[greymule]

But there are numerous reported cases of umpires who have perpetrated any number of offenses from getting too close to the catcher, to abduction, rape and murder.

I remember one murder case (from, I think, Court TV) where the killer had umpired the girl's games. So it was indeed as an umpire that he came into first contact with the girl. However, all his actual offenses took place away from the field. The first thing out of line was that he (a man in his mid 20s) started to send gifts to the teenage girl. Still, it is not clear that a background check would have revealed anything.

I never heard of any instance of an umpire committing an offense by getting too close to the catcher, but I guess in a country of close to 300 million people, something like that is bound to happen. However, would a background check have revealed anything about this guy? And what were some of the cases of abduction/rape/murder?

(I'm so sexist. I always assume it's a guy. Although throughout history there have been many cases of "black widows" who poisoned a string of husbands for money, and of Munchhausen's syndrome babysitters who smothered the children in their care or mothers who fed their kids weed killer to get sympathy from doctors and neighbors, there has never been a true case of a compulsive sexual killer, like Ted Bundy or John Wayne Gacy, who was female. Of course, women have committed other kinds of sexual offenses against minors.)

In our local high school a few years ago, a girl tried to bench press more than she could handle. The gym was full of people. When the girl realized she couldn't handle the weight, she cried out in distress. A male gym teacher ran over to her and kept the bar from crushing her neck.

The girl's parents soon sued the gym teacher and the school district. You see, as the gym teacher positioned himself to secure the weight, his crotch got close to the girl's face or brushed against it or something.

The coach was near retirement anyway, so the school gave him a buy-out package. A couple of years later, the courts found for the coach/school, and no money was awarded.