In a Class AAA State championship high school baseball game in Cartersville, Georgia, pitcher Cody Martinfelt that home plate umpire was calling the balls and strikes unfairly and in fact had rung him and his teammates up for 9 consecutive strikeouts against..

Trailing 7-1 in the 4th inning Martin, allegedly conspired with catcher Matt Hill to send a message to the umpire by introducing him to a fastball up close and personal.

When Martin goes into his windup Hill has positioned himself at home with his glove hand high. As the ball is released, Hill drop’s down into the dirt ‘expecting’ a curveball and a fastball sails clear over his head smashing the home plate umpire directly in the facemask, rocking him back and forth slightly but ultimately cause no real damage, maybe a small headache later on that evening.

Martin and Hill deny planning it and claim it was a “mixup” of the signals.

Georgia High School Association executive director Ralph Swearngin however, after watching video of the incident believed the act was premeditated and fined the school $1000 while placing the baseball team on “severe warning status.”

The hometown fans however may have agreed with the players assesment, visible applauses and horn toots are heard immediately following the incident from what would have been a pretty lifeless crowd at this point in the game.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The advantage for switch hitters is that they are always able to be on the opposite side of the plate as to the pitcher’s throwing arm, thus allowing the hitter to see the ball for a slightly longer time period.

Against Brooklyn when Ralph Henriquez, their designated hitter came to the plate after warming up as a lefty but stepped up to the plate from the right side, opposite sided to the arm in which Venditte had been throwing with up to that point in the game.

Venditte then switched his glove to his left hand, to which Henriquez crossed the plate again while Venditte once more did the same to his glove hand.

This went on for a few more comical turns at which point the managers and umpires had to confer on the proper course of action before the game could proceed.

The umpires ruled that a person and pitcher could only switch sides of the plate or throwing arm’s once per at bat and that the hitter had to declare his course of action first.

Henriquez struck out on four pitches. Check mate.

The value of an ambidextrous pitcher has got to be enormous for the simple fact that they have two arms to tire out.

If this kid has any talent and brain whatsoever he could be the prototype for a new kind of athlete. Imagine a basketball player being able to drain three’s with both hand’s and a golfer drilling shots from both sides of the tee, one side being able to drive the ball with more power and the other with more control.

Let the breeding begin.

As it is I broke my thumb almost 4 months ago and it doesn’t bend very much yet, It just stays straight like some crazed terminal hitchhiker.

My days believing that if I just put out the effort I could have a long and illustrious career playing baseball.. Even if I get full or even most movement back I still have a plate and four screws holding it together.

I never actually played a day of organized baseball in my life. Circumstances didn’t allow it. The town I grew up in didn’t have baseball or football leagues.

Still though, I’m 28 and figured I could learn to throw a knuckle ball and pitch in the big leagues till I was 48. Lol. Craziness.

Either way, I just loved the sport. Baseball I like to say was my first love and I still believe that today. I want to be Tom Hanke on the hill for the Toronto Blue Jays in grade five, thick black glasses and all. Instead I had to settle for being a poor (wo) man’s Jenni Finch throwing grapefruit size bolders around and calling it fastball.

I never got to play baseball untill two years ago when I stumbled on a video game in open beta in what was then called Ultimate Baseball Online.

Online baseball?

Not only that but it is competitive online baseball.

The game is a massive multiplayer online role playing game. Role playing in the sense that you create a character, play as an individual member of a team in pickup games (PUGS) growing and levelling your character as you play and gain experience.

For me, this game was love at first sight. I like video games but this is what I play. Not CoD, not WoW, Not CS. Online baseball.

Like WoW and other multiplayer online games, players act as an individual member of a team. Characters are levelled as the user’s player gains EXP through pickup games (PUGS) or events such as tournaments, mini tounraments and the main league events.

MVPS (levels 90-99), AllStars (60-89),Majors (30-59)), Minors (10-29) and Rookies (0-9). Rookies can’t play in the main server. They have their own server where they can learn to play without the pressure of the hardcore gamers. Lots of ‘Noobs’ in the RK server.

When you get out of the rookie server and graduate to the Minor you have the option of joining and creating teams and playing in leagues and tournaments, which in my opinion is where the real fun begins.

If you would like to check out the game, Cal Ripken’s Real Baseball (www.playrealbaseball.com) look me up if you get hooked.

Megatron – Carnage Organization