By BRENT STUBBS
Senior Sports Reporter
bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
MARTIN ‘Pork’ Burrows added another feather to his cap when he was appointed to the COPABE (the Pan American Baseball Confederation) - WBSC Americas Baseball Umpiring Commission.
The appointment, which takes immediate effect, will run through 2025 as Burrows serves on the Umpiring Commission, which was formed by the nominations of the national federations and the evaluations of the executive committee.
Burrows, 57, said he was elated when he got the letter of confirmation from Bahamas Baseball Association secretary general Theodore ‘Teddy’ Sweeting.
“It’s a good achievement, but the work has just began,” said Burrows, who serves as the head of the newly formed Local Umpires Association – Academy (LUA-A).
“I have to keep working hard and pushing hard to get others up there. So I hope now that when the others see this, they will see that hared work pays off and push towards these types of achievements. But when Teddy sent it to me, I was moved by it. I was impressed. It just goes to show that when you work hard, you will be rewarded at the finish line.”
Burrows joins the board that will be headed by the director of umpires Miguel Hernández of Venezuela. Burrows is one four members from COPABE on the commission. The other three are Luis Daniel del Risco from Cuba, Delfín Pérez from the Dominica and Carlos Rey from Puerto Rico.
They will serve with the other members from two others regions, including CONSUBE (the South American Confederation of Baseball), comprising of Carlos Leal from Venezuela, Everaldo Medeiros M. from Brazil, Ismael Pérez Álvarez from Colombia and Diego Salas from Argentina and CONCEBE, which include Edgar Estivenson from Panama, Jairo Mendoza (NCA) and Esteban Puriel and Luis Ramírez, both from Mexico.
The Umpiring Commission will have, among others, the following functions:
Prepare an organisation and operation manual.
Create a plan training and updating activities for umpires.
Establish an evaluation system for the umpires of the continent.
Appointments of umpires for COPABE – WBSC Americas Baseball tournaments.
Through his appointment, Burrows said he will continue to work on assisting the local umpires.
He said he knew this opportunity would come for him, but he didn’t envision it would come this fast.
“We have the new stadium, so we will be having a number of tournaments coming here,” said Burrows, who served as an umpire during the initial COPEBE Caribbean Cup that christened the new Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium in December.
“It will be costly trying to bring people in. So the more I can get Bahamians qualified to officiate at this level, we can use them and save the money in the country. And they can get opportunities to travel once they are in the system.”
Burrows, who has been officiating for about 30 years and for the past 10-15 years on the international level, thanked God for providing him with the ability to give back to his fellow Bahamians in order for them to get to the next level as an international umpire.
He also thanked his wife, Lisa Burrows, for sticking with him when he had to make the various journeys overseas to do his certification courses and to officiate in games, as well as when he took some time away from home to even officiate in games here in the country.
He noted that it’s all worth it because he’s now sitting on one of the highest boards any Bahamian can attain as an umpire.
He noted that the work is just beginning and it’s his goal to see other Bahamians follow in his footsteps.
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