Extra innings

NEA Today, Sep 1998

In his driver's ed classroom, he covers the rules of the road. On evenings and weekends, he rules while he covers home plate.

For 33 years, Maine teacher Dennis Wooster has been a baseball and softball umpire, calling the plays at 80 games a season. He sometimes

officiates at as many as 12 games a weekend.

Wooster never planned to make such a big commitment. In fact, he fell into umpiring one evening from the sidelines.

"I was standing there watching the kids play when one of the officials asked me, `Why don't you work the bases for us?' I said okay. Turns out it was fun."

The Medomak Valley High School teacher went on to take the umpire's exam required for officiating in organized leagues. These days. he umpires at Little League, Babe Ruth, and high school games.

"High school is real competitive," he says. "Little League is baseball at its purest, because the players are so young."

Keeping kids involved in sports is what drives Wooster to continue donning his umpire's uniform-even after three decades.

"It gives the kids something to do and keeps them off the streets," he says. "If those kids in high school weren't playing ball, what would they be doing?"