On ESPN Classic the other night, they had the 2003 semifinal game on (a Texas team vs. a New England team). I stopped surfing and watched a few innings.
The PU was something else. He called strikes by sticking his upraised fist as high as he could get it, a la softball style. He looked like he was trying to hang himself....made a biiiiig show of every little thing.
The killer, though, was when a batter (1-2 count) fouled a pitch off right onto the plate, ball then hit F2, went b/w his legs, and rolled to the backstop - PU called a foul tip and a strike (brush-off FT mechanic, then the 'hang yourself' strike motion), and then left the kid at bat.
Even my wife shook her head and said, 'where do these guys come from?'
Are all LL umpires like this? Of course not! But how does one like this get within spitting distance of national television?