Spend enough time with K-4 students and you’re bound to pick up some of their lingo. I failed in my recent posts to mention one of my key notes as far as someone you should know. When I peruse the various publications at a ballgame, I’m always looking for connections. I especially enjoy the q/a sessions with the new guys. By and large, I appreciate the scope of the gameday programs. The editors seem to offer staff a pretty wide variety of topics to write about. Maybe one of the MWL teams will write about umpire Josh Runge.

Bells and whistles immediately went off when I heard his was handling home plate Sunday afternoon. If you grew up rooting for an NL team in the 70’s and 80’s, the last name should sound familiar. His grandfather, Paul is the most famous of the (only) four generation umpiring Runge family. Josh’s dad, Brian called balls and strikes as did great-grandfather, Ed in the American League (retiring in 1970). Paul was part of my youth, for better or worse. Back in those days when the difference between leagues was sacred, every real baseball fan knew all of the umps in their league and could innumerate their foibles.

While I’m sure Josh is doing his best to carve out a unique name in the game, some of his ball-strike calls. Here he is pictured with managers Angel Espada and Nick Lovullo. The family theme continues with the Lovullos, Nick’s dad, Torey manages the Diamondbacks.

s dad