The "who cares?" play

'm sure you've seen the commercial in which the princess finds a frog in the forest. The frog is wearing a crown. She kisses it. It turns into a turkey, an orangutan, finally a donkey with a man's torso. She is told that "each kiss has a six-second guarantee." She walks off, disgusted: "Who cares?"

That "who cares"-attitude can kill a plate umpire as he sees the ball caught near the line. The ball is two inches and the glove can look enormous. It's easy to tell where the glove is located on top of the fair line. Not so easy sometimes to tell where the ball is located.

A plate umpire needs all the distance he can get. But sometimes the angle is even more advantageous.

Budd, Ray, and I were working a high school playoff game. Ray had the plate, I was at first base. The lazily arcing hit headed for the first-base line right in front of the base. With a runner at first, I was able to take three steps to my left into foul territory. Even from there, I still couldn't see a clean catch.

Continued...