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Yup, Kelly Dine is gg2b on the plate or definitely part of the final crew.

I also wanted to add that yesterday, SWMBO and I traveled to Williamsport. I attended the LLWS Umpire Alumni International meeting & brunch. While there, I met one of the umpires when he handed me his pin. I read the pin (that had his name on it) looked at him and stuck out my hand. @RichMSN I presume. He looked at me like I had 3 eyeballs and a runny nose. He replied with a quizzical "yes?". All I said was Aging_Arbiter. This cat got a little smile on his face, we kind of chuckled, and I literally turned to my left and said Rich, please meet SWMBO. It was kind of entertaining. But the potatoes were under cooked.

Nope, not extremely unlikely. I'll even throw a twist into it that compounded the chaos, and made our (my partner and I) handling of the call and situation even more dramatic... Top of 7th, R2, R1, No Outs, Score Tied. I'm on PU, and one of my fellow Vultures is BU. Batter hits a textbook "can of corn" pop fly to F9... he doesn't even have to _move_. I begin to rotate towards 3B for the potential Tag-up (as part of the Double Tag). I'm at the 3BL 45' when F9 completely muffs the ball. Here's the thing... No one else on offense moved. Batter was barely beyond the dirt circle up the 1BL, and both R2 and R1 are glued to their bases, not wanting to risk being doubled off. F6 immediately starts yelling and beckoning F9 to throw it to him, which he does... and here's where it gets weird. With R2 still stuck to 2B, F6 tags him, then kicks the bag, and pulls back his arm to begin a throw to 1B. BR is on the verge of arriving (he'll beat a throw) at 1B, but R1 (now retired), not realizing he's actually Out, is about eight feet off of 1B and looking like a panicked deer on ice. F6 refrains from throwing, and instead starts running the R1 (retired) back to 1B, where the BR is returning back to, and, not wanting to interfere with him, R1 gives himself up and gets tagged by F6... to which my BU does... nothing. No signal. Ah, but why no signal? Because R1 was already out. Only we two umpires, F6, and his Bench Coach actually saw him kick the bag after tagging R2. I'm now standing in the infield grass, my BU is between 1B and 2B, we look at each other to mirror "Time!", and then BANG! ... the lights go out. I failed to mention that the game was originally scheduled for 6pm, and due to a logistical conflict, did not start until 7pm. The head groundskeeper failed to reset the timer on the lights to something different than 9:05pm... So, we had to explain the call and "sort out the bodies", in pitch dark, and stand around and wait for 15 minutes while the lights were warmed back up again. We had to explain that a tagged-out signal on R1 wasn't given because he was already Out, due to the kicking of 2B by F6 with possession of the ball. My BU could "only signal so fast", as both the tagging of R2 and the tap of 2B happened in such rapid sequence. F6 knew what he was doing (that's where the Bench Coach piped in, through the dim light, "You saw that he kicked the bag, right?"), but since he didn't see two "separate" signals of Out, he second-guessed, and voluntarily chased down the retired R1... further confusing everybody. What the OT coaches just could not process was that R2 was tagged Out despite still being in contact with 2B. We ended up giving an entire symposium on how Force-Outs work, and who is entitled to what bag. What else are ya gonna do for 15 minutes after a play like that?

I'm locking this one down. While it did rebound it started heading down a track I don't care for. But, I'll make my final thoughts on the original topic first. @ArchAngel72 I fully understand your safety concerns from this and other threads and I do applaud it. That said we have to generally work within the confines of the rules as written. If we overstep especially in the safety arena the law of unintended consequences can come and bite us in the rear. I can also see the argument that if sunglasses are not worn on the face they do become jewelry as they're not fulfilling their purpose of protecting the eyes. I also fully understand you saying this is the info you were provided by more senior umpires. I think every umpire on the site has fallen victim to "Ol' Smitty" as Carl Childress would speak of. The guy who has been around a while, knows the ropes and seems knowledgeable - especially to new umpires. But his info is frequently either out dated or simply wrong. And we find out the hard way as the newer umpire when the egg falls on our face. As for the other posters in this thread, just remember we've been there too. Umpire-Empire was created to sway away from other sites which at that time that made people feel inferior if they had an opinion (whether factually correct or not) that didn't conform to the majority opinion (whether factually correct or not). I know I've personally changed and grown from my interactions online both here and elsewhere. First thing that comes to mind is you can probably find here and/or elsewhere online my defense of the FYC. Now, I have more tools in my game management arsenal that I realize my thoughts weren't the best. Also, the vast majority of us, by the simple fact we're umpires, are probably dominate type personalities and we're not opposed to an argument and not likely to have our minds changed quickly or easily. Which is generally a good trait for umpires. But as times have changed from stick with my call to the day I die to lets get the call right; so must we all be open to that change.

Did you just call your wife a rat?

@Razzer does ... Maybe that's next in line for UmpLife

There's a difference between "yeah, but" and asking for the logic behind something.

She's my bet for HP on the final game.