Photo credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

Photo credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

Well that takes all the piss and vinegar out of the vitriol for home plate umpire Robert Freeman’s strike zone last night. From Penn Live:

An umpire gets one chance to work the Little League World Series and Robert Freeman was not going to miss it despite a fire destroying his Tennessee home last weekend.

“He’s not going to miss the opportunity of a lifetime,” said his wife, Michelle.

An electrical problem in the “double-wide” Freeman lives in started the fire last Saturday. No one was in the house when it happened. Robert and Michelle’s only remaining possessions are the clothes they had already sent to Williamsport.

“I told my husband not to worry about it,” Michelle Freeman said. She told him what needed to be taken care of immediately could be done by telephone and she could deal with the insurance people, she said. By being at the World Series, “We have a place to stay,” she said. “This will give us a week for the insurance to take care of stuff.”

“I’m not saying it was not stressful until I arrived,” she said. Being at the World Series will be a break and by the time they get back next week he insurance people should have taken care of stuff, she said. “We’ll get through it,” she said.

On his Facebook page in January, “Hank” posted about the call informing him that he would be umping in the Little League World Series:

Voila_Capture 2014-08-21_09-57-43_AMI take back all those mean things I yelled at my TV last night. Sorry, Blue.

H/T to (@Banditmax)