Batter up

I am certainly NOT a baseball fan...all this attention on spring training
is over the top. While I am a big sports fan, baseball is just too slow
and monotonous, especially when compared to my faves - football,
basketball, soccer, and hockey. However, I do need to mention this
sport that inspires yawns today for a good reason. For the first time
since 1989, a female umpire will work a Major League Baseball exhibi-
tion game, on Thursday. Ria Cortesio, who umps Double-A games on
a regular basis, will be in the big leagues, if only for a day. She is
hoping to get promoted to Triple-A this season; after an ump has been
in Triple-A, they can get evaluated for possible promotion to the Bigs.
Pam Postema was the first woman to work spring training games in
1989; she was released after 2 seasons. But there seems to be a swell
of support for Cortesio; several players have supported having a
female ump, with one stating that "Female eyes are as good as male
eyes". Cortesio is excited about her opportunity, remarking "There
will be alot more people in the stands than I'm used to." I am sure
all the sports highlight shows will be showing clips of her later on
this week, let's hope she does a great job calling those guys OUT!