You’ll recall some interesting tidbits, I know, about the Brownsville tournament: My original partner canceled, almost without notice. The TD was the local Chief of Police. They were paying a ridiculously low fee for a "no time limit" game. And I got stuck on the bases for the championship.

To make matters worse.... Well, let me tell you how "worse" they got.

That hit the plate

Second batter in the top of the first, Hanna batting. B1 slaps at the ball; it bounds off the plate high into the air and comes down in fair territory. The batter stands looking at the ball as the catcher grabs it and fires to first. Since the batter never left the plate, I was confident my call was right: "He’s out," I said, signaling the "out" lazily with my fist at waist level.

The amateur manager — yes, he had two base coaches and got to pretend he was Joe Torre, sitting in the Yankee dugout — yelled: "Carl, that hit the plate!"

Continued...