Yesterday was a wonderful day (
) for a H.S. varsity baseball DH: Game time (10:00am) weather: 40F with a wind chill factor of 30F. MTD, Jr., was supposed to be my partner but his supervisor screwed up his Saturday work schedule and he ended up receiving a girls' H.S. JV softball DH at 01:00pm which was canceled.
I am behind the Plate for the second game. Top of the First Inning with one out: R2 on 2B trying to score on a base hit to RF by B3. F2 is an offensive lineman (no kidding, he is a big boy but really a gentle giant) on the Home Team's football team. F2 is standing in Fair Territory about six feet up the line toward 3B; he is not in a postion to Obstruct. F2 takes the throw and spins as fast as he can and makes a sweep tag F2 who is sliding feet first into HP. The tag is made before F2's feet get to HP; the tag was made against the side of F2's helmet and the his helmet is knocked off his head. Yes the tag was hard, but it was the result of F2's momentum from spinning to make the tag. There was no way that F2's tag was Malicious Contact. F2 could not have deliberately hit R2 in the head because he couldn't hit a slow curve if the ball had been set on a Tee.
Immediately, V-HC is yelling from the 3B Coaching Box complaining about F2's tag. By this time R2 has stood up and is standing about one foot away from me, facing me, and yells: "Are you kidding me!" I should great restraint and sternly told him: "That's enough!" If my left shoulder is at nine o'clock, R2's helmet is about at eight o'clock and about ten feet away from me. R2, instead of stepping to his right to go around me to get his helmet, he decides to step through me banging his right shoulder into my right shoulder and spinning me to my right about ninety degrees. Instant ejection for R2.
I informed V-HC of R2's ejection which immediately caused him to start complaining that R2 was only trying to get his helmet and that I made a terrible (insert Charles Barkley's pronunciation of "terrible") call for not ejecting F2 for Malicious Contact. I shut down our "conversation" and got the game restarted.
Fast forward to the Middle of the First Inning. V-HC is informing me of his replacement for R2 and he still wants to complain about R2's ejection. Again, I shut our "conversation" down when V-AC2 decides to tell me that I "need to be a man" about my mistake. V-AC2 is now gone.
In the Fifth Inning, my partner and I discover that V-AC2 has gone to the parking lot (a good thing) and has driven his car around the school and has parked his car behind the Right Field fence along with other fans to watch the game. We informed V-HC to have his AC return to the school bus in the parking lot. V-HC had his AC comply.
A fun way to spend a cold Winter, I mean Spring day.
MTD, Sr.