Day 14: Japan vs Netherlands

The last day of the tournament! To fit everything in, the four games started at 9:00 AM. I worked the bronze medal game between Japan and the Netherlands at second base. Our game started at 10:00 AM. Six umpires were used for all the games today, which were played at two stadiums. Nelson (Cuba) was our plate umpire, Neil was at first, Willie was at third, and Oswaldo and Carlos were down the left and right field lines, respectively. it was an entire crew of guys from the Taichung bracket together one last time. Right in the top of the first, I saw a extremely long leather tie that had come un-knotted on the little finger of the pitcher's glove. It looked like something that could be distracting to the hitters, so I asked the pitcher to cut it off or tie it up. The pitcher didn't seem to have a problem with this, but the Netherlands manager was not happy about it. He did not think this was something that needed to be addressed and let me know about it. This type of situation gives me something to evaluate. Is this something that is better left unaddressed until the offensive team complains, or was the way I handled it appropriate? There was little of consequence that happened in the game. Japan won the game going away.

Following the game, we came back to the hotel to start packing for the trip home. The championship game between the USA and Cuba was a 4:30 PM start. Everyone had to be at the stadium for the closing ceremonies in uniform. We boarded the bus at 6:00 PM and got to the game in about the 5th inning. A few of us found a Chili's near the ballpark and went over there until the 8th, watching the game on TV. The United States won the game over Cuba, only the second or third time they've won the tournament in its 37 year history.

The closing ceremonies were fairly elaborate. There were some native dancers in some kind of Indian attire that performed a dance that lasted about 10 minutes. A Taiwanese man and woman served as the two master of ceremonies. We were introduced as a group, as were the individual committee members. Awards were given out to a number of individual performers, and a complete tournament all-star team was named as well. Medals were given out to the top three teams. At the conclusion of the ceremonies, we boarded the bus for the trip back to the hotel. Many of us had a late dinner in the dining room and said good-byes to those not going out for the evening.

From there it was over to the Brass Monkey. Upon arriving, we found that the people from Stadeo TV were throwing a party at the bar to which we were invited. Runch was there, as were quite a few umpires, the Stadeo people, tournament committee people, and other support staff. Our little core group of umpires stayed until they kicked us out at 2:00 AM. There was really no reason to sleep with a 5:00 AM bus call to the airport, so we just hung out in the room and finished packing. It will be an extremely long day on Monday. 8:30 AM flight to Japan, go through security again, then our flight to Detroit at about 1:30 PM. Arrival in Detroit is scheduled for 11:30 AM on Monday. From take-off in Taipei to touchdown at DTW will be about 16 hours. I will write one more journal entry with some closing thoughts on my trip once I've arrived back in Michigan. I will also post the additional photos I took in the last few days. It has been a wonderful trip, but I am very glad to be reunited with my family after being away for over two weeks.