Watching the Orioles in Detroit last night also offered a little nature study along with the old ballgame.
In the middle innings, a black squirrel appeared on the field, offering to be a pinch runner or whatever.
Later in the game, fearing an attack on a player resulting in rabies or whatever, home plate umpire Bill Miller got the grounds crew and several of the Orioles outfielders to do a big roundup and chase the varmint back to the bullpen area where he lives. If you sent out to a Hollywood casting director and asked for a typical baseball umpire type, what you would get would look exactly like Bill Miller: benignly gray, barrel-chested, and loud of voice, which is what he used to address the crowd and ask them to give a hand for the crew that sent Squirrely Joe off to his domicile. Nice touch!
The black squirrels are outnumbered by the common gray, or fox, squirrels by about 10,000 to one. And they are not a separate species or anything, not at all. They are just regular old squirrels born with a genetic trait known as melanism, which gives their fur more dark pigmentation.
They do appear frequently in cold northern area such as Ontario and Michigan, where that dark fur absorbs and retains heat in the winter. And you have never seen a black squirrel wearing a down vest, so there you go.
I've never seen one in my part of the world here in Baltimore County, but we were up at Mariner Point Park in Joppatowne, Harford County, and we saw a slew of them running around.
I hope this little guy comes back out for the next two games up in MoTown. The Orioles won because a squirrel put the hex on the Tigers!
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