Clinton Harvey

 

Age: 33

 

Hometown: Truro, Nova Scotia

 

Level: 5 (Softball Canada) & ISF Certified

 

Status: Active - 18 Years

 

First Year As An Umpire: 1995 - And I learned a very lesson

- to get it right. My buddy and I were doing a U14 game and he

had the plate. He had a 2-2 count but I had 3 strikes. It was a

tie game, bottom of the 6th with two outs. He comes out for

the count, I say I have 3 strikes, he goes back and says 2-2. The

team proceeds to score about 8 runs, he throws 3 or 4 players

and 2 coaches and did not umpire the next year.

 

Where Did You Start Umpring: St. Croix, Nova Scotia 

 

Why Did You Start Umpring: I had started refereeing hockey

and my Referee in Chief was involved in ball and said I if liked

reffing I should umpire so I did.

 

Why Do You Keep Umpiring: Because I hate myself. Actually, because I love the game and my opportunities to play kept

dwindling so it was a way to stay involved in the game

 

What Has Umpiring Taught You: That you can't please everyone

 

Who Taught You The Most: Max Pye. He was the Deputy UIC of Fastpitch in Canada at the time and I was lucky enough to be in the same association when I started. In my first year he was on the D2 and I was on D1. After his game he came over and watched me for a couple of innings, then asked if he could give me a few tips. He showed me a few things about the slot and timing and then continued to work with me for the next few years until he stopped umpiring. He really took me under his wing, which I appreciated a lot. After he stopped being active he still would stop in to the diamond and watch me or would want to know what I was up to. He saw me at my Jr. Men’s and asked if I still remembered that night in St. Croix he took me up by the clubhouse and showed me a few things. When I got my five he was one of the first people I called. He also taught me to have fun on the diamond, and I have tried to pass those lessons on to other umpires that I have worked with.

 

Most Memorable Call: 2012 Senior men’s in Fredericton, extra innings, I made an obstruction call at the plate on a suicide squeeze, the bench came out after me, my wings made a fence for me and I talked the coach down, explained the call, kept him in the game.

 

Most Memorable Ejection: Don't really have one - rare that I throw someone out. 

 

Funniest Thing Said To You By A Coach, Player or Fan:

 

Coach: I called a runner out for interference. The coach didn’t like it. About two innings later, there was a pretty routine out call at second base and the coach comes flying out of the dugout after me, questioning the call. After he yelled for awhile, I said “Let’s be clear here, you’re not mad about this call, you’re mad about the last one.” He said, “You’re damn right I am, how could you make that last call??”

 

Player : One night the pitcher kept wanting a new ball and finally the catcher said to me, “Tell him to leave your balls alone and start using the ones he has.”

 

Fan: I asked the scorekeeper what the score was, a girl next to her yelled, “Give me your number and I’ll guarantee you score.”

 

Career Highlight(s): First Canadian Championship (Midget Girls, 2003), working plate at Midget Boys CC in 2006, Level 5, ISF certification, ISC World Tournament, First Canadian Championship as a DUIC, becoming PUIC.

 

Favourite Moment In Umpiring: Getting My Level 5

 

Canadian Championships Worked: 2003- U18 Girls, 2006- U18 Boys, 2007- U23 Mens, 2009-Sr Mens, 2012-Sr. Mens

 

World Tournaments: 2011 ISC World Tournament 

 

Favourite Place to Umpire: St. Croix, NS

 

Most Unusual Umpiring Experience: We were getting ready to do a Sunday morning game at the Peewee boys Eastern Canadian quite a few years ago and the team from Newfoundland came to the diamond with an escort by a bunch of bikers on Harley Davidson’s that they had met at the hotel the night before. We could hear this huge roar and didn’t know what it was until we started seeing all these bikes pull in, likely 25 or 30. The players all had Newfoundland flags hanging out of the windows of the vans and had Newfoundland music blaring. This experience is slightly ahead of the tournament I worked where they didn’t have bases for the first few games.

 

A Piece of Advice For Those Beginning: Find someone who you can look up to and get as much information from them as possible.

 

A Piece of Advice for Those In The Middle: Just when you think you have it figured out, you don’t. Stay humble, keep learning and working hard.

 

A Piece of Advice for Those Approaching The End: Do not hang on too long, make sure you enjoy it, and give back to the newer umpires.