I'm sure we've all had our times when we've sat around with fellow umpires sharing war stories. You know the kind of stories I'm talking about. They're usually told while several of your umpiring buddies and you sit in the parking lot at the end of the day during a tournament, maybe over a few cold beers.

Then there are those Sunday association meetings when you're just not ready to head home to the Mrs. after the meeting, and opt to head with your pals to one of the local Pubs.


Some of the best I've heard were told in the evening, during a week long umpiring camp at the end of the day as we were settling in for the night.

There are those infamous "out-safes" that you called early in your career. The notorious "hard and fast" ejections. The "stupid plays" you've seen. The "dumb" calls you've made, etc....

As things are somewhat anemic on the board now, I thought this might be a good time to discuss some of our war stories with each other.

I'll relate one of those "out-safes" first.

This was during a 16U BR game. The call wasn't all that hard, but I had my head, well, you know where.....


The play was pretty straight forward. I had R3 advancing to the plate on a passed ball. F1 had come in to cover the throw. Instead of tossing the ball to F1, F2 decided he had a shot at tagging out the runner himself(the ball had taken a real good kick off the backstop and came back toward the plate.)F1 apparently thought F2 would flip him the ball, as he stood his ground at the plate. All three, the runner, the catcher, and the pitcher were at the plate at the same time. F2 applied the tag as R3 slid into the plate. F1 being in such close proximity to the plate fell when F2 dove toward the plate after being contacted by F2. He didn't obstruct R3, he just fell on top of him after he had reached the plate.

I was sure I saw the tag, but I wasn,t sure if F2 had secure possession of the ball through the tag. They were all laying in a huddled mass on the plate. I witheld the call and asked to see the ball. At that point, F1 came up with the ball and showed it to me. You guessed it. "Out" was the first thing out of my mouth when I saw the ball. It only took a few seconds before it dawned on me what I had just done. All three players rose to their feet, at which time I called "safe, ball was on the ground." The timing was good, my positioning was good, but there are those plays when you are destined to look a little out of your element.


Anyone else have a war story to tell?

Tim.

Okay...here goes my embarassing one. I was working the bases in a juco game, no runners on. I'm not 10 feet beyond F3 like I should be. All of a sudden a foul ball gets hit in my direction that F3 makes a break for except I'm in the way. Next thing you know, I'm flat on my back and he's laying flat on me. I wanted to tell him that he was going to have to buy me dinner before we went any further!

His coach still laughs about it whenever he sees me. What a visual he must have!

Why not...

I was BU in "A" with a very experienced, highly rated partner. I was a second year greenhorn who had just been promoted to varsity games that season.

A screaming liner down the first base line, coming right at me it hit about an inch foul about half way between me and the base. I froze completely. Deer in the headlights froze.

My partner gave me a second to make the call, but he could have given me all afternoon and I wouldn't have made it.

Then he threw up his hands and yelled foul, seeing that I wasn't going to call it.

A couple innings later he called me over to the line between innings. He asked me, "what the hell happened on that liner?," and I said "I dunno, I jelled out, I guess."

For quite some time after that, when he would see me, he'd say "jelled out?", and then laugh his a$$ off. Good times!

Gee,
 

After the so many years I have worked it would be hard to determine which story to use:

"The Inside the Park Home Run That Never Left the Infield and WITH NO ERRORS,"

"The Day My Partner Quit in the Middle of a Play,"

"The Day I Tossed Seven Guys Out on One Pitch (and I didn't even make the original call)."

"The Play Where, as PU, I Caught a Pitch."

So many stories and so little time.

Tee

Tee,

I'd love to hear "The day my partner
quit in the middle of a play". Sounds
quite interesting.

Tee:

I read your article on the seven ejections on the ABUA web site. It was a great read. I'm trying to envision an inside the park home run on the infield with no errors. You dangled the carrot out there in front of us. Now it's time to feed the team.


Tim.

Please provide a link... I surfed but did not find.

Re: Gee,
 

I see you're still rubbing it in that you've got me by two.




[Edited by GarthB on Dec 17th, 2005 at 01:29 PM]

I looked for it, DG, but I couldn't find it again. I'm sure I read the article on that site early last summer. Hopefully, Tee will help us out.


Tim.

Re: Gee,
 

Sounds like the next 4 installments of "Strikes & Outs"...

"Anger is a condition in which the tongue works faster than the mind."


Tim.

Confusious say:

"Game of baseball all wrong. Man with four balls cannot walk."

Confusious say:

"Umpire who dance while wearing jock strap have make believe ballroom."

Confusious say:

"Umpire who call infield fly need fly phone number first."

Confusious say:

"Baseball player need stay cool sit close to fans."

Confusious say:

"Umpire call a strike doing job. Umpire go on strike lose job."

Confusious say:

"Baseball catcher who no wear helmet soon be hard headed as Tee."

Confusious say:

"Plate umpire who concentrate to much on MILF's soon find new kind of knockout."

Confusious say:

"Umpire who call dead ball need have ball funeral."

Confusious say:

"Umpire who wear wristwatch in game know exact time they look like rookie."

Confusious say:

"Rookie umpire who talk the talk will walk the walk when learn call balk."


Tim.
http://www.volnation.com/forum/style...ault/bump3.gif 56

[Edited by BigUmp56 on Dec 18th, 2005 at 09:05 PM]

Geesh,
 

Finally, something creative on an internet umpire site.

Tee

Tee:

I was thinking of complaining to Brad that I didn't approve of the direction of his site. Do you think that if I threatened to spam it with an ad to another site until he met my conditions I could get him to change it?

I doubt it, Garth. He'd probably just bar you from posting.

I did mention to Gary that if wanted me to stop, all he had to do was require registration and then ban me from the site. That in and of itself would have accomplished what I had set out to do anyway.

The end justified the means regardless of what you think, Garth.

You'll just need to find another site to post on that doesn't require registration if you want another one like the outhouse forum to post on. Maybe, since you know Gary, you could convince him to change the format back to the way it was.


Tim.