I was often asked, “Why do you officiate football? The weather is so bad in football season.” My response always was, “Michigan weather is much worse for high school baseball and softball than it is for football”.

Here are a few stories about baseball in Michigan weather. The first one was a game at Saginaw Arthur Hill. I don’t remember the temperature, but I was, again, partnering with Mel Skillman. We were wearing every bit of umpire clothing we owned, and we were still freezing. The snow was blowing horizontally.

To make it worse while I was umpiring at first base, there was a guy sitting in a lawn chair as close as possible to the field of play. He had his body in a sleeping bag pulled up to his eyes to keep warm and he was constantly complaining, loudly, about every call. I later discovered that not only was he the dad of one of the players (go figure) but he was a friend and fellow official. I could not recognize him hidden in the sleeping bag.

I’m sure he knew I didn’t know who he was and was enjoying hassling me. If I had known who it was, we would have had a serious conversation between innings.

Another baseball weather story took place in Rogers City. My partner was Dave “Cookie” Kuznicki. For some reason, we drove past the baseball field and went into town before arriving at the game. The bank thermometer in downtown RC was at 43 degrees. Rogers City plays their games at Gilpin Field which is basically on the shore of Lake Huron. When the wind is off the lake it is even colder. We played the first game and Rogers City won. It was getting colder and colder, and the wind was coming in off the lake. It was about the third inning of game two when Dave and I met with the two coaches to discuss the weather.

The Rogers City coach said to the opposing coach, “We won the first game, and you are ahead in this one. I don’t want to deprive your team of a chance to win.”

The opposing coach said, “I don’t care about winning, this is brutally cold, let’s go home.” Dave and I were more than happy to call the game and go home, too.

I remember umpiring a baseball game at Posen where the temperature had to be in the high 30s. My partner was Mike Grulke from Rogers City, and he took a selfie and sent me a copy. Besides our uniforms with long underwear, we had on a head and face cover which only exposed our eyes and, of course, we wore gloves. We looked like we were embarking on a polar expedition.

Believe it or not, some of the players were playing while wearing only short-sleeved shirts.

Readers probably don’t know that the National Federation Rules that govern high school athletics say that baseball and softball players are not allowed to wear coats or jackets while participating in the game, as batters, baserunners, or fielders. On days like those described above, I usually inform the coaches at the pregame conference that the rules makers never had to play ball in Northeast Michigan in the spring and that any of their players who wished to wear a jacket while playing could do so. I never had a coach insist that the rule be enforced.

Another weather-related officiating problem is thunderstorms. If an official spots lightning or hears thunder, the official is to immediately stop the game and clear the field. The game then cannot restart until 30 minutes have elapsed from the last seen lightning or heard thunder.

We were at Mio against Charlton Heston. It was referee Terry King’s crew. We were in the middle of the second quarter when the thunder started. Now the score at the time was about Mio 54, Heston 0 (let me emphasize this was still in the second quarter). We cleared the field per procedure and proceeded to start the 30-minute clock.

Of course, every 30 seconds or so another lightning bolt flashed, and we restarted the clock. We all had cell phones with weather apps and the radar was showing that the storm was only going to get worse and was going to last another hour or more.

After waiting about 30-40 minutes we met with the coaches, showed them the radar, and suggested we cancel the game. The Heston coach, remember, his team is getting killed, said, “We really need to get some game experience. I want to wait a while.” DOH!!! Well, we waited another 15 minutes or so and canceled the game, much to the dismay of the Heston coach, and went home. It rained and thundered for another hour or two.

Les Miller, of Hubbard Lake, has retired after 53 years officiating multiple sports around Michigan. He can be reached at theoldref@yahoo.com.