What do you do when you're pacing the cage with yet another round of rainouts keeping you off the field? Watch baseball movies! Yesterday I picked up "A league of Their Own" cheap at Hannaford. The very last scenes of the movie (while the credits are rolling) are shot at Double Day Field in Cooperstown. The umpire on the field, who has the last lines of the movie, "It might have been a ball yesterday, it might be a ball tomorrow, but today it's a strike!" Is my old friend and umpiring partner Chet. When I first started umpiring in the early 1990s with the Schohanna Umpire Board I worked many games at Double Day Field. Ol' Chet was often my partner. Last night I put the DVD in, first to watch Chet during the credits, then to watch the entire movie. Then I got to thinking... I worked with Chet... Chet was in a movie that starred Tom Hanks...Tom Hanks starred in Apollo 13 with Kevin Bacon! I am only three degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon. Thanks Chet!
Chet was in his earlier 70s when that film was shot. He has since passed away.
I had the priviledge of playing on Doubleday field while Chet umpired on several occasions and aside from his good umpiring he was a wealth of knowledge in the history at Double Day. I too like to watch that movie scene because it's nice to say I played on that field with that umpire and the memories it brings back. Last Year when the 47+ team played a San Diego team I had asked about Chet and they told me he was not doing well. I'm sorry to hear about his passing and I will miss him when we play again at Doubleday again.
I remember the first time we played at Doubleday. I was talking to him in the dugout before the game and since I was pitching, I asked him his strike zone. "From the nipples to the knees." came his reply. First pitch of the game is a belt high fast ball - "Ball one." he called. I knew it was going to be a long game. But he was fun. He understood the dynamics of the game and lent an air of respectibility to the game in the confines of a historic park. He was a character - a great ambassador of the game...
DON'T BE SO MODEST ARTIE. WE KNOW YOU AND ABNER DOUBLEDAY GO WAY BACK. AND ABOUT THIS WHOLE KEVIN BACON THING.... WELL HE DOESN'T LIKE TO TALLK ABOUT THAT PART OF HIS LIFE..
