Here’s a small ode to the tiny brush that an umpire uses to clean the home plate.
After whipping this brush out of the belt pocket, an experienced ump can clean the plate with only a few discrete snaps of the wrist. But Harry “Steamboat” Johnson, who umpired more minor league baseball games than anyone else, brushed with “such gusto” that, according to the Charlotte Observer, “you would think he is getting paid by the stroke.”
Baseball, however, tends to frown on steamboats and showboats, either players or umpires, who make a spectacle of themselves at the expense of the game. I know that certain people consider baseball and softball to be boring and would probably like a little more “gusto” from time to time. Unlike the scrawny youth toweling off the basketball court, an ump might not seem to be in much of a hurry. But therein lies the story.
If a foul ball ricochets off a catcher’s mask, the umpire will slowly and deliberately brush home plate until the player’s head stops ringing. The etiquette goes both ways. If an umpire gets their bell rung with a batted ball, the catcher will mosey to the mound to discuss the weather, hot dogs, or anything else to give that ump a chance to rest. True, this deliberate wasting of time might frustrate spectators, even if they know the motivation behind the stall tactics.
Yet, it seems to me that these are examples of the small but significant ways we care for one another, not only on the field but in every aspect of our lives. Though a home plate brush is sold for under $5, a tool’s true worth is not found in the price tag. While care-tending is often inexpensive and quick, maybe it is what helps us make it home safely.
Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of “Little Big Moments,” a collection of mini-essays about parenting, and “Tigers, Mice & Strawberries: Poems.” Both titles are available most anywhere books are sold online. Taylor-Troutman lives in Chapel Hill where he serves as pastor of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church and occasionally stumbles upon the wondrous while in search of his next cup of coffee.
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