MLB umpire Jeff Nelson was fairly casual when discussing an extremely high-profile call he had the night before in Game Five of the National League Championship Series between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals.
"It was just a classic play that we set up a hundred times at umpire school, but it happened with a heck of a lot more people watching."
Nelson has earned the right to casually discuss rule plays, no matter the magnitude of the games in which they occur. He was the "Top Prospect" at the Joe Brinkman Umpire School in 1989, and instructed at the school for nine of his ten years in the minor leagues. He was the head rules instructor, responsible for giving a classroom of at least one hundred skeptical umpires a full grounding in the confusing rules of the game. Nelson emerged from all that ground-level experience as a contracted Major League umpire in 1999 with an impressive grasp of the game's rulebook. |
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Several years ago, Major League Baseball directed the implementation of lifestyle management for MLB Umpires. The objectives were to enhance not only the on-field performance of the umpires, but their quality of life as well. Under the direction of Ralph Nelson, Executive Vice President for Umpire Services, and Mark Letendre, A.T.C., Director of Umpire Medical Services, the Mackie Shilstone Center for Performance Enhancement and Lifestyle Management was selected to facilitate the attainment of these goals.
As a former Performance Nutrition and Conditioning Consultant to such Major League teams as the San Francisco Giants, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, and the Kansas City Royals, Mackie Shilstone understood the effect the game of baseball created for the player and the umpire during the baseball season. The task at hand was to develop a comprehensive in-season and off-season functional training plan for umpires with the following required components: body composition adjustment, cardiovascular improvement, flexibility training, meal planning for home and road use, and injury prevention. |
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Tuesday morning, October 1, 2002, New York City, NY
Today I've reached one of those career milestones that I have worked for since the first day of umpire school over fifteen years ago. It is very hard to believe it has been that long. But there's an excitement in the air this time of year that's kind of the same as those early days in my career as a professional umpire. Of course, it's on a completely different level now!
Every February since I've been in the Major Leagues, I pack my bags and head for Spring Training with a couple key goals in mind. Of course, staying healthy and doing a good, steady job during the season are among those goals. And I don't think you'd be a big league umpire without hoping to be chosen to work an event, such as the All-Star Game, the playoffs-or ultimately, the World Series. |
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