Lightening

[canadaump6]

I had a game this year where I was on the bases, and we kept getting flashes of streak lightening behind the backstop where my partner was not facing. In between innings I went to him just to touch base on the weather. I told him that I was getting a bit nervous about the lightening, but that it was his call as he was plate ump. He then told me that I should say something if I feel the lightening is bad enough to suspend the game. I told him no, that is not the way it is done. The base umpire has nothing to say about weather or darkness. But I decided to follow his directions as he is crew chief.

Next inning, the lightening gets worse, so I call time and tell him that it is getting worse. He is absolutely clueless as to what to do, so I suggest we suspend the game for 10 minutes till it gets better. He agrees, so we tell both coaches the plan, and they are fine with that. I then tell him "okay 'John', let's go into the community centre building for ten minutes". He is all like "I'm not going in there, I need to stay here to watch and see if the lightening gets any worse". I tell him something along the lines of "no, it is stupid to stand around outside when we have already labelled the situation as too dangerous to be outside in the first place." And he tells me "well everyone else is still here" and I explain to him that that is not our problem, it's their responsibility to go inside now that we have suspended the ballgame.

Then I say "well I'm going inside" and tells me "fine, go". I take a few steps to leave, then decide "no that's stupid too. We are partners and have to stay together". So we wait the ten minutes, then resume the game. Then in between innings later, we are standing together discussing the weather, and a streak of lightening goes through the sky that he sees. He calls the game and we go home.

I think that it is up to partners to communicate effectively, and to always be on the same page. However the base umpire should not have any say in the suspension of a ballgame due to inclimate weather or light failure. If the plate guy can't see it, then that is just too bad. It is also important for both umpires to set a good example by practicing safety, which my partner was not willing to do in this case.