I'm an avid Toronto Blue Jays fan and couldn't help but notice a couple of characters now known as The Fake Umpires sitting behind home plate at several Jays home games at Rogers Centre this season. What makes these guys stand out is that they dress up in full umpire gear (dark pants, shirt and umpire cap with the Major League Baseball logo, home plate brush, masks and a ball bag attached to their belts, complete with a spare ball) and when the opposition is up to bat they proceed to "call" their own ball games, from whatever planet it is they inhabit.
It's one of the oddest things I've seen as far as sports spectators go. When the real ump calls a strike the two of them stand up and make the hand gesture for a strike, they give the hand signals indicating the count on the batter and best (or saddest?) of all, when a batter fouls a ball out of play they get out of their seats, reach into the ball bag and mimic throwing a fresh ball back to the pitcher.
It's pretty amusing, but I suspect if I was sitting behind or beside these guys and had paid about $225 each for the premium "In The Action" seats that they favour then I would lose my sense of humour real fast. The topper? They work at the Toronto Stock Exchange.
View the ESPN story below:
