[greymule]

At first, everybody was watching the clock (including me, in left field). By the time the tournament was over, nobody was. It's interesting to me that even in 1969, MLB was concerned about the pace of the game.

A few years ago, I ran into an old friend we had picked up to play for us in that tournament. He had gone on to a 15-year career in the Majors and played in a League Championship Series and a World Series. He mentioned that—35 years later—he still felt bad that he hadn't hit better for us during that tournament. He didn't remember that a woman had umpired any of our games.

I remember that our coach, who was also a college coach, got himself a permanent nickname from that tournament. They used 3 umpires, and he went out to question a call made by the 3B umpire. Our coach asked, "Are you telling me he didn't get under that tag?" and started on his way back to the dugout. The response: "That's what I'm tellin' you, Mac," froze our coach, and we all laughed while a spectator yelled, "He was out by a mile. Get back in the dugout, Mac!"

Since that night, he's been "Mac" to everyone who remembers.