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Five Hours, 18 Innings &106 Consecutive Outs!

Perhaps the spartan effort it took to play 18 innings last night was just one act as part of a larger play.

After all, yesterday seemed to be a day for records. The professional record for games in a tennis match was set at the all-tennis club at Wimbledon. The United States soccer team advanced as champions of their pool in the 2010 World Cup for the first time since 1930. I suppose I shouln'td be surprised our game seems so epic; in fact, it seems rather apropos this morning.

Those who recall this blog's humble beginnings know I rarely discuss a game in the first person within this forum, because I've learned that can be suicidal for a working umpire. Therefore, I'm going to omit the who, where and what in terms of the teams, place and league, except to say the game was played within the confines of Cal Ripken's Ironbird baseball complex in Aberdeen, Maryland. The facility includes four fields tailored to Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field, Fenway Park and Camden Yards, plus Ironbird Stadium, where a minor league affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles play.

I have great respect for the players in collegiate and professional baseball. The game is incredibly easy, until you put your spikes in the dirt, at which point it becomes incredibly difficult, and these players were simply amazing last night.

It took five hours to play 18 innings, but sprinted through the first eight in 1:45. We watched 106 outs get recorded consecutively before the walk-off shot won it.

We watched the visitors get their first hit...in the 10th inning. We went almost 15 frames without an error.

We watched 12 double plays get turned, including a 3-2-3 and 10 combinations of 4-6-3 or 6-4-3. The last twin kill went 7-6, with the runner caught off the base after the catch.

One of our umpires called 27 outs at second base alone. 11 from double plays, another eight caught stealing and eight more putouts by fielder's choice. We nominated him for the Armado Galarraga Award at the end of the contest, for calling baseball's second perfect game while knowing he'll never be credited for it.

Simply an amazing day of sports globally, nationally...and locally, too.

Regards...

T.C. Cameron is a writer, umpire and referee living and working in the Chesapeake Bay portion of Delmarva peninsula. He authored two books for Arcadia Publishing on the rich history of Detroit's prep sports scene.

More Awesome No. 25 Tiger Trivia

I love baseball for all her awesome trivia as much for the grand ole' game itself.

Take my love for the No. 25 as a prime example.

This weekend I was allowed a two-day stay in Detroit and took in Saturday's 6-5 loss by the Detroit Tigers to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Comerica Park. The game was played on the 16-year anniversary of the Tigers' record-setting 25-game streak with at least one homerun coming to an end in 1994.

The Tigers won eight of nine games on their homestand; I went to the game they lost. Do you think living in Maryland, in such close proximity to the Orioles and their fabulous 19-50 record, has anything to do that that awesome baseball karma?

Truthfully, it wasn't that bad. I caught one of three baseball's that rattled down the rightfield line during batting practice. Gave it to my youngest boy, because he was within arm's length. The oldest boy was further up the line. Guess who quickly came down towards me? Not bad for my first appearance at batting practice since the Toronto Blue Jays made their final appearance at Tiger Stadium in 1999.

One thing I've learned while living in Maryland? The Tigers and Orioles share an awesome history. For example, Baltimore's Miguel Tejada was the MVP of the 2005 All-Star Game played in Detroit. Sparky Anderson, Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell (my favorite Tiger) made their final appearance together in Camden Yards. Ernie Harwell was Baltimore's first modern-day radio voice, and he and Paul Carey broadcast their final Tiger game together in what was also the final game played at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. Al Kaline, a grad of Baltimore Southern, notched his 3,000th career hit at Memorial Stadium in 1974.

There's dozens of lil' footnotes between the two teams of this nature.

After the game, I walked into the Tigers' main retail store at Comerica and noticed the team's self-produced, picture-book autobiography of Kaline, also known as Mr. Tiger. The Ilitchs have also commissioned books about Ted Lindsay (Terrible Ted) and Gordie Howe (Mr. Hockey). It's part of a larger branding campaign.

The book sells for $25.

Of course, Kaline played his first game as a Tiger in 1953 on June 25. He was wearing No. 25. It wasn't until the beginning of 1954 when Kaline first appeared with his now-signature No. 6.

Kaline picked teammate Norm Cash to be godparent to his son, Michael. Cash wore No. 25 for 15 seasons. Two years ago, the Tigers drafted Kaline's grandson, Colin, in the 25th round.

Perhaps this is a sign. Maybe I'll author a post about the 25 reasons to be a fan of the Tigers. I'm struggling to get to 10 with the Orioles of late.

Regards...

~T.C Cameron is back home in Annapolis while the Tigers visit the Amazin' Mets at amazing Citi Field and the O's host the Marlins at Camden Yards.

Some Fans Just Suck

Today I was watching Texas Christian University battle the University of Texas in the Super Regional in Austin, Texas for the right to go to the last College World Series in Omaha's (NE) Rosenblatt Stadium.

Fans suck. Mostly, it's adult fans, too.

TCU catcher Bryan Holaday was batting in the bottom of the 8th with TCU holding a 3-0 lead. The home plate umpire was asked by Holaday for time and the request was granted. As Holiday stepped back in, some belligerent imbecile rooting for the Longhorns was heard yelling loudly to Holiday, "Shut up and get back in the batter's box!"

Holiday scorched the next pitch on a line over the left field fence. 4-0, TCU.

Beautiful.

Now, don't construe that statement to imply I was rooting for the Horned Frogs, but let me be clear: When these kids are subjected to this kind of idiocy, I love seeing the kids get the last laugh.

Texas rallied to score a run in the 9th but TCU held on to win 4-1 and clinch their first trip to the College World Series.

Regards,

~ T.C. Cameron is working another summer of wooden bat collegiate baseball, this time in the Mid-Atlantic instead of metro Detroit.

Bud Selig Could Relieve Jim Joyce's Heartache

Should Bud Selig decide to overturn Jim Joyce's botched call that cost baseball it's 21st perfect game, it would relieve Joyce not of the missed call, but of the injustice it created.

Of all the games in MLB regular season history, there's been 21 perfect games counting the gen thrown bt Detroit Tigers Armando Galarraga last night. If it were Cleveland's pitcher, I'd feel the same way. You have the same statistical chance of buying a ticket and seeing a perfecto as much as you'd see me umpiring that game.

So, is it in the best interest of the game to award a perfect game? I think it is, even if changing this call would have to limited in its' scope and relevancy to the extraordinary circumstances of the moment.

I do feel for Jim Joyce, a 22-year veteran of major league umpiring and the person who might look as much like Goose Gossage as anyone in baseball. I do have great sympathy for the situation. That alone ought to persuade baseball's ultimate arbiter, commissioner Bud Selig, to act.

And please spare me the rhetoric about the game's traditions and the precedence it would create. We're talking about a game that tried to pretend steroids didn't exist, let alone the alcoholism, wife-swapping and drug abuse.

Bud Selig has conclusive video evidence, an umpire's mea culpa and national sentiment to act in the best interests of the game of baseball.

Seems like a no-brainer to me.

Regards...

~T.C. Cameron is getting ready to go work a college wooden bat game tonight in Baltimore.

Selig Needs To Do The Right Thing

Detroit Tiger pitcher Armando Galarraga retired 28 Cleveland Indians consecutively tonight.

Too bad he only got credit for 26 of them.

If Bud Selig has any common sense, he can decide to make a bold decision and declare Armando Galarraga's victory tonight exactly what it was.

Perfect.

First base umpire Jim Joyce -- albeit unintentionally -- stole it from him. Joyce called Cleveland's Jason Donald safe on the game's final play despite replays showing Galarraga had secured the throw from first basemen Miguel Cabrera and touched the bag a full step in front of Donald. 

Harold Reynolds began apologizing for the missed call on MLB Network soon after the game ended. Tiger fans remember Reynolds for suggesting the Detroit franchise should be contracted in the early 2000s, so don't look for anyone in the Motor City to embrace the former Mariner. Joyce blew it and cost a pitcher a part of baseball history.

But unintentionally, Jim Joyce probably changed baseball forever tonight. Should baseball have instant replay? Absolutely. Should a manager have a challenge flag? Absolutely. Should Joyce had asked for help? Again, absolutely. Speaking as an umpire, if I kicked that call and technology could save me, I'm all for it.

The technology is in place. It's time.

Now it's up to Bud Selig to allow common sense to supersede his usually stoic response to all the other calamities he's fumbled through the years.

Regards...

~T.C. Cameron is a three-sport umpire and long-time writer living in the shadows of the United States Naval Academy.

Ernie Harwell Heads Under Our Pillows Eternally

Yesterday's passing of Ernie Harwell has awoken a slew of fond remembrances nationally, and rightfully so.

Ernie Harwell wasn't just the voice of summer in the Motor City. No, Harwell was the voice of hundreds of great memories for millions of Tiger fans in Michigan and everywhere else along the Great Lakes. Maybe it was him crooning Al Kaline had pushed a single through the hole into rightfield in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the game. Perhaps it was a strikeout by 'Senor Smoke' after being summoned by manager Sparky Anderson out of the Tiger bullpen to put the fire out. Perhaps you remember him calling the action as Richie Hebner drove a line drive into the lower deck in rightfield to put the Tigers into a 5-4 lead versus Earl Weaver's Baltimore Orioles.

Was the way Harwell always seemed to mention a town you'd been to or, better yet, the one you grew up in? Stuff like that made him seem like your favorite uncle, didn't it? In fact, you probably knew Ernie better than your favorite uncle, because for six months every year, you heard from your uncle almost every day, no matter where you were or what you were doing.

Today, rather than tell you another Ernie story, I'll tell you what I remember Ernie for the most. It was 1984, the first week of June, and ABC was in town to present Monday Night Baseball. Toronto, still nipping at the Tigers' heels despite that unforgettable 35-5 start, was in town and Tiger Stadium was packed.

I had stayed up as long as I could have possibly begged my parents in the family room. The Tigers still trailed 3-0 going into the seventh inning. Up to bed I trudged but I got into bed fast enough to hear Paul Carey hand the play-by-play duties back to Ernie.

Sure enough, with that transistor radio crackling, the Tigers managed to get a couple men on for Howard Johnson with two outs. I can still almost hear it now, ringing through my head. "Johnson hits one down the line...it's deep...and it hits off the foul pole for a homerun! A three-run homer for Johnson, and the Ti-gahs have tied at 3 here in the bottom of the seventh inning!"

The bedroom door suddenly burst open. It was my Dad. "Todd, come on down! You've got to see the..." He stopped what he was saying abruptly and, with a gentle smirk, saw (and heard) the radio under the pillow. The game was up, and I was caught red-eared. "I heard it, Dad. He hit the foul pole. The crowd sounded awesome." My Dad just grinned and told me how hard it smashed off the yellow mesh and I could picture the reaction of the 50,000+ in the ole' ballpark on a raucous Monday night.

My Dad realized I had passed one of those coronations all Detroit sports fans experience, that unfailing desire to watch (or listen) to our teams until the final, dying moment, win or lose. And I realized my Dad would no longer treat me like a little kid when it came to the pro sports game. Now when we went to the game, or watched or listened, it would mean more. I was in the club...and I better turn that radio off before I get in any more trouble.

How many of us have shared a similar experience? As I grew older, I realized my father had done the same thing I was doing in 1984, except he, like so many Detroiters, had done so in the lush, green forest of Vietnam in 1968 under the cloak of darkness. It was on Armed Forces Radio at 4 a.m. that served as my father's Harwell moment as the Tigers came back to win the World Series versus Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Few cities are lucky enough to have a broadcaster like Harwell. Detroit enjoyed Harwell plus Van Patrick (Lions), Bob Ufer (Michigan football), Bruce Martyn (Red Wings), George Kell (Tigers TV) and George Blaha (Pistons, MSU football).

In every genre, every profession, there's a hierarchy to who's who in that business. In the spectrum of Detroit's favorite sportscasters, that list always began with Harwell and was followed by some of the most outstanding broadcasters, many of whom would've been an institution of Harwell's lore in any other American city. Yet not one Detroit announcer ever grumbled a single word of disdain about playing second fiddle to the man who once had Babe Ruth sign his shoe.

Ernie Harwell was the king of the jungle in Detroit sports broadcasting for many reasons unrelated to the fortunes of a city's favorite team, and his work behind the mic was great, too.

My transistor radio, and probably yours, too, proved it night after night. Goodnight, Ernie.

Regards...

~ T.C. Cameron still watches the Tigers every night from Annapolis, Maryland.

Great Call, Caps Fall

Did you see the umpires in yesterday's Minnesota - Detroit game get the call correct on Denard Span's failure to complete a voluntary transfer of Johnny Damon's long fly ball to the left-center gap in the bottom of the 6th inning? Ron Gardenhire got tossed for the 48th time in his career for arguing the call. Big surprise, huh?

Replays might trick you into believing Span caught the ball. However, by rule in all levels of baseball, is there must be a voluntary release of the ball by the fielder from the glove to the bare hand. If that release is fumbled and dropped, there cannot be a catch. Span fumbled that release and ultimately lost control of the ball.

Give the umpires credit for huddling and making sure they all agreed on the decision. That's just good umpiring, giving all interested parties a fair shake on the biggest game of the game.

Don't be surprised if the flag is flying at half-staff today at the National Hockey League headquarters in both New York City and Toronto. The league was granted no favors when the regular season's best team, the Washington Capitals, blew a three game-to-one lead and were eliminated last night by the Montreal Canadians.

On one hand, the series was as compelling as any first-round match-up, and it wasn't because the league's force-fed star, Alex Ovechkin, was dominant. It was simply great hockey.

However, the NHL needed a long run by the Caps in this season's playoffs to bolster the game's status in the Mid-Atlantic and nationwide. No matter how good or bad Montreal is from year to year, the Habs will enjoy a monstrous following. With the season over, America's Capital City will tune out hockey despite four Original Six franchises still in the Stanley Cup hunt.

~ T.C. Cameron is the author of two Arcadia history books and an experienced writer and referee.

A Sobering, Unforgettable Week

Life's little detours often make the journey more memorable than the destination.

On Tuesday I interviewed for a job in College Park, Maryland. Innocently enough, I stopped in at a convenience store on Route One. It turned out to be the same store that Brian Tribble and the late Len Bias stopped in at to buy, as Tribble called it in the 30 for 30 documentary With Bias, "private stock" before returning to their University of Maryland dormitory.

From this juncture the story is well-documented. Bias and Tribble celebrated Bias's recent drafting by the Boston Celtics by indulging in beer and cocaine. The cocaine was so potent and pure it put Bias through a seizure that ultimately claimed his life and changed the culture of drug prosecution forever.

Just walking into this store for a soda gave me an unwanted jolt. The college campuses I walk so freely on as an official, the same campuses I used to walk on as a student, are loaded with vulnerable kids who fear nothing, including the specter of death. Sure, these athletes are massive, earth-moving young men but they're still just kids. Kids unsuspecting of the potential ugly truths that lurk behind the decisions they make under the guise of invincibility.

On Thursday I visited with John Ziemann, Director of the Marching Ravens, at Baltimore's Sports Legends Museum. Perhaps no man is a better repository of Baltimore's sporting past than Ziemann. During this visit I was offered the unique opportunity to hold the 42-ounce bat of Babe Ruth (above). The bat was notched eight times. Ruth was famous for notching his bat with a slash for every home run he hit with each bat.

In Detroit, Ruth is remembered for having breakfast at the old Hoot Robinson's bar directly across from the official brass doors at now-demolished Tiger Stadium. Nicknamed the Sultan of Swat, Ruth crushed a 700-foot homer at Navin Field and purchased a baby grand piano to be delivered at the Book-Cadillac Hotel the day the Murderer's Row edition of the New York Yankees clinched the 1927 pennant in Detroit.

Previous to holding Babe's bat, the closest I'd come to Ruth was meeting Rita Boland, daughter of former Detroit Tiger Bernie Boland. The Tiger hurler struck the Bambino out three times in the same game, a one-hit complete game for the Tigers. Boland pitched from 1916-1920 for the Bengals and his daughter lived across from the now-closed Royal Oak (MI) Kimball High School.

In Baltimore, where Ruth was born and raised, Ruth's father's owned a saloon located where the infield and outfield meet near second base at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Oh yeah, he hit a bunch of home runs, too. 714, I think. Someone told me he was pretty good.

Anyway, Ziemann had dozens of stories to tell of the Baltimore Colts leaving, the Cleveland Browns arriving, the ins and outs of the Orioles and some amazing stories about Johnny Unitas.

On Saturday I took our oldest boy to see the Washington Nationals whitewash the Milwaukee Brewers 8-0 at Nationals Park. On the way to the park, we were diverted off the Metro's Orange Line train onto a shuttle bus because a man had committed suicide at the Cheverly station platform. We had wanted to watch batting practice at the new park; we ended up getting to the game 12 minutes before first pitch.

It was a startling awakening for our 13-year-old to the pressures of living in the nation's Capital City. Every day is a gift. I feel incredible empathy for those who can no longer embrace that idea.

I'm not certain where I was going last week but it was an unforgettable ride.

Regards...

~T.C. Cameron authored two books for Arcadia Publishing and freelances for The Capital newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland.

Congrats, Rookie!

Congrats to my good friend Jamey Sackett, who went 2-for-4 in knocked in a pair of runs for Adrian College yesterday in the home opener for the Bulldogs.

Jamey's a freshman at Adrian. His older brother, Jay, is a junior catcher and pitcher on the Alma College team. The two schools compete in America's oldest collegiate athletic conference, the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, an association that once housed Michigan State College, now known as Michigan State University.

Adrian and Alma are scheduled to play a three-game set April 15-17, pitting brother against brother. That will be a weekend to remember, too, but for my money, nothing will top the two games each played as teammates on the same day in the same game at Birmingham Groves High School.

It's a game I'll always remember for losing a coin flip before and not being able to walk for two days afterward. Groves and arch-rival Birmingham Seaholm played a 15-inning game that I worked behind the plate. The elder Sackett caught the first five innings before being summoned to the mound.

That position change brought Jamey, then a sophomore, off the bench to catch the right-handed slants of his brother. By the end of daylight and 10 more innings later, the older Sackett had caught five and pitched 10 frames while younger brother caught 10 innings as a sub. Jay Sackett's former teammate, Casey Starnes, caught all 15 innings for Seaholm that day.

The game was suspended in one of the most memorable high school baseball games ever witnessed by anyone at the yard that day.

Regards...

~ T.C. Cameron is a college and prep official who worked nearly 20 years of football, basketball and baseball in the Great Lakes before relocating to the Mid-Atlantic seaboard in 2009.

Great Lead & Geared Up!

1. Spring is banging down the door in the Mid-Atlantic this weekend an perhaps no where was that more evident than in historic, downtown Annapolis.

If anyone else had any luck finding a parking spot, let me know. Great to see, though.

2. I took the boys to see Navy's men's lacrosse team face Bucknell in Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium yesterday. The Midshipmen triumphed 8-7, scoring less than three minutes into the first sudden-death overtime.

3. I'm missing my Detroit Tigers but beginning to appreciate the Baltimore Orioles. Because the Bengals and Birds don't play for real until the final week of the regular season, I was forced to accept some early Grapefruit League action yesterday between my two favorites.

4. Great lead writing in Jeff Zrebiec's Baltimore Sun side column about appointed Oriole ace Kevin Millwood getting rocked by the Tigers in 'sun-drenched Joker Marchant Stadium', as he described the Tigers' training facility in the opposite game column. The Tigers and Orioles, two franchises remarkably similar over the past 50 years, share an obverse training past. 

Detroit has been locked in Lakeland, Florida since 1934 when ole' 'Black Mike' Mickey Cochrane was catching, Leon 'Goose' Goslin played centerfield and the Tigers were prepping for a memorable World Series with the 'Gashouse Gang'. It's the longest, continuous spring training agreement in all of Major League Baseball.

By contrast, the Orioles have bounced around between spring training sites like a sub-renting collegiate bounces from apartment to apartment building. This season, the O's locked into a 30-year agreement with a Sarasota, Florida facility and town close to an airport with more fan-friendly weather and attributes like dining, accommodations and alternative attractions.

5. A new season of college baseball has started. I'm thrilled to be able to be working a new season in a new state and today will be a nice day to gear up and not worry about frostbite. It'll be close to 60 degrees today!

Regards...

T.C. Cameron is a two-time author and three-sport official writing and refereeing in the Chesapeake Bay footprint. Check out Cameron's static writer site at www.TCCameron.com