“My whole concern was the lightning, but also the fact that it wasn’t on top of us,” Crew Chief Wally Bell said Tuesday.
“The whole crew knew what was going on. I told several players when they asked me about it if one (bolt) gets close, I’m going to take them off the field.”
Over four hours, about a half-year’s worth of lightning bolts bombarded the Chicago area, electrifying the night sky as trees were split, transformers were zapped and houses were set ablaze. As work crews picked up Tuesday from the previous night’s storms, meteorologists were assessing the staggering power of a historic thunderstorm.
Bell, the crew chief, worked with Cubs’ GM Hendry and stadium operations manager Carl Rice to get the latest local weather information and based his decisions on that.
“Meteorologists’ understanding of lightning is fairly weak,” said Paul Sirvatka, professor of meteorology at the College of DuPage. “I don’t know anybody who can sit there and say where there will be a lot of lightning.”
”This time of year especially, our job is to get the game in, and that’s what we tried to do,” Bell said after the game. ”The lightning, in my opinion, even though it lit up the skies, it was deep and away from the ballpark. … When that last one hit, it was too close, even for us, and I pulled them off. I would never put any team or player or umpire in harm’s way.”
Nearly 90,000 thunderbolts had hit northern Illinois, according to the National Lightning Detection Network. At the storms’ peak, it was firing off more than 800 bolts per minute; and that only counts those that hit the ground.
“There was no precedent for this,” said WGN meteorologist Tom Skilling. “In every way imaginable, that storm last night was in its own league.”
Laz Diaz, who was behind the plate Monday, backed Bell. “Look, I’m back there with all that equipment out there,” he said. “No matter what decision you make, somebody’s not going to be happy. To me, (Bell) did an incredible job.”
Ron Holle, meteorologist at the National Lightning Detection Network said the nearly 10,000 lightning strikes recorded in the 10 miles around Chicago’s center represented one of the highest totals he’d ever seen for an area that size. “That’s a very large number,” Holle said. “It comes out to probably half of the whole year’s lightning in that area.”
“Absolutely,” Hendry said. “Wally Bell did a terrific job. Two hours and 45 minutes he hung in there on a game that was already a legal, finished game. It speaks well of how the umpires do their business in a contending situation. It’s an important game for people. I think he went well beyond the call of duty, giving it a fair shot.”
Most lightning is negatively charged, but data indicated that during portions of the storms Monday there was more than 2 1/2 times the usual percentage of positively charged bolts, which are more powerful. “Not only were the total numbers just off the charts, but there was a disproportionate number of strokes that were positive charged,” Skilling said. “That was an especially dangerous lightning display.”
Hendry “As loud and as bright as some of the lightning was originally, he was given assurances that it was not close. I don’t think anyone who was on top of it felt anything was real close until the last jolt. Then it was definitely time to shut ‘er down.”
The danger Monday night did not dissuade storm chasers such as Walker Ashley, a professor of meteorology at Northern Illinois University, from rushing into the teeth of the squall to photograph the swelling clouds and lightning bursts. Ashley said the storm was moving too fast for him to snap more than a few pictures as it tore through DeKalb County, but said that the lightning had a different appearance than usual. “I did note the lightning was very, very vivid and very, very dangerous,” Ashley said.
Hendry praised Bell’s handling of the situation, to the league office as well as publicly. ”You certainly don’t want to have anybody get hurt,”
Hendry said. ”Wally did the best he could. It was his call. The game’s in his hands. And obviously no one was hurt, so in this case, he made the right call.”
“It didn’t pop,” Geary said. “It’s kind of like when you hit your funny bone — it sort of felt weak.” (after slipping off the mound in the 7th.)
Mike Port, Major League Baseball’s vice president of umpiring defended Bell’s decision by pointing out that the Cubs sent him a note today complimenting them.
Lance Berkman, 1st baseman, and guy standing in the middle of a field during an historic lightning storm, “This is a baseball game, and these games are important because teams are trying to make the playoffs, and everybody understands that. But at the same time, don’t lose your mind.”
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