Luciano's books almost made me go to umpire school. At the last moment I thought I would give softball a try for a year to see what I thought, and I hated it. I think it was Noodle that touched on it, the call has to be immediate but often times it takes the brain a moment to process. I am sure with experience that gap shortens quite a bit, but I gave up well before then. If I had only known about West and Hernandez proving that correct calls are overrated, maybe I would have stuck it out.
I recall Luciano discussing losing a ball leaving the park down the line, but he had to make a call and decided to call it foul. He really sold the call, jumping, waving spinning thinking selling the call would make everyone believe he was confident. As he spun, he saw the ball clearly in fair territory. And he knew he had 1) missed the call and 2) it was against Earl Weaver which would guarantee a relaxing conversation.
I miss the Earl Weaver/Billy Martin/Lou Pinella meltdowns.
