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Joseph A. Betz

Stony Brook, Long Island, NY

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  Baseball Umpiring Webpage

Organization Memberships:

 

Training:

  • AFU Group/Blue Umpires, Jan - April, 2018

  • Little League International Umpire Mechanics Clinic at Williamsport, PA, Sept. 14-16, 2018

  • Eastern Suffolk Baseball Umpires Association / NYSBUA training course, Jan - April, 2019

  • ESBUA & WSBUA 2-man & 3-man mechanics training clinics Spring 2021

  • Observe Veteran Umpires at 20+ NCAA Baseball Games per year (both 2 and 3-man crews)

  • Planned 2022: 

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Awards:

  • American Federation of Umpires Group / Blue Umpires

    • Robert D. Halfmann Rookie of the Year Memorial Award 2018

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Major Tournament & Travel Experience

13-18U:

  • Suffolk PAL Spring League

  • Boys of Summer (BOS)

  • Perfect Game (PG)

  • National Youth Baseball Championship (NYBC) 

  • Baseball Heaven (BBH) 

  • St. John's University College Showcase Games & Prospect Clinics

12U:

  • Little League World Series (LLWS) District Qualifiers 

  • Cooperstown Dreams Park (CDP), Week #11, 2019

College:

  • St. John's University (DI), fall 2019 & spring 2020 scrimmage games

  • Adelphi University (DII), spring 2020 scrimmage games 

  • Boys of Summer (BOS) College Division, Summer 2021

Men's Leagues:

  • Long Island Stan Musial Baseball League (not my primary focus/goal)

Certifications:

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Instructional Assignments:

  • AFU Blue Umpire Rookie Mechanics Class Instructor 

    • Rookie 1-man classroom mechanics presentation 

    • Rookie on-site basic mechanics field training 

    • Rookie evaluations and feedback

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Goals:

  • Varsity HS baseball at the highest competitive level

  • NCAA collegiate baseball

Authoritative Resources:

Rules:

Mechanics:

 

Links to other references:

(for those who don't like to read Authoritative Sources) 

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My Journey to Umpiring:

I started out playing baseball in the 1960's but there were no travel teams beyond Little League in the 1970's so I played tennis and golf.  After my academic and architectural training at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Columbia University, I pursued yacht racing for more than 25 years and was Commodore of the Setauket Yacht Club and member of the Stony Brook Yacht Club.  Fast forward to 2011... my son didn't make the middle school baseball team so he and I together worked hard to improve his skills.  He got on a travel team, went to Cooperstown (CDP) and learned to pitch.  He made the JV and Varsity baseball teams in High School and spent two years on a showcase team with his varsity coach Lou Petrucci.  As a full tenured SUNY professor and former Department Chair, I've seen the demands of NCAA baseball and advised him that baseball was too intense to achieve an elite GPA and pursue funded undergraduate research opportunities.  Ultimately, he decided not to pursue collegiate baseball and chose an academic path in pure mathematics leading to a PhD program at a top research university. The problem was... I missed the game when he gave it up!  Umpiring was the perfect fit for me.  It has the right mix of rules, mechanics, timing, temperament and athleticism.  In short, I love baseball umpiring and am enthusiastic about learning and improving!  We all have our journey in baseball umpiring and this is mine.

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