How to Get Yourself in Trouble

[tribefan1952]

I had a similar thing happen to one of my players a few years ago when I was coaching. It was late in the game and we had a pretty good lead, but this team was very capable of blowing big leads. The ump called my player out on a third strike that wasn't even close. It was the third out and I met the batter as he walked to the dugout with a stunned look on his face. I told him to try to forget about it. I didn't say anything to the ump. Then the ump came up to me and quietly said not to count that strikeout in the kid's stats. I asked him why. He said that he thought the game was getting out of hand and wanted to end the inning. I couldn't believe it. I never complained to anyone because we ended up winning the game, but I was amazed that he sincerely felt that he had done something noble.