"I played in the Bigs" ... big deal!

got into a curious debate with a local baseball acquaintance at the ballpark the other weekend. Chito Martinez was his name. Chito is a respected coach and trainer in the Memphis area. We have known each other for over five years. My twin sons have even taken hitting lessons from him. He's a great guy.

The discussion involved a balk call that occurred in a tournament game. I was not the umpire in that game, by the way. Chito was insistent that it was a balk. I was insistent that it was not. In typical non-umpire fashion, Chito spewed forth rule platitudes indicating that he really had no deep knowledge of the intricacies involved in this highly technical balk discussion. He made such compelling arguments like, "All I can say is ... it's a balk." It's hard to argue with that logic.

I found it extremely difficult to debate him since it was as if we were speaking two different languages. I was speaking Umpiranese and he was speaking Coachabonics. It was not at all like any debate I've had with fellow umpires when we play Stump the Dummy.

Continued...