Lifted Up

Not only do we usually have two umps working our games, but sometimes we have "personnel problems" and we are too short to even do that for every game. So who usually gets to do a game alone in those cases? The experienced old fart. This can get fun with runners on base. attempted steals aren't usually as close as they are in MLB, but there are a few close ones. But other fun arises too. Once , I think the summer before last, I had to call a batter/runner safe or out at second trying for a double while a runner was crossing the plate with two out. On splt second timing I called the batter/runner out at second but allowed the run to score because he touched the plate a split second ahead of the play. Good peripheral vision I guess. Or good guessing. No arguments on that play.

I know my deprogrammers back in 1979 didn't use that definition; they slapped the LDS church onto the cult list with all the others.

Aha, but there was that one (or two) you didn't reach...must have a relative working there or work there themselves.

It wasn't absolute, but my wife's family did a fair job of that in past years in Siberia, because they had to, growing a bunch of their own food, had their own mild source, and making a lot of their own clothes. I should have mentioned this first, but beyond my sarcasm, I congratulate you on what evidently was an effective presentation.

The world is full of political and moral evil. Don't buy anything from anyone. That'l show them!

Now Mark, your entry above fits into the real groaner category about as purely as anything can!

Trying to think who might fit this category in this movie, but I'll take a wild stab at "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" anyway.

lemme see, now, you can try Galveston, New Orleans, Brownsville, Miami.... Or if you don't like snow, cold, hurricanes, or super muggy air , you can try my birthplace, the southern CA coast...it might be worth a few earthquakes to be able to breath the fresh air... Of course there is southern AZ with generally none of the above... If you're the mind of person who would never die of boredom...I can see it in your post. There you'd never be able to really say "spring is coming" or "I'm glad to finally see the sun for the first time in a week..." I guess people in their old age don't get bored so much; maybe why the average age is so high out there. But you haven't reached old age yet, have you?

Dunno how close I came back in 1976...I was in TWI and driving back to Indy from MA a few days after a heartbeat festival at Albany. I took some wrong turns and made an unplanned crossing of that famous bridge. But I was focused straight ahead in that circus; I could have driven right by the place and missed it.

It happened more than once, but the one case that sticks out was on a fairly high strike three I called on him. Working with the kids as I do, 12 year olds that are not quite LLWS caliber (and younger), The coaches are always encouraging us to go with a big strike zone because nobody wants a game too full of walks. But sometimes they forget about doing this when it is their kids that are at bat! P.S. I have the integrity to admit I competely blow a call once in a great while, including balls and strikes, But this one was within the realm of what I had been calling.

Just curious, since this obviously wasn't (from what you write) the first part of your discussion with him; which of you started the discussion, and was it a hard thing to get going? These are personal questions which I think are in bounds for asking, given how much you are telling with this letter. While not dealing with the exact same things, I could contemplate a not altogether dissimilar discussion with an older sibling.

By the way, Rocky, my umpire's temperament carries over to some extent into the world of politics...but unlike baseball, I am not ready willing and able to accept all the cyber screaming and getting into the middle of all the disgusting things I see in that realm/forum. For example, I really bristled at the suggestion that some made...including one very plainly at work...that our incumbent U.S. Senator was not fit to serve because his brain hemmorage (sp?) left him, for now, as a less effective verbal speaker. I think those who have to work to overcome something like that can be and usually are more effective for their efforts. There is an sharp example dealing with someone on the other side of the political spectrum, which I will not mention publicly because it is one of the two things, rightfully or wrongly, that have caused me to lose some personal respect for people whom I have previously respected on these forums...I will only say neither involves you. I will also say that this brings up big reasons why i don't get into that forum much. But of course, I would still call these people safe on a close play if they were safe.

Or my work supervisor's son, which I've done!

George is right. Perhaps it was too easy, but it was my first one, a freebie, and I had to get my feet wet in this thread.

IMO that can be said about those who fight for us as well. (Recognizing them has nothing to do with glorifying the reasons they are fighting...this from one whose stepdaughter for the last 23 1/2 years became a U.S. citizen a few years ago while refusing to make the pledge to bear arms). Back to the Civil War...I remember (funny about my memory!) a story in the Shelby, OH Daily Globe back around 1960 or so about the last surviving Civil War vet dying at age 112.

Yep, overwhelming but not unanimous vote, and that's right. Anyone who winds 20 in this era should get some recognition and votes. The down side is that, if he keeps it up, Cliff will probably eventually go the way of CC...I think the Tribe can keep him through 2010 if they want but I.m not sure...and like with CC, they might deal him off earlier. Curt Flood sure started something, didn't he? IMHO, two things are key to making a good umpire...desire and temperament. I think of the latter as having no hesitation in calling someone whose guts you hate safe on a very close play.

Actually it is an out. If the tip goes directly into the catcher's mitt and is held, it is just an ordinary strike and a live ball, and thus if there are two strikes on the batter, it is strike three. If there are less than two strikes, it of course is not an out, even though the catcher holds it. If it is not held, it becomes an ordinary foul ball and a dead ball. Where the young players, their coaches, and even some of the young umpires I work with get messed up is the live ball part. This will come into play if a runner or runners run with the pitch. If runners are going and there are less than two strikes in the batter, and the pitch nicks the bat on the way in, it is better for the catcher if he drops the ball, then it is dead and no runners can advance, unless of course he can throw the runner(s) out. Of course, there is no catcher in the world, including MLB, who can think that fast (Shall we measure the time between a fastball crossing the plate and reaching the catcher's mitt?!) But I've had to explain that many times when the catcher holds a foul tip and argues that the runners can't go because it was a foul.

Yea, speaking from my own life, there is something special about mothers and their coffee...

I'll try, but I too am so used to that other thread and don't know how specific to get..."reproove" me if I do it wrong... War hero's reunion with his long lost father turns out to be less than cordial when conflict between the two arises".

And while I am waiting, who knows the difference between a foul ball and a foul tip? (without looking at the rulebook of course)

I can't bear the waiting; I am assuming he has not come back yet, or you would let us know?

What do they do, stagger the awards? Waiting for Cliff Lee's coronation...

I wish my Uncle (Dean Snyder) were still alive; he was, I believe, a fairly avid Civil war historian. But I never found out from him what if any roots our own family has.

Several years ago; don't remember whether it was on Waydale or the early days of GS, I got a query/conditional apology from one of our fine posters who recalled that he had been an SOB or equivalent at times to some people in the corps. At the time I said not needed because nothing stood out on the moment, but "on further review", or reflection, I did remember he had been less than kind (I think the word he used was "mean") a couple times. I never thought it was important enough to correct myself to him because he has certainly been one fine fellow here over the years.

I think the abuse was targeted at those considered ripe for it; i.e. those like Kris at the time who were thought of as being candidates. I very recently (within the last three months) saw on another forum what I think was a not so subtle sign of this, specifically related to what Kris wrote. Of whichever leaders were involved in the abuse, I am sure that VPW knew who was and who was not a candidate.