Play Ball!

As most of you know D and I spent the past week in Orlando. Now most sane people go to Oralando to visit the mouse. But not us. We were there to visit this Florida landmark.





Yes, our purpose for visiting Florida involved baseball. D spent the week umpiring two games a day for five straight days and then on the sixth day he umped three games. On the seventh he rested. This is the time of year when college baseball teams go south to get their baseball season started. D umpired the division two and three baseball teams. Most of the umpires were college level but there were a few minor league umpires there too.





I was hoping to spend some time by the pool but it didn't work out very well. It was cold. It gradually warmed up through the week but I ended up going to the pool only once during the week. Well, twice but I wore a sweatshirt on one visit so that doesn't really count.

I wasn't the only one who braved the cold weather to watch D umpire. Sarah and his sister Judy also joined me for a couple of days. Even umpires have fans.









As you can see by the way they are dressed it was cold. We only went to the second game D had that day hoping it had warmed up some but it really didn't help.

Getting hit by the ball is always a possibility and this game proved that. D got hit in the back from a ball coming over the back stop from a game on another field. That wasn't so bad but with two pitches left in the game he took a ball on his arm that came off of the bat. He said later that he thought his arm was broken at first because it hurt so bad. Luckily it wasn't but the ball left quite a mark. One week later there is a bruise where the ball hit and a bruise on the opposite side of his arm. His hand and arm are still swelling up. It must be affecting a nerve because his hand is tingling now. Poor guy, he hasn't been hit that hard in a long time.

It is the middle of the week and as you can see it is still cold.





By the end of the week it had warmed up and umpires (and wives) were in shirt sleeves.





This was about as controversial as it got this week.





Something about stolen bases, dead balls and high school vs college rules. The umpires agreed on the call and the coach agreed after the rules had been explained to him. I like it when it all works out like that. D's partner for this game is a minor league umpire who does Lugnuts and Whitecaps games. He is trying to work up to the major leagues.





All in all it was a good week of baseball. D thinks he may do this again next year and I am voting for Phoenix instead of Orlando. A little more warmth would be nice.