Working with Chicago Umpires

[mick]

For a couple of backwoods Lake Superior umpires, it was fun for us, Jim Weiler and me, to work a three-man crew, instead of the usual two, with Bob Jenkins. The setting was a little diamond out in the bush, which was about 2 miles from The Lake and surrounded by trees and and wetlands and notorious for skeeters and other such things.

From the beginning, with Bob at first base, I was concerned that our flying fauna might be bothering him, but he indicated there was no problem.

Well, as the game progressed, and although Jim and I weren't being pestered, I looked down at first and there's Bob just a wavin' and a swattin', but still no complaint.

We had an exciting Adult Twilight League, 1-16 games with a few dingers and a couple close calls.

In accordance with our scheduled itinerary, we ended U.P. at a local watering hole to talk about the three Hoops games and the ball game we three worked that afternoon.

It was there that Bob put on an brief, but interesting clinic on philosphy, interpretations, rules and our lack of hand-signalling [Gees! And I thought all that waving and swatting was about bugs.]

Anyway, we had some fun. If you get a chance to work with Bob, it's both a pleasure and a treat. If you get a chance to work with any talented umps from out of your area, just do it. It's neat!
mick

[Jim Porter]

I didn't get to work with Bob, but I did get to watch a AAA ball game with him and his family. They're terrific folks. You're quite lucky to have worked with him.

There's a few others from the Internet that I have both met and worked with over the years. Usually, we have some sort of get together every year at our local AAA park, the Pawtucket Red Sox' McCoy Stadium. The first year I met with BD and Erick Barkhuis (got to work with Erick in a few games) and we went to a PawSox game. The following year it was BD, Bob Jenkins and his family (we were hoping Rich Fronheiser could've made it). This year, who knows?

Anyone wanting to see a game in Rhode Island, just send me an e-mail! It's a great little ball park, very reasonably priced, and the three-man crews that work there are all top notch!