Play Ball!

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/txnicole/3813159381/sizes/m/in/photostream/, Creative Commons, Some rights reserved by mistycabal)

Baseball season is well underway, and if you're a fan, you probably have disagreed with the umpires a time or two already. Did you know that the first female baseball umpire was a South Dakotan?

Amanda Clement, now in the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame, never umped a pro game, but umpired many amateur games and later coached athletes in many sports. At 5 feet, 10 inches, her height was a great advantage in making correct calls, as in those days the umpire stood behind the pitcher

Clement's story caught the interest of Yankton, South Dakota, author, Marilyn Kratz. She turned her research findings into a newly released book for children, Umpire in a Skirt. The South Dakota State Historical Society Press offers more information and an interview with Marilyn here.

(Umpire making the call on a man sliding into home plate during a baseball game between Washington and the Boston Red Sox,between 1910 and 1930,No known restrictions on publication, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division )

It's possible that Clement was responsible for a scenario like that expressed in the classic "Mighty Casey at the Bat." STEEE_RIKE!

Let's wrap this up with the seventh inning stretch favorite:

Who are you root, root, rooting for?