And who can forget Eli Wallach's immortal lines from THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY: "Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!"
After last night, maybe that's how we feel about umpires.
The Pirates and A's were set to go at SUNY last night, but due to a miscommunication, no umpires showed. So Ray Demers and I talked together and decided that catchers would call balls and strikes, and I would work the bases. The players on both sides were great, cooperative, and understanding. I'm proud of the way we all responded to a less than ideal situation: We just wanted to play ball.
The final score was 5-2 and, so far as I know, that will stand as the final score.
For the Pirates, Kane started and threw six innings; Marc Tryon finished up in the 7th. We banged out 14 hits. For the A's, Artie Gianokis pitched well and threw strikes (no walks), but the Pirates managed to find some holes and put together a key four-run 3rd inning (all after two outs) that made the difference, with five consecutive hits from Zamory, Yakatan, Jordan, Kane, and Moreau.
All joking aside: Despite the snafu last night, I want to go on record commending Jim Dalton for what he's done organizing the umpires this season. Our league was in a moment of dire crisis and Jim stepped up and provided a solution. Without his leadership, his contacts, his energy and his commitment, well, I don't want to think about it. We all owe him our thanks.
So in the end I have to disagree with Mr. Wallach: Umpires? We DO need stinking umpires.
