Lots of aging umpires I knew used to bore me to tears talking about the highlights of their careers. I remember paraphrasing Shakespeare: "What is so rare as an umpire who's not talking about his past?"

Then, one day shortly after I began to umpire, or so it seems to me now, I was rowing the same boat.

I remember...

• My first game in the summer of 1954.

I was sitting with a hundred or so fans in the Little League park in Liberty, Texas. There was an umpire with an outside protector (and shin guards outside his trousers) standing around, looking impatient.

Continued...