Looking back on my younger days, I went through a period in life when I felt I needed more abuse, more heckling and questions about my ancestry. I became an umpire and got my share of deleted expletives – some deserved and some not.
One of the deserved moments in my umpire career when my judgement was rightfully questioned came when I first called a fastpitch softball game from behind the plate and P. J. Morris was pitching for Stacy’s, a renowned and local, fastpitch softball squad.
It was a doubleheader at McIntire Park and the stands were packed, as they often were when Stacy’s and P.J. were in action. I called the first game on the bases, then put on my mask and chest protector and squatted behind the catcher to call balls and strikes.
I had never called a Fastpitch Softball Game before, only slow pitch softball and high school baseball, but let me tell you – it’s an entirely different ballgame. The ball comes whizzing in at 100 miles per hour from just 60 feet, and you have less than a split second to make the call.
The first pitch of the game, P.J. leans back and sends a bullet towards home. The ball is zooming along and barely off the ground – sure to be ball one, so I called “Ball!” Except that at the very last instant, the ball pops up about 2 feet and splits the center of the strike zone. It was one of those times you wish you could grab your words from mid-air and swallow them so that no one would know what an idiot you were.
The catcher turned incredulously to see the lunatic who call a down-the-middle strike a ball.
“Sorry,” I apologized. “I missed that one.”
“Did you ever,” the catcher grumbled.
From then on, I would wait until the dust settled before making a call of any kind.
P.J. Morris was incredible with a softball. He could make it dip and dodge and rise and fall. And he usually pitched both games of a double header. I was in awe of his talents. I don’t know how the batters ever even hit the ball. You had to almost start swinging before the ball left his hand.
Stacy’s played in a semi-pro league and some of the finest fastpitch talents from several states came to compete, usually on weekends and fans came out in droves. It was a fast paced and exciting game, and you never knew what was going to happen, especially when a rookie umpire called a down-the-middle-of-the-plate strike, a “ball.”
