Watch "Toughest Summer Jobs" on WTXL ABC 27 Wednesdays at 6 and vote for who you think has the Toughest Summer Job.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Baseball... America's pastime.
From major league to college to little league, it's the perfect summertime sport. You've got the players, the coaches, the crowds, and the one person keeping an eye on everything, Big Blue... the umpires.
"You're not gonna satisfy everyone, so someone is going to be hollering at you," says Al Davis, an NCAA Certified Umpire. "They might not even know the rules, but they're going to be hollering at you, so you got to be able to take that. You gotta let it go through one ear, out the other."
Easier said than done, but for Al Davis, who's been in the business for more than thirty years, he loves the game.
"It's a job," continues Davis. "You like doing your job. You feel good out there, at least trying to help the kids. An NCAA umpire, and I'm on the little league field. They need top officiating too."
While umpires like Davis here make the calls during the game, the weather is the ultimate arbiter. While the rain will delay things on occasion, it's the heat that takes the ultimate toll on the umpires who have to stand for the duration of the game.
"I thought I had drank enough through the game, but evidently I didn't," recalls Davis. "I'm in a restaurant getting ready to eat. All of a sudden, I start feeling faint, and my words start slurring and I passed out. I was taken to a hospital. They stuck me twelve times before they could find a vein."
Despite the challenges from weather and fans, Davis loves his summertime job.
Resiliency, hard work, and honesty on the field are all traits that Davis has and puts him into the running for the title of "Toughest Summer Job."
