Several months ago, a good friend of mine, Bryan Wild, called and asked if I’d like to get back with a group of umpires from years ago. He was needing umps for the Michigan State Tournament that was being hosted last month by the Tecumseh Area Little League in Tecumseh, Mich.
We were all together years ago, and Bryan thought it would be a great reunion opportunity — a group that are all friends and love Little League baseball.
There was only one answer, and that was “YES!”
Wild, who now lives in Naples, Fla., by way of Indiana and Michigan, was our Umpire-In-Chief, along with Sam Fontecchio from Michigan. We had 19 umpires working as a four-man crew (with over 500 total years of Little League service) throughout the week. Together, we called the 31 tournament games for the 16 teams that won their districts to qualify to play for a State Championship.
There were umpires from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Florida. The umpires averaged calling two games per day.
“Volunteerism and the passion these guys have to umpire kids’ tournaments — and that’s exactly what these are, ‘kids’ tournaments’ — is amazing and comes right from the heart,” Wild said.
The umpires all arrived Thursday afternoon, July 23, before the games started on Friday. We had an umpires meeting to go over all the tournament details, and then we headed over to the two houses that the tournament staff had rented for us out-of-towners to stay. (The tournament ran from July 24th through the 29th).
The Opening Ceremonies started the activities of the tournament with all 16 teams, along with their manager and coaches, being introduced and parading onto the field, followed by the umpires.
Capping off the Opening Ceremonies was the playing of the National Anthem, which was initially plagued by some technical difficulties. But the fans picked up the slack and belted the tune far louder than the sound problems.
“Our Little League people did that,” said tournament director Larry Fix, of Belleville, Mich. “And all that did was highlight what went on each day.”
Tecumseh with a population of just under 9,000 people with a beautiful downtown area as you travel from one end to the other on Chicago Boulevard. We started almost every morning at Rosie’s Cafe — except Monday, when she is closed — but as the locals say, “Most everything is closed on Monday.”
And then we were off to the ball fields where the games were played on three different diamonds.
The evenings consisted of “doing laundry,” as we are pretty good at cleaning our umpiring clothes. We also had a couple guys step up and say they’d fix dinner a few nights, and Bob Jonkman of northern Indiana and Ted Gross of Illinois did just that. Chicken was the first meal and tacos the next — and leftovers from both meals the third night. We finished the evenings off by playing a few card games. And we headed downtown for a meal out on our final night.
Meeting people at the Little League games is always fun. Dick Horming has been the president of Greater Bay Little League for the past 18 years, despite not having a child of his own in the league for the last 12 years.
He said he is often asked, “Why are you still hanging around if you don’t have a kid here playing?”
He says he always has to correct that person.
“I have close to 400 children that I consider my kids,” he says. “My heart and soul is with Little League.”
Horming recalls his own time in the League, and it left a lifelong impression.
“I remember my coaches, teammates, scores of some of my games,” he said. “Little League is a very fundamentally strong game for children. It teaches them accountability, what hard work is about, and teaches them perseverance.
“I’m going to stay involved until they run me out or put me in the ground. As far as I’m concerned, Little League is a big part of my life.”
He said he hoped his Greater Bay LL would do well in the tourney, and wouldn’t you know, his team defeated Western LL in the championship, 4-2, and WON the Michigan State Tournament. They’ll be advancing on to the Central Region with an opportunity to make it to Williamsport, Pa., for the Little League World Series.
Another gentleman that I had a conversation with was Chris Spaulding from Midland Michigan, coach of NorthEast Little League. Spaulding is also a high school baseball coach back home.
“This is our third trip to the state tournament with these boys,” Spaulding said, calling his team “a good group of young men.”
It’s also great talking with the players. They’ll tell you about the foods they have been eating — waffles for breakfast, subways and pizza for lunch and dinner, and there’s always room for ice cream!
One of the teams had an opportunity to practice with a local high school team on “their turf field” — something they had never done before. Another team is staying toward the Toledo area, and they attended a Toledo Mid Hens game one night. And one thing that is very special, the tournament staffers, with the assistance of the umpires, pick a player for their Outstanding Sportsmanship of the Game from each team in every game, and the players receive a Sportsmanship Award medallion. VERY SPECIAL!
My fellow umpires had a few comments about their experience at the tournament.
“I’ve been enjoying the opportunity to be here with all these fellow umpires who have taught me over the years to be a better umpire and a better man,” said Tom Champney (whom I had never met before) from Grosse Pointe Woods and Michigan District 6.
“This is as much fun or better than working any upper level game,” said Jamie Hinojosa from New Boston, Mich., and District 5 (when I went to umpire school several years ago, Jamie was one of my instructors), “including an NCAA baseball game because these kids are playing for the love of the game — not trying to get to the Major Leagues tomorrow.”
While I was very honored to be asked to umpire in the tournament and enjoyed every minute of it — the umpiring is wonderful, the fans are super, the players still have years of playing if they wish to continue on playing this great game — it’s the friendships that I hope last for a lifetime.
All for the love of the game.
Dave Rinehart is a Martinsville native who’s been involved in sports for most of his life, including coaching, refereeing, umpiring and 29 years as the sports broadcaster on the local radio station.
