I gotta share…
A million years ago, I worked a 15 yr. old tournament in MA which involved a team from Nova Scotia. If you don’t know, NS is a farm (potato) community with some of the biggest kids I’ve seen. I’ve gotta tell you, they were the most polite and easy-going group of people I’ve had the privilege of working with.
For example; the infields we were working were working were 3” of stone-dust. Although they drained like nobody’s business, in August, it was like working on the moon. Anyway, I had a NS runner stealing second. The throw got there WAY ahead of the (sliding) runner, and (like the requisite rookie), I assumed the tag in the cloud of dust and called him out. The runner got up, dusted himself off and trotted off the field…..
….and then I saw the ball in center field…..
After I fixed it, I cornered the runner, I asked; “Did you see that the ball went through?” His answer, “Yeah”. I then asked, “Why didn’t you say something”. His response, “You called me out, Mr. Ump, so I was out”…
…never saw that team again, but, after 30 years, I still remember them….