WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Don Singleton is well into his fourth decade behind the plate at youth and high school baseball games.

 

But he still is learning as he goes.

 

This summer, Singleton spent two weeks volunteering as an umpire at the Little League Baseball Europe-Africa Region Tournament in Kutno, Poland.

 

That is where the representative from the Czech Republic earned a ticket to the World Series that gets underway on Aug. 13 in Williamsport, Pa.

 

And it is where Singleton earned valuable experience and a chance to further hone his craft.

 

"I did Bristol [Conn., site of the Little League New England Regional] in 1995, and I did Williamsport in 2005," Singleton recalled recently. "Then I also got to do the Junior League, which is their 13-year-old championship … in 1997.

 

"The biggest difference between those and Kutno is [in Kutno] they were working with us to ensure we all did things — not robotically — but we did things the same way. And those field coverages, you've got to get it right. In a four-person crew, when somebody goes out to the outfield, now there's three guys for four bases. Depending on the base situation at the start of the play, who's responsible for what, it's important that everyone be in sync for that."

 

Umpires at every level are supposed to meet after every game to discuss what may have worked and what may not have worked, Singleton said. In Kutno, that meant an extensive debrief with supervisors who kept an eye on the guys in blue during each game.

 

The scrutiny was more intense and the feedback more specific than even that he received as a World Series umpire 20 years ago.

 

"When I got there in 2005, the head of the umpires basically said, 'We're not going to try to change anything you do. Just do what you do. That's what got you here,' " Singleton said. "Which was fine. There were good umpires. We had a good tournament.

 

"But now, they really want sort of a standardized way: 'This is what we do.' And I believe part of it is to ensure quality of officiating, but I think part of it is the look on TV to have everybody calling things a certain way — exactly where you stand between innings, exactly how you put the ball back in play."

 

With this in mind, Singleton worked on at least one aspect of his umpiring game before he packed his bags for Poland.

 

"You might have noticed that in Adams [at the District 1 Little League tournament], I was calling strikes up here [raising his fist in the air while looking straight ahead]," Singleton said. "For 35 years, I've done this [looking to the side and pointing]. But they don't want you to do this because if your timing is bad, it takes your eyes away and something can happen in front of you. So I changed my strike mechanics in anticipation of this tournament and got better at it as it went on. I only had once where I [turned].

 

"That's non-trivial. I know I'd gotten that feedback in the past, but I said, 'Well, I've done it this way for years.' But I knew in Kutno they're going to expect that you call strikes up here."

 

Area youth and high school baseball fans are familiar with Singleton as a skilled and dedicated presence on local diamonds. A busy summer for the veteran umpire continues in August with a trip to Branson, Mo., for his second straight Babe Ruth World Series.

 

But in between trips to central Poland and southern Missouri, Singleton sat down with iBerkshires.com to talk about his experience at the Little League international regional, his background in umpiring and the state of officiating in Berkshire County.

 

Question: How did you end up being picked to do this tournament in Poland?

 

Don Singleton: It used to be you had to apply through your district administrator and they'd forward it up the chain. Now, when you do yearly registration [in the Little umpire registry], there's a place where you can request consideration for Little League regionals or World Series.

 

I always wanted to go to Kutno since they opened the center there a number of years ago. My background is with the Slavic languages, and my wife's family, her father was actually born in Warsaw. So there's a small Polish connection. That was the only one I clicked. Some people are like, 'Send me anywhere.'

 

I had kind of forgotten about it. Because I signed up in September or October, whatever, for the next year. Then I got this e-letter from somebody I didn't recognize. It was the center director of the Europe/Africa center in Kutno. I was like, 'Oh.' It was a nice surprise. I'd asked to do it, but it was still a surprise when it came through.

 

Q: You mentioned you have a background in Slavic languages. Not Polish in particular?

 

DS: My graduate degree is in Slavic linguistics and, of all things, medieval Slavic literature. I was at Williams [College] for 10 years in the Russian Department, the Russian and German Department. The end of the Cold War wasn't great for Russian departments. Williams had, at least when I was there, 20-something years ago, a no-growth policy for faculty. So if your department's enrollment went down, positions went away. Also, I had not finished my PhD. So that also didn't help anything. So 1998 was my last year at Williams.

 

From my graduate work — Russian and Bulgarian are my two strong languages. I know enough Polish to be the leader of our umpires in Kutno because I could get us around and get us on the train and that kind of thing. 

 

Q: I was going to ask, how much did it come in handy while you were there?

 

DS: Really handy. In Warsaw, the center of the city is very touristy and there's a lot of English available. Kutno was less so. And, frankly, it was clear that it's appreciated that you're at least making an effort to speak Polish, even if it might not be perfect Polish.

 

It elicits a smile. They can tell by whatever, whether it's your manner of walking or your clothes, they don't expect you to be a Polish speaker.

 

Q: How many umpires were there?

 

DS: It was two different tournaments, actually. There was a qualifier tournament the first week, and there were seven umpires there. We worked on two fields, simultaneous games. Crews of three per game. There were supposed to be eight, but one guy didn't come. The rotation would have been something like third base, first base, plate, then off. My crew was the one that didn't have the fourth, which I actually liked, because it meant I spent more time umpiring.

 

I was what was called an invitee. The other invitee was from New Jersey. We stayed for the next week, but a whole new crew of appointees came for the actual regional. And there were seven of them in addition to the two of us. We had nine for the second round, the actual regional. And we worked in four-person crews on the games, and, again, they divided us into two groups — one with five and one with four. Again, I was happy to be in the one with four and not have a game off.

 

Q: What other countries' teams were there?

 

Singleton shows a list in his notebook with nations from throughout Europe plus Israel which earned spots in the two tournaments over two weeks in Poland.

 

DS: Ukraine had a second team in the qualifier that, had they won, would not have been eligible. That was a bunch of kids from Donbas, and they're just having them there to have a week without air raid sirens or whatever. The Ukraine 1 team, though, was pretty competitive [2-3 in pool play]. They're pretty good.

 

Q: Are the players generally native to their countries?

 

DS: There were some ex-pats on Israel, or at least, from how they spoke English, they were dual citizenship. UK, Germany, too. I think those three definitely had some U.S.-affiliated kids.

It used to be the German team was all Army base kids. Like 20 years ago, when I did the World Series, there was a team from Europe that was all American kids. And then there was a team from Saudi Arabia, and they actually were all from Houston.

 

Q: But Little League programs have grown to the point where there are more native kids representing their countries?

 

DS: I'd say the programs have grown. Some countries were stronger than others.

 

The pool play was five games, and what I noticed was: You play five games in five days with Little League pitching rules for pitch counts and rest, you might do really well the first couple of days, but I worked a game at the end where it was clear their pitching was just depleted. To do well, the way this was set up, I joked about it with our guys, basically every kid on your team needs to be able to pitch decent.

 

Because to win, they had to play seven games in seven days.

 

Q: What's the experience like officiating with kids or coaches who you may not be able to communicate with verbally?

 

DS: It was actually beautiful. 

 

Q: They can't argue with you, I guess.

 

DS: There were very few problems. Over the course of the two weeks, there were two coaches ejected. But the culture of the European game is … it's somewhat different from what I experience here.

 

Some teams, every kid the first time he comes up to the plate fist bumps you or offers his hand. They do the same with the catcher of the opposing team.

 

I don't think there were real language problems. Every team had somebody — it might have been the head coach — but they had somebody in their coaching staff who, in terms of interactions with officials, could speak English well enough for the plate meeting and lineup changes. Or if there was some sort of question on a play that they needed to ask about, those kinds of things. The kids, it was variable, depending on where they were from.

 

Q: I joked about the coaches not being able to argue with you because of the language difference. But the other thing is you don't have to hear it from the fans even if they are yelling.

 

DS: If there was anything that would be not appropriate to this kind of event, it was addressed first to the head coach of the team and, if they couldn't take care of it, someone from the Kutno administration would come and say something.

 

There was very little of that. I want to be clear. But there were a couple of times.

 

The kind of cheering was different than what you might see here in the states.

 

Q: How so?

 

DS: The Spain team, they had various musical instruments, the fans did. And they had all sorts of cheers and songs. It was like I imagine a European soccer game would be. The last European soccer game I was at was in the Soviet Union in 1986. I don't think Soviet soccer plays the same.

 

But they were singing. And several of the other teams had fans who were boisterous and supportive and positive. So that was pretty cool, actually. The overall atmosphere was very positive.

 

There were, in terms of arguments, very, very few. We're not supposed to comment on plays or ejections, but the two ejections were earned but I would say they were momentary losses of control. And the coaches in both cases were extremely apologetic afterward. ... There were no significant issues at this tournament, none. One team, their fans were a little verbal about some things, and it was handled pretty quickly, and they cut it out because the coach basically stood outside the dugout. I don't know what he yelled in their language ... but they stopped. And we heard positive cheering instead.

 

Q: How long have you been doing this?

 

DS: This is my 36th season.

 

I had coached during grad school in New Haven [Conn.], Babe Ruth with one of my wife's professors at Yale Divinity. He was the head coach. I was the assistant. So when we moved to Williamstown in 1988, I contacted the Williamstown Little League and said, 'Hey, do you need coaches?' ... But they weren't looking.

 

The funny thing was that about three days before their opening day, they called me and said, 

'Did you ever umpire?' I started laughing because I wasn't necessarily the most well-behaved coach toward officials in New Haven. I wasn't bad, but I'd give grunts of, 'Come on. We need that pitch,' that kind of stuff.

 

I said, 'No,' but I did it, and I loved it.

 

In 1992, I went to the Little League Umpire School, which was really, really good, in Williamsport. That was also when I started doing the high school games, because you have to do the classes. 

 

Q: Anything else on your bucket list after this?

 

DS: It would be enjoyable to get to umpire a game in a Major League Park. At one point, the Massachusetts high school finals occasionally were at Fenway Park. That hasn't happened in a good number of years now.

 

They do Polar Park now [in Worcester], which is a nice thing. I haven't done one there. I've done seven state finals. I've done the semi-finals two years in a row with Pittsfield at Holy Cross. And that Holy Cross field is nice. I like that, too.

 

I think it would be fun to do a game at — whether it's Fenway or Kauffman Stadium [pointing to the Kansas City Royals hat he's wearing]. I'm not sure how I'd pull that off.

 

I've enjoyed it. To spend two weeks in Poland with — seven of us the first week and nine of us the second — from all over the place but we're all alike in that we all love doing what we're doing. In that way, we're all alike, whether we're from France or Israel. And having those types of experiences domestically with Babe Ruth and Ripken World Series and Little League — it's just fun.

 

I'm pushing 70. My knees are probably pushing older than that. But as long as they say it's OK, I'm going to keep umpiring. I'm having fun. That's what I tell people in our classes here, and I'm the interpreter for our group ... I always say, 'If you're not having fun, it's not worth it for the money.'

 

Q: Speaking of classes, how is the pool for baseball umpires in the county?

 

DS: I think our baseball association is in better shape, numberwise, than softball, but it would be nice to have an infusion of younger umpires. When we have the class, it's great. This year we had six or seven people. But usually after two years for half the people in a group, they might find out, like for high school baseball, 'I can't get off work to get to a 4 o'clock game.'

 

Or there are certain aspects of sports officiating they find they don't like, whether it's the travel, the cost of equipment or the garbage you take. There is a 'fresh meat' factor, I'll say that. Nobody around here is really going to give me grief anymore, but when they don't know you ...

 

We've had six or seven in the class, which, for us, is a normal class size, but maybe three who stay with it after two years. And our median age is probably inching up in our group.

 

This year, we had two young men — one was on McCann and one was on Drury, so they couldn't do high school games, but they took the class and they've done some summer ball. They've done some Babe Ruth and Little League. If it turns out that they don't move away ... to get that kind of infusion of younger people who like it, it provides a certain energy and also it's just needed.

 

I have nothing against the 65-year-old who takes the class. That's great. But it's a shorter thing.