Friday, June 15, 2007

2007 at the midway point

By Leslie Fitzpatrick (as told to Rich Connors)

Leslie, how is the season going?   The season is going great.   Now that the school season is over, weekdays are easy.   The weekends are tough.   So many of our games are on weekends!

Who are some of your heroes over the last couple of weekends?   So many guys have been wonderful!   Here are some that come to mind:

Fritz Timm and Joel Green are two great guys!

Fritz coaches his son on a CVAC team.   I was in trouble covering our NBUA games one Sunday.   Fritz called me and said he would give up his son's games for an entire Sunday and work our games.   He and Joel worked 4 PSSBL games at Bobby Morris.   Mike Brancheau went by the field and watched them for a while.   He told me they both looked great and he would have never guessed that it was their fourth game of the day.

(Did you know that Joel Green is a concert violinist?)

Mike Massoth worked 4 games for me last Sunday at Eastlake High School. This is not unusual for him. The first game he worked solo, and got hit by a ball in the ankle on a play at 2nd base. He continued the remainder of the day, went to the hospital, and found out he had a deep bone bruise, and was out for 5 days. He's back working again, and has a full schedule this weekend.

Nick Skinell (Dave Skinell's son) is a junior in high school. He is also in running start, a program whereby ambitious hard-working high school students can take college level courses at local colleges.   Nick had to study for finals, but he still picked up three games in one day at Eastlake High School.

Matt Grimm picked up 3 games on a recent Saturday and 3 more on Sunday. He consistently works 6 games every weekend.   I've heard great things about him, and he's willing to work any level of ball.

Bob Hancock cleans carpets. He normally does not work games on Sundays . He recently did 3 PSSBL games on a Saturday and did 2 more the following Sunday. He's working 4 games this Father's Day Sunday.... I had to barter.... Carpets for 4 games!

Vinnie Sposari owns a business that does plumbing repairs and glass repairs. His company just installed a brand new toilet in my home, and is coming out next week to replace a broken window. Vinnie is very busy with his business, but works a game in whenever he can. He is doing work at my house.

Dan Talcott worked 4 games at 3 different fields earlier this month. He worked a PSSBL game at Eastside Catholic at 9:00 a.m.   He worked a Mantle 16 game at Bannerwood at 12:30pm.   He then worked Koufax and Mantle games at Wilburton at 3:00pm and 6:00pm. He's a 4 -game-a- day Saturday and 4 -game-a-day Sunday kind of guy.   His wife likes him out of the house so he can bring in the extra income to vacation her to her homeland in Russia.   Thank you Dan!

Andy Hale is an EMT.   As a response to a request for help from me, he opened up considerable availability and worked 3 games on a Saturday and 3 more on the following Sunday. He especially likes PSSBL games, which is wonderful!

Mark Miller worked 4 games on June 2nd .   He worked 3 games at Wilburton at 9:00am. 12:00pm and 3:00pm.   He then drove to Eastlake High School and worked a 6:00pm game.   He likes to work in the hard to cover places like Tolt.... He brings his dog and goes for a swim in the nearby river if I don't have a game for him afterwards.....

Tom Brigham is coming back from a serious leg injury.   He has been reluctant to work more than two games in a day and risk aggravating his recuperation.   Recently, he worked a 1:00pm and 3:30pm games at Eastlake High School and then did a 6:00pm Colt game at Woodinville High School .   Last Saturday, he was scheduled for four games ... 2 at Cascade HS and 2 at Bannerwood.

Walt Russell has been coming back from treatment of prostate cancer. He has volunteered to work double headers and says to keep em coming!

Bob Link has been recovering from a very serious and extremely rate condition, aplastic anemia.   Bob also has been working double headers , in addition to as many weekday games as he can get.   He's feeling strong!

Steve Lynch has opened up his availability and now works 3 games every Saturday and 3 more on Sunday.   Consistently!   Steve is one of those umpires who surfs the open games, and is constantly helping me out, no matter what the level.   I can work him on a Connie Mack doubleheader, and then he'll pick up an uncovered Koufax game.   Steve is wonderful.   I hear nothing but positives regarding Steve.

Thank you to the above umpires and all of our umpires for stepping up and working extra games to get our heavy June schedule covered.   The efforts of the names in bold letters above are representative of the work ethic of NBUA umpires.

Leslie, can you share a couple of funny stories that you have heard about?   Ok, but I'm afraid the joke is on me on this story.   Paul Garifalon is one of our first year guys who has done a great job.   He lives in Enumclaw.   He accepted a junior high assignment at Northshore Junior High in Bothell scheduled to start at 3:45pm.   That's a long drive, Enumclaw to Bothell.   Paul called me around 3:10pm and told me that there were no teams there.

I looked at my schedule and realized that I had made a mistake.   The game was not at North shore in Bothell, but North wood Junior High in Kent.   Paul left for Kent and arrived by 3:50pm and started the 4:00pm game on time.   As he was driving, I asked him why he accepted a game so far away.   Paul answered "If you asked me to go to Bothell, I figured you really needed me to go."

The rest of the story is not so funny.   While working the game, Paul was hit by a foul ball on the arm.   It was so serious, he had to go to the hospital.   He was diagnosed with a serious bone bruise and was out four weeks.

Mike MacKinnon lives in West Seattle. He had to make the same trip from Bothell to Kent to work a game at Northwood.   He also arrived about 3:50pm for a 4:00pm game.   Obviously, it was my mistake.   Mike was wonderful!

Robby Boyd is another one of our apprentice umpires.   He also lives in Burien.   His parents drive him to all his games.   He and his parents have been extremely cooperative in helping him help NBUA to meet our obligations this year.

Where are Brant Culley and his son Brock Culley ?   Brant was seen recently driving a truck for Conway Freight.   Brant has lost a considerable amount of weight and is reportedly down to a trim 175 pounds and feeling great!   Brock is driving for Conway as well.   Brant was a long-time NBUA umpire and evaluator.   He helped many of our umpires develop as they were first starting.

HEARD THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE ...   An ex-college baseball star and current parent of a high school star recently commented on the NBUA umpires he has watched this year.   He said he is really impressed by many of the umpires.   He said the guys he has seen have really hustled.   When I asked him for names, he mentioned Simon Hirsch as a young umpire who was technically proficient while being approachable.