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Most exciting play?
My very first attempt at umpiring - I'm 16 years old, with NO training, working the plate for little league - 10U.
The pitcher in this game is GOOD for a 10U. Visitor needs to win to go to the playoffs. Game is close, comes to the bottom of the last inning. Home is losing by 1, bases loaded 2 outs. Smallest kid on the team comes up - scared to even be in the box, much less swing the bat. Strike one. Strike two. Coach calls time, says something to the batter.
Batter walks up behind the box, scrunches down, and waddles into the box. Remember - I'm 16, no training, and don't know any better. So I'm LITERALLY laying on my bubble protector, prone on the ground, looking straight through the miniscule 3 inch high strike zone. My BU is right behind the pitcher, with as good a view of the zone as me.
Ball 1, high by about a foot. Ball 2, high by about 2 inches.
Next pitch is picture perfect right in the center of this 3-inch high zone. BU's jaw drops. Big MLB-worthy strike 3 call. Pitcher was the hero forever. I saw him a few years later and he still remembered that pitch. Turned out they won the playoff tourney. Still gives me goosebumps remembering it.
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"Many baseball fans look upon an umpire as a sort of necessary evil to the luxury of baseball, like the odor that follows an automobile." - Hall of Fame Pitcher Christy Mathewson
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