Empire-Advance

    At a July 1st tournament in Brandon, hosted by the Brandon Cloverleafs and the Manitoba Senior Baseball League, I was the umpire behind the plate calling the balls and strikes.  This game was between the Neepawa Farmers and the Birtle Blue Jays.

    As an umpire behind the plate, when the pitcher is throwing his pregame warm up pitches, you stand in behind the catcher to see the speed and the movement on the pitches. It gives you a feel for what he will be throwing. 

    Jim Teetart was the catcher for Birtle, so I set up behind to get a view of the pitch from Shane Moffat. I see right away, Moffat can throw smoke. His fastball got to the plate quicker than anyone I had seen. He could throw hard! So, Moffat throws 8 warmup pitches, all fastballs and then it is time to start the game. I said “Play ball” and we are off and going. The Neepawa batter steps into the batter box and Moffat delivers a fastball, strike 1. The next pitch is another fastball which the batter swings and misses, strike 2. Moffat elevates another fastball which the batter takes high for a ball. Moffat delivers the next pitch, a curveball and it is coming in at the top of the strike zone, then breaks right into the middle of the plate. Strike 3, right? Nope I missed it and called it a ball. The batter knows it is a strike, Moffat and Teetart know it is a strike, but the umpire calls it a ball. I whisper to Jimmy, I missed it, it was a strike, right in the middle of the plate. Jim said, it is okay, you will get the next one. Shane Moffat does not say anything. The batter steps in again with a smile on his face, he knew he had another life at the plate. Not to worry, Moffat strikes him out. I said to Jim, he never threw a warmup pitch like that so I could see the movement on the ball. He just laughed and said “Well now you have seen it!”

    At the end of the inning, I move down toward first base where Shane is coming off the field. I said to him I have never seen that kind of a curve ball ever, I am sorry I missed that pitch. It was right in the middle of the plate. Moffat said, do not worry about it, I do not always throw a pitch where I want it to be, we are all good and thanks for your honesty.

    Shane Moffat was the hardest throwing pitcher that I saw in my days as an umpire. He threw a fastball, and of course the curveball. Never seen a ball like that break so much, no wonder he was a great pitcher.

I really appreciated those guys, Shane and Jim on how they handled the situation. It did not seem like a big deal to them, they probably had seen that before from some other umpire.

    At the end of the game I said to Jim, how many of those curve balls did I miss today? Jim said, the first one you saw at the start of the game, and he walked away. I guess if that was all I missed, I must have had a good game. A great memory!