Summer Baseball....lightning can strike twice in the same inning

Record heat is in the forecast for today...95 with a breeze and heat indexes near 100.  It will be a hot one down on the field at today's Noon start for the Reds and Cubs.  It was hot, but breezy on the artificial field in Celina last night, as I umpired the bases in the 7-1 Celina ACME win over visiting Parkway.  Tonight at 6pm I'm at Convoy for another varsity ACME game...it promises to be hot, even with a real grass field.

Hit, twice in one inning_____

Last night in inning #4 I had something happen, that has happened only two times before in my many years of umpire work.  Working the B position with a runner on first, I took a hard ground ball off the turf, in the foot...no pain, but the call is a dead ball, much like a hit batter.  I put the batter on first and the runner on first at second base.  Then 3 batters later, with the bases loaded, and m in the "C" position near shortstop, the batter hits a hard low line drive, I made a feeble jump attempt, but the ball hits the heal of my shoe...again, move the runners that are forced, up one base, and put the batter on first base.

So something that I can only recall happening twice in my long umpiring career, happens twice in one half inning...Unbelievable!  And embarrassing as Hell.  I know at 62, I've slowed down, and can't jump these days, but still...I can usually get out of the way, even on the faster playing artificial turf.   So I stepped back a few feet, not wanting a trifecta, and the rest of the game went without incident.   Just my pride wounded.

This weekend depending on the storm situation, Sam will be home from OSU, and we will work 4 games in two days on the turf at Celina...double headers on both Friday and Saturday nights.  The rest of June will remain busy, and then in July, the tournament schedule will be handed out, and the games will slow down, before ending before August 1st.   A few weeks off, and a short vacation, then football begins.

Where does the time go?

The Race Card_____

Seems in sports, much like politics, you cannot be critical of a person of "color", without being labeled a "Racist"! 

On one blog I frequent, just for sheets and giggles, I have been all over the Jim Tressel/Terrelle Pryor story.  My point is that Tressel threw a class of senior players under the bus in 2008, all for the glory of one Mr. Pryor.  The decision to play Pryor at all costs destroyed what little respect I had for Tressel.  My thought then, as it is now, was that Tressel sold out his seniors and would protect this punk named Pryor through thick and thin.  He did, and it has now bitten him in the backside.  The Vest is out at Ohio State, and now, thankfully, Terrelle Pryor is as well.

So the talking points, much like politics, is "you only hate Pryor because he's black, you don't like black quarterbacks"...yep, must be right.  After all I support a West/Cain ticket for President, if that would happen....I respect both men.  One of my favorite writers is Thomas Sowell...and I love listening to Walter Williams when he fills in for Rush Limbaugh on radio.  Yep, that's me...I despise Barack Obama and Terrelle Pryor, so I must be racist?  Of course I don't like Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, or Jim Tressel....so it all makes sense.

I long ago learned in the politically correct world of politics, "The Race Card" is played only by the left, to stop conversation....I am learning now, that in the sad sack world of sports, the same twisted rules apply.  I'm not buying what they are selling.  I have disliked Pryor and Obammy from the get-go, and race has nothing to do with it.

back later>>>>

Photos-

The B and C umpire position on the ball diamond...and Terrelle Pryor and Thomas Sowell.  I cannot stand the former, but respect and read the writings of Sowell....so, that make me what?