Gee - a solo DH, and only 112 heat index
Today I did a D1 college alumni game. Top of the first the first alum gets hit by the pitch. I say "Take your base". He says "NO - I didn't drive 5 hours to walk to first base - I wanna hit!"
Same game I got to ring up Darren Fletcher - former Expos all-star - on a great breaking ball. He looked at me and said, "I really should have hit that one" and the catcher said "At least there was a day when you COULD have!".
I had two college (D3) no-no's by the same pitcher against the same school exactly a year apart - the winning coach asked if I wanted his whole schedule the following year.
I did a juco tournament 15 years ago where five of the six games were decided by one run and the championship was a three run dinger in the bottom of the 12th.
I did a high school game where I called a runner safe at second on a whacker of a steal and the DEFENSIVE team and their fans all cheered - seems their pitcher had struck out all 19 of the outs registered, and after my call got the last two on K's - for a total of all 21 in the 7-inning game!
I did an Independent Minor League game where the winning pitcher had 25 strikeouts - at that time a "professional" baseball record (so I was told), and I not only was on the local sports channel that night but Sports Center as well ringing up #25 (ah, my 15 minutes of fame...).
And yes, I too got to play with the San Diego Chicken. Even got a Christmas card from him the following Christmas. That guy gets around!
I did a D2 World Series where the umpires dressed in the football stadium and were taken by van to the field two blocks away - we had a car go out of control and hit a power pole outside our lockerroom and, since we had two-way radios, we called game management to send an ambulance right away. They thought one of the umpires had a heart attack...
And then there's the Tom Ravashire story about the umpire whose wife cleaned the attic and discovered a box with 3 baseballs and $400 cash in it. She asked him and he admitted that every time he'd been unfaithful over his years as an umpire he put a ball in the box. She was willing to deal with 3 times in 20 years - then she asked about the $400. His reply - "Every time I got a dozen balls in the box I sold them!"
It's been fun. And I'm not done...