MLB umpire says that you can balk with a dead ball!

[Rich]

...I got nailed good.

I was working an MSBL game with Jim and was in deep B (for 2-man, it was deep -- which is usually where I work with R3 only).

Laser beam hits me right on the keyster.

It was a strange field for me, so I had my wallet in my back pocket instead of in my trunk or glove box. Good thing, cause the ball hit my wallet and split my driver's license in half and broke my BCBS card.

I wasn't the first guy he hit that year, apparently.

I don't remember talking bad about people getting hit, although I won't even argue that point. Maybe I did. Sometimes you have to get hit by lightning to understand it.

After I got hit, Jim and I later ejected two people. The bruise AROUND the wallet did the blue-black to green-yellow thing over the next few weeks. Ah, memories.

Rich