This day did not start out well for me. Since my crew had the early two games the previous day, we didn’t hang around the ballfield for the second two. As we were leaving, we had been told that we would be doing the New England games again, which were scheduled for 5:00 and 8:00. After we left, however, Doc decided to scramble the crews somewhat. This wouldn’t have been a problem if they had notified us, but there was a communication breakdown. Jerry got a call telling him he was on the first game, so Michael McDowell drove him there (Jerry didn’t have a car at that point) only to be told that he was on the first game too. Mike had left all his gear at the hotel, however, so he ended up borrowing everything – hat, shirt, pants and shoes – from another umpire and working the game in that.
I stayed in the hotel to get some work done, and had headed out to lunch about 1:30, since I was expecting to work both the 5:00 and 8:00 games, and thus wouldn’t get dinner until late. At 1:36, I got a call saying “Hey, you’re on the 2:00 game – where are you?” Big oops! Apparently Ron Leary had tried to leave a message with me via the hotel, but it hadn’t been passed along. (Why he didn’t just call my cell phone I don’t know.) So I scurried back to the hotel, grabbed my pants and then hustled back to the field. I was assigned to the left field line, so Ron held the spot down until I sneaked onto the field in the first inning. One of the other crew’s guys was in the reverse situation – he showed up first thing, when he wasn’t working until later. We were assured that this snafu wouldn’t reflect on us evaluation-wise.
This was the first Mid-Atlantic game I had worked – Mickey Vitti had the plate. Wednesday was the last day of pool play, so we were getting down to the end of things. This game was between New York and Pennsylvania. The way the standings had worked out, this was a “win and you’re in, lose and you’re done” game. Pennsylvania put up runs in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th to New Yorks solo runs in the 2nd and 5th, so we headed into the final inning with PA up 3-2. They promptly put another 4 on the board in the top of the 6th, however, so the final was 7-2. This gave Pennsylvania the third seed in the elimination round and sent New York home.
I had third in the 5:00 game. Maine came into this game without a win, against New Hampshire, who was 2-1. Thus, Maine had nothing to play for other than pride, since the best they could finish was 1-3, which wouldn’t get them into the elimination round. This turned into another stellar game, however, going scoreless through four innings. In the top half of the 5th, Maine’s bats woke up, with three kids in a row getting base hits. When the dust had settled, they had put 3 on the board. Maine’s starter reached his pitching limit with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, having given up only two hits and three walks, while striking out 6. The reliever came in and continued the fine performance, giving up only one hit in the remainder of the game. Thus, although they had been eliminated, Maine did not leave winless, and won their final game on TV. (This was a NESN game.)
Since I was the third base umpire for this game, I was one of the “dugout minders” with the pager in my pocket. During the wait between the introductions and when the home team was allowed to take the field, I was able to take the time to give the players a brief rundown on how things were going to go, for which they (or at least the coaches) expressed gratitude. The biggest thing was to make sure the pitcher and catcher knew that they only had a very limited amount of time to get their warm-ups in – in my first TV game, the pitcher was a little slow taking the mound the first time, and was surprised when his warm-ups were cut short. The Maine kids seemed like a really good bunch, and I got to hear some of the positive coaching that their adults gave them. A class act all the way around.
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