Keep your eye on the ball! Let the ball take you to the play! Don't lose sight of the ball or you will miss the action!

A good umpire remembers these axioms and uses them in his/her work to ensure getting calls correct. AFU umpires have certainly had them drummed into their heads, and we are better umpires as a result.

Oddly enough, this story is not about umpires; it is a great example, however, of what can happen if you don't keep your eye on the ball!

When the great Met/Philly center fielder Lenny Dykstra was growing up in Southern California, he played for Garden Grove High School. Of course, he played center field and was an outstanding leadoff hitter. At that time in his career he was so fleet-of-foot that after safely reaching first base (as a result of getting a single or a walk, for example), he promptly stole second base and then third base on successive pitches to the next hitter. To make it easy for Dykstra to steal these bases, the Garden Grove coach instructed his #2 hitter to take the first two pitches delivered to him -- whether they were balls or strikes. Dykstra simply put his head down and stole 2nd and then 3rd without having to worry about the ball being hit. In fact, he made no effort to find out where the ball was; he stole these bases without keeping track of the ball's location.

The LaQuinta High School baseball coach was one of many coaches Dykstra would frustrate back in the late 1970s. His team had to face Garden Grove during the season, and not only couldn't LaQuinta High beat Garden Grove, they had never been able to throw Dykstra out attempting to steal. One game, however, the LaQuinta coach got some measure of revenge. Dykstra led off the game with a single, and everyone knew what was coming next.

The LaQuinta coach had tried just about everything in an attempt to throw Dykstra out; pitching out, only throwing fastballs, continuously stepping off the rubber and throwing over to first base often to keep Dykstra close; nothing worked! He finally devised a plan that did work; it was based on the fact that Dykstra never knew where the ball was while he was stealing. As the first pitch was delivered to batter number two, the LaQuinta manager had a player in the dugout loudly bang two bats together. Of course at this time Dykstra was off toward 2nd base, with his head down not following the ball. The LaQuinta catcher caught the pitch and threw it high into the air toward left field. Therefore, as Dykstra slid into 2nd base he had a great view of the left fielder catching the fly ball. The LaQuinta team had convinced Dykstra that Garden Grove's 2nd hitter had swung at the pitch and flied to left. Since he was not looking at the ball he had no way of knowing! He therefore ran back to 1st base in an attempt to avoid being doubled off. The left fielders throw beat Dykstra back to 1st and LaQuinta finally got to throw him out stealing. All because he was not following the ball!

What's true for players is true for umpires, remember to keep following the ball -- it will take you to the play! By the way, even though Lenny Dykstra was "caught stealing" that day, Garden Grove still won the game, 16 - 0.

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Any member of the AFU that would be interested in writing an article about umpiring and would like to have them published on our web site please contact Dave Mekelburg AFU#9 at: info@americanfederationofumpires.com