My part-time job

Since September, I've been working at the River church in Blacksburg, VA.

It's been an amazing honor to serve the church, but I've learned that there's always this strange desire inside me that wants to go. When I'm inside of our offices, typing away at my computer or preparing some teaching or presentation for the church throughout the wintry months, watching the snow pile up and the sleet blanketing our parking lot like the South Pole, I just yearn to escape... to run... to be where I can be free.

That's why I've taken a new part-time job this Spring: I'm umpiring baseball.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=caple_jim&id=6161420

Now, this is not actually a "new" occupation whatsoever: I've been umpiring baseball games for the last 13 years. However, this season, I'm breaking out of little league and recreational baseball to apply my skills to teh next level of high school baseball.

Last Saturday, I spent six hours on a baseball field with ten fellow umpires, running through a series of lessons, clinics, and in-game scenarios that really tested our mettle. For one, I realized how humbling it was to submit to men who have been officiating baseball for over 25 years. Winston, our most seasoned umpire, led us through several lessons about what we needed to be doing and thinking about on any given play during the game. We had the opportunity to step onto the field for two scrimmage games, one Junior varsity and one Varsity, played between William Byrd HS and Patrick Henry HS.

My favorite moment was when I was umpiring in the field and there was a man on first base, meaning that I was in the "B" position approximately between first and second base. There was a left-handed batter up and he laced a screamer that seemed certainly destined to decapitate me before I could even realize it was in the air. I made like Neo in "The Matrix," narrowly avoiding receiving a free tattoo on my forehead, and turned quickly to clearly see the second baseman field and toss the ball to the shortstop, who was coming across second base, thus recording the out. Of course, this was the easiest part of my job; there was still an opportunity for the shortstop to retire the batter-turned-runner at first!

In the quickness of the play, I signalled the runner out and second and rapidly twisted my body around to have a relatively good view of what was happening at first base. As the ball soared from the second baseman into my peripheral view, I also saw the batter-runner chugging within a few feet of first base.

"A banger," Winston said earlier during our lessons.
"What's...what's a banger?" one of my fellow newcomers uttered, wanting to understand the terminology.
"A banger," Winston repeated to set-up his explanation, "is when a ball and a runner meet at almsot the same time at a base. It's different from a 'bang-bang!' play, because in that case, you have two sounds, one "bang" from the fielder catching the ball, and another from the runner hitting the base. A banger is when there's literally no way to tell certainly with the naked eye what happened, the play is just that close...there's only ONE bang!" Winston looked at us thoughtfully, smiling as we stared in awe of when we might be able to witness such a play.
"Oh, just watch. Maybe not in the JV, but in Varsity, there'll be some bangers!"
"Well, what do we do if there's a banger?" my fellow rookie umpire asked.
"You get yourself in the best position possible to see the play," Winston said, squating down as though he was about to witness a 'banger' of his own. "Then, you watch the whole play to it's very end, pause for a second to replay it in your mind, and then, you call--

"Out!" I shouted as the ball's arrival in the firstbaseman's glove and batter-runner hitting firstbase provided me with my first Varsity banger. It was emphatic, decisive, and clear: he was out. A few people shouted, "Oh!" in disagreement, as will happen with any play so close no matter what the umpire's decision is. But that's just it: the decision ultimately is mine to make and make without a doubt.

No one argued. No one confronted me or asked me about it afterward. One of the more seasoned umpires even came up to me afterward and said, "Hey, that was a great call. You were loud and clear; that's what they want. You do that, no one will ever argue with you!"

Of course, this was a scrimmage game with ten other umpires. The coaches knew we were practicing, just like they were. They didn't ultimately care about score or out/safe as much as getting their players ready for the "real" season. And then, when the 'bangers' start coming in full-force, I better be ready to face the music!