OFF THE WALL

We just couldn’t let this stuff go …

This World Series is little, but it’s huge for umps

Every game at the Little League World Series starts the same way — nine players on the field, another holding a bat and an umpire behind the plate, as anxious as anyone else, pointing toward the mound and shouting, “Play ball!”

That, the umpire hopes, is the last anyone really notices of the adults on the field, writes John Branch of The New York Times.

“If someone says they’re not nervous when they go there, they’re probably fibbing a little bit,” said Joe Smith, part of the 2016 umpiring crew.

As the crew tries to slink into the background of this August slice of Americana carried out in South Williamsport, Pa., what fans, viewers and coaches — even those angry with the last call — might not appreciate is just how much the moment means to the volunteer umpires who see the Little League World Series as a once-in-a-lifetime (usually) highlight.

The baseball version features 16 teams, the players ages 10-12, playing 30 games over 11 days.

Much less attention is paid to umps than the youngsters, many of whom have dreamed of taking the field at Williamsport since before the players were born.

The coronavirus pandemic prompted the cancellation of the 2020 World Series and stripped down the 2021 one. There are no international teams. There are few fans and less fanfare.

The pandemic also altered this year’s umpiring crew. Normally, the umpires chosen to work the Little League World Series do it once, and never again. There are 12,000 registered umpires in the Little League system, and the honor should be spread around, the thinking goes.

Every World Series umpire remembers where they were when they received the one-page invitation in the mail the winter before. The 16 chosen to work in 2020 were pushed to 2021. Given the altered tournament and diminished festivities this year, they were allowed to defer until 2022. All of them did.

“Suddenly, we didn’t have any umpires,” said Tom Rawlings, Little League International’s director of umpire development.

He and others went through memory banks and umpire evaluations to select this year’s crew, all World Series veterans. There are just 12 of them, not 16.

They are volunteers, even during the World Series. They get some expenses paid, and a fresh uniform, but no paycheck.

Trivia question

On this date in 1989, Nolan Ryan struck out his 5,000th career batter, still the only pitcher with more than 5,000 strikeouts. What fellow Hall of Famer did Ryan strike out for his 5,000th?

He said it

From comedian Brad Dickson: “Nebraska fans’ narrative about coach Scott Frost already is, ‘Well, big deal. Everybody does that!’ No they don’t. At least the part about holding secret, illegal, offsite practices during a pandemic. I’d bet (almost) nobody else did that.”

Trivia answer

Ryan, then with Texas, struck out Oakland’s Rickey Henderson for No. 5,000. Ryan finished his career with 5,714 strikeouts, 839 more than Randy Johnson ,No.2 on the list. Henderson’s A’s won that game 2-0, with Ryan going nine innings with 13 Ks, allowing just one earned run. Bob Welch earned the win, with Dennis Eckersley getting the save.