Today’s game featured a match-up between Bellingham and Mount Vernon, which shaped up to be a dandy. Mount Vernon is the defending state 3A Champions, but Bellingham, as the smaller school has always been a feisty competitor. It was a blessedly dry day, so I knew there would be no problem getting the game in.
Near the Canadian border, Bellingham is the seat of lovely Whatcom County, which tends to be a hotbed for baseball in the state. The assignor for the area is Ted Ramsey, an old school baseball throwback who has played, coached, or umpired in the area for numerous decades. I was delighted to see that he was going to be my partner for the game.
Yes, I know I’ve alluded to the spring rains of Western Washington a lot. But to get a TRUE idea of how epic they have been, consider this: I had to bake an additional half hour into my journey north because Interstate 5 – the primary thoroughfare between Seattle and Canada – was completely shut down northbound due to landslides caused by the rain soaked hillsides. As a result, I had to sit through backed up traffic for an additional 30 minutes along back roads before I finally was able to make my way to the ball park.
Bellingham HS is in the center of town, with the ball park a turfed monstrosity on the edge of the campus. When Ted rolled up he was his same, no-nonsense self. We quickly began talking about baseball, the state of umpiring, and the alarming rate at which people were leaving and not being replaced. It was one of those conversations where two people very much in tune with a subject are able to convey to each other on a level that is unique. It was a delight to be able to share knowledge, experience, stories, and insight that was cogent but not romanticized.
Ted gruffly indicated that he was going to take the plate so as not to subject me to Bellingham’s catcher, who apparently was a bit of a loose cannon. Ted knew him well, as the father was also something of a hothead. I was slightly disappointed in that I would have loved the challenge, but I accepted my assignment.
Walking into position, my first impression was how stunning the view was from the bases. In the distance I could see the tops of numerous mountains, including the summit of majestic Mount Baker. I had wished that I could have brought a camera onto the field, but I knew better. Sadly, the game ended after dark and I was unable to grab a shot of the breathtaking views.
The game was hotly contested, and I had a lot of very close plays. I felt exhilarated as this was actually a competitive contest along with being a tour stop. At one point a base runner from Bellingham got slightly pushed off the base after a tag at second – clearly not intentional. The runner started screaming about it being malicious and I replied that was nothing there. He then REALLY started to ratchet it up and I shut him down quickly. He eventually came around to score, and in so doing brushed an opposing player covering home plate. As the half inning ended I made a mental note to watch him. Sure enough, he strapped on the gear. This was the catcher Ted warned me of. As the next half inning started, the Mt Vernon first baseman made mention of him as well, saying that we are going to need to keep a lid on things. I could tell something was brewing.
We got to the top of the 7th, with Bellingham holding a surprise lead. That was when the wheels started to fall of for them. Mt Vernon launched into a seven run rally to take a commanding lead. During this rally, however, things heated up a bit more. Mt Vernon’s #39 scored a run and as he was crossing home plate, applauded in the face of the catcher. It was this same player that the catcher had brushed earlier, so the bad blood (which apparently pre-dated this game) had come to a head. The catcher exploded, #39 came back with a few choice words, and Ted was in the middle of a powder keg. The Mt Vernon coach was doing his best to defuse the situation, and in the end Ted issued warnings all around. It was all textbook “tempest in a teapot” and we finished the game without any further incident.
As we walked off the field one of the parents came after Ted, berating him. “This is a point of emphasis! You should have thrown #39! You lost control of the game!” and so on. Ted operated from the “discretion being the better part of valor” camp, and chose to calmly walk past the parent with a minimal of interaction. Thankfully, Bellingham actually had a game manager on premises (rare for high school baseball) who intervened. We left the field securely, and the administrator quickly caught up to us to apologize for the action of this parent. We thanked him profusely and complimented him on actually being there to take care of the situation.
After we got back to the car, I looked at Ted with a half smile. “Don’t tell me, let me guess. The catcher’s dad?”
“Yep. The apple don’t fall far from the tree. Funny thing is he has another son who umpires for me. Completely different from those yo-yos. Calm and controlled.” We laughed at the incident as it related to us – we were grizzled vets for whom this was old hat. Then the conversation took a turn.
“This is the sort of thing that keeps guys from coming back,” Ted sighed. “Me? I can handle guys like this all day. But it’s harder to get guys to want to keep coming back when they have to deal with knuckle heads like this.”
We talked more about the game. About the need for training, mentoring, sharing knowledge, and helping keep newer umpires wanting to come back. Ted invited me to dinner but I promised Wendy I would pick up something from her favorite place in Bellingham and it was about to close.
As we talked about the status of umpiring in northwest Washington we realized that we shared similar challenges between us and our neighbor between in Skagit County. The seeds for what comes next after Last Time By is starting to take root.
Time will tell in which direction it grows.
