Tales From The Blue

May 3 - (What do a snake  and a bass have in common?)

Umpire Pat Eldridge has seen a  lot of things in his long career as an ump.  This tale stems from a game several years ago in Taveras. Here’s Pat’s tale -

“I was umping at first base in Taveras. At the park, there is an oprey nest located high up on one of the fixtures. During the game, in the third inning, the center fielder began pointing to something and complaining. When I approached him and asked him what was wrong, he said there was a bass in the outfield. I thought he was nuts. Upon closer inspection, it turned out he was correct, there was a dead BASS laying there in the middle of center field. We promptly removed the dead fish and resumed play.  That was the easy part !  During the fifth inning, I heard a THUMP right behind me. Immediately, the first baseman and first base coach took off running. I turned around to see a 4’ water moccasin, slightly dazed from its airborne drop, squirming in the grass not 10’ behind me. Needless to say I quickly repositioned myself. We put the game on hold until the groundskeepers came and disposed of the snake. That’s the only game delay I have ever seen because of a snake !

Turns out these things are a normal occurrence in Taveras with those busy ospreys constantly dropping interesting things on the field during their airborne hunts. They told me they find at least a dozen fish a year laying on the field !”

April 7 - Wild Onions

With this new section, we are going to share each emailing a story from the archives of Umpire Pat Eldridge. After 36 years of umpiring, he has a few !

Pat remembers a game in the early 80s at Highlands. “ As the boys took the outfield, I was umping behind first and suddenly noticed the right fielder was crying. I went out and asked him if he was okay and then noticed all the outfielders were crying. As I went to talk to the coach I soon realized I was crying too. Turns out the City had just mowed the grass earlier that day and the outfield was LOADED with wild onions. We eventually had to suspend the game because of it ! That’s the only game I have ever had called off because of wild onions”