Do you feel intimidated? Marty Springstead, supervisor of American League umpires, said he will never forget his first assignment behind the plate. It was in a 1966 game at Washington. Frank Howard was playing for the Senators, and on the first pitch to the mountainous slugger, Springstead called a knee-high fast ball a strike. Howard turned around and yelled, "Get something straight, buster! I don’t know where you came from or how you got to the major leagues, but they don’t call that pitch on me a strike. Understand?" The next pitch was in the same spot, and Springstead yelled, "Two!" "Two what?" Howard roared. "Too low," Springstead said, "Much too low."

Los Angeles Times, quoted in Reader’s Digest, July, 1988.

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