsurrection.com/pics/noooo.jpg