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Originally Posted by bluezebra
I tossed my lineup cards when the games were over. The players were just names and numbers, forgotten as soon as I tossed the cards.
I worked the plate on two home games that Jim Gilliam's son played in. He never played in the Majors, and I'm not sure if he even played pro ball at all.
But I did officiate some of John Elway's high school football games. At that time I didn't who he was, except, as with ALL players, (insert number) number in the (insert color) jersey.
Bob
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I don't see how it is possible not to know when any certain high school player is being heavily scouted, mentioned daily in the newspaper, or makes it to the pros. And when they are in the pros, the announcers say, "_____ played his HS ball at ______ High School" if they are homegrown talent. All you have to do is remember if you umpired that team during the period the athlete attended.
I certainly couldn't mistake having umpired Troy Glaus, for example. It seemed he either struck out, or hit a tape measure home run every time up. He was a local superstar out of Carlsbad HS in the northern part of the city.
And how could I forget working the plate for guys that were the cream of the crop pitchers in HS? Aaron Harang, Mark Prior, Barry Zito, Esteban Loiza, Sergio Mitre, Jose Silva, Benji Gil (who went on to be a shortstop in MLB), are just a few that spring to mind. Every time they pitched, the stands were full of scouts with Jugs guns.