MILLERSBURG, OH — Ray Duffield called strike three on a full-count curveball Wednesday evening from behind the screen window of the Millersburg Little League concession stand, where he was also flipping a hot dog and asking a mother of four whether she wanted onions.
The 62-year-old retired postal worker is, as of Monday night’s board meeting, the only registered volunteer left in the Holmes County Youth Baseball District 4 umpire pool, and also the only person willing to run the grill. Ray informed parents Tuesday that they would have to pick one. They did not pick one.
“It’s mostly working,” said Cheryl Vickers, whose son Cody plays third for the Millersburg Rotary Rockets. “You just have to listen for whether he says ‘strike’ or ‘mustard.’ Sometimes it’s both, and then you’re just guessing.”
Ray’s calls have, by most accounts, been fair. He missed a balk in the second inning because a bun caught fire. He ruled a fly ball fair based on where he thought it had landed, though the concession window faces first base and offers what he described as “an angle.” A ground-rule double in the fourth was called from memory, since Ray was in the back looking for the good tongs.
League president Doug Enright, reached by phone, confirmed the arrangement was not ideal but noted that last season the umpire situation was measurably worse — the games were being called by Doug.
A parent-led effort to recruit additional umpires has produced two candidates. One is Ray’s brother, who lives in Wooster and cannot commit to Tuesdays. The other, according to the sign-up sheet taped to the dugout fence, is Ray.
The kids appear to have adjusted. Cody Vickers struck out looking in the fifth on a pitch he later described, with the composure of a much older man, as “called by a guy holding tongs.” His coach did not argue. His coach was, at that moment, working the popcorn.
The Rockets won 8-6. Or 8-5. Ray was, at one point in the sixth, on the phone with his wife about a leak in the basement, and a run may have scored while he was covering the mouthpiece.
Between innings, a batter approached the concession window and asked Ray if he could get a blue slushie. Ray told the boy he was up next and to focus. The kid struck out on three pitches, all of which Ray called from the grill while turning a dog he had, by then, been turning for a while.