No respect

I'll tell ya I don't any respect, he said. And no doubt respect was something Rodney Dangerfield lacked. But do you know who get even less? Umpires.

Sadly, I think a lot of it is deserved. If the strike zones that the TV broadcasters superimpose over home plate are any accurate indication, they miss about 1 pitch in 4.

I can remember the organist at Comiskey Park in Chicago riling the umpires during the 1970s by playing Three Blind Mice when they came onto the field.

Even Harry Truman got into the act. The former President once quipped, "As I boy I couldn't see well enough to play ball, so they gave me a special job. They made me an umpire."

Kinda sums it up, eh? The lack of respect for the profession.