Tuesday, April 28 – Columbia Basin Umpires: West Valley (Yakima) @ Moses Lake
After wrapping up in Colton I made my way back to Moses Lake to hang out with my good friends Tom and Jill. I always have a place to stay whenever they are in town, and their house is strategically centered for a lot of the stops. I helped out on a double header in Quincy on Saturday (not an “official” stop, and really nothing noteworthy, so no blog posts) and headed to Pullman Sunday to help do some training for the Palouse group. Tom told me about some beautiful routes on the drive there and back, and I made the most of it.
I stopped in the tiny town of Endicott to check out their little ballfield (the featured image above). They combine with another town of St. John (about 15 miles away) for athletics. They schools had a baseball program up through last year but apparently suspended it this year for some reason. As I looked over the empty field it weighed slightly heavy on my heart to know this community wasn’t able to keep the game going this year.
The drive both directions was stunning. I especially loved the section between St. John and Endicott, where the landscape made multiple changes. I found a decrepit, abandoned barn beside the side of the road and had to stop for photos. Further down I passed a house that appeared at one time to have an old time gas station attached to it. The scene was kept wholly intact to where the photos make it appear as though it’s a miniature on a table.
My schedule resumed on Tuesday with a matchup between Moses Lake and the powerhouse West Valley Rams of Yakima, who came into the game 15-0 on the season. West Valley ran out to a 10-0 lead early on and looked poised to run away with it. One out away from the mercy rule, the home team put together a valiant comeback and scraped together two runs enroute to a respectable 11-3 finish.
As routine as the game was, the pregame was anything but.
My partner Jeremy is the current President of the Columbia Basin group, which is made up of roughly a dozen members. Like many groups around the state Columbia Basin collectively services both baseball and softball, with some umpires working one sport and some working both. In addition to baseball he also works football (admittedly his favorite), basketball, and softball.
To say Jeremy is dedicated to officiating in the Basin is an understatement. Following a recent divorce Jeremy moved across the state for work to Olympia – a good four hour drive from the town of Connell, where he stays with a friend when working games. As he told me of his travels I looked at his massive F-250, imagining the fuel bill alone in making it to these games.
Our pregame consisted of none of the usual “checklist” items that umpires go through, and it didn’t matter. He was so well-versed in mechanics that we just trusted each other to do what needed to be done. On one fly ball down the first base line where I had to go out to read the fair/foul (it dropped fair) I turned around to see him bolting for second with the runner. I knew I had plenty of time to get home if needed so I headed back in case a play ended up there. When the runner stopped at second he was in perfect position for a call there and I was nearly home for a play there. We didn’t pregame it, but there it was. We both smiled big and returned to our positions, mouthing a “good job” on the way back.
What stood out about our pregame was the very frank discussion about the state of officiating numbers both in our respective areas as well as the state as a whole. Jeremy sighed when he spoke of four umpires recently retiring from his group, taking with them over a hundred years of collective experience. I told him that my mission was not only to say goodbye to the game but to draw attention to this exact point. We talked about our respective histories with the game, the people who have come and gone, and the frightening lack of new folks to replace the outgoing.
The tone of our discussion took us from total stranger to comrades in arms in a hurry. We spoke of our shared experience with scholastic sports, and shared a very real concern for the future of them both in the state and across the nation. Jeremy reminded me of the very real next phase for this tour – to double down in terms of recruiting, training, and retaining officials.
Jeremy asked me if I had any generalizations to take away from my tour. I thought about it a minute, quickly stitching together the past few whirlwind weeks. “Yeah,” I said. “Here it is…”
“Everywhere I have gone I have seen kids and coaches working hard, taking the game seriously. I see schools and communities committed to providing programs for these kids to be able to participate. And I see parents that, regardless of the time of day, show up in droves to support the kids. I feel that in spite of everything, the game is still alive, healthy, and in good hands.”
With that, Jeremy broke in a relieved smile. “That is great to hear. I’m happy to hear that. That gives me hope.” For the first time in our conversation we had a ray of optimism for the game.
We briefly chatted a bit more before parting ways after the game. I had a dinner to get to with my friend Tom, and Jeremy had a drive to Connell ahead of him. As I drove away, his words burned in my brain. My weird, jukebox of a brain queued of this little ditty from the Alan Parson Project:
“Where do we go from here, now that all of the children have grown up
And how do we spend our lives, if there’s no one to lend us a hand?”
I smiled ironically, realizing the name of the song is “Games People Play.”
Jeremy and I both passionately talked about the importance of kids having games to play, or other activities to involve themselves in, as a means to keep on the “narrow path.” It takes leaders of all types, but especially officials, to keep these games going.
The tour is winding down, but the REAL work is just around the corner.
