It takes a long time to make this type of money

Yesterday I was scheduled to umpire a baseball game at 4:00pm. On my way south from school, changing from school garb to umpire uniform in the car, it was evident that the forecasted rainstorm was here to stay. But I had received no indication of cancellation or postponement.


I arrived at the field, met the other umpire, who was equally shocked that they were going to try to get a game in with these conditions. We walked onto the field about 20 minutes before gametime. Both teams were ready to play, so we started at about 3:46pm. Apparently it's the last chance either of them have to get in this league game.

By virtue of us arriving at the field, we were guaranteed half the game fee. It's the home team's decision to start the game, but once the game is underway, it's the umpires' decision to cancel the game.

With two outs in the bottom of the first inning, the home plate umpire thought he noticed the pitcher slipping as he made his deliveries to home plate. He called time, and I went to the mound. When I took a step forward from the pitcher's plate, my foot then slid about 8 inches in the muck. There was no way we could continue the game, and the rain was persistently falling.

While we gladly would have toughed it out in the elements had it been safe, we had no choice but to call it.

But that meant we racked up some nice rates, including over $10 per out, and -- with a game time of 12 minutes -- an hourly rate closing in on $300.

Too bad I couldn't keep that up for awhile.

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from the family blog