My youngest grandson turned 3 years old last Saturday. Noah can count to 4. Actually, he has been able to count to more than 4 for many months.

I mention this because in the past week or so men much older and more educated than Noah have demonstrated that they are incapable of counting to 4. I am talking about major league umpires, eight of whom lost track of the count on the batter twice.

Of course, so did everyone else – players, coaches, managers – because no one questioned the count. But the umpires, starting with the home plate umpire, have the first responsibility of knowing how many balls and strikes the pitcher has thrown.

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A movie critic has an easy job. He or she watches a movie (gets paid for watching it, in fact) and expresses his or her opinion about it. The critic is never wrong. Others might disagree with the critic’s opinion of the movie, but they can’t say he or she is wrong.

I am not a movie critic, but I saw a film last week that I thought was very good and recommend it for you to watch when it premieres on HBO at 9 p.m. July 13, the day after the All-Star game. “The Curious Case of Curt Flood” is a 90-minute documentary that does a good job of examining the former outfielder’s career and the court case that short-circuited it.

Aside from applauding the film generally, though, I especially liked it because it unmasks Bob Gibson for the Tin Man that he is (that’s a reference to another film, “The Wizard of Oz”).

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You would probably not want to invite Bud Selig and Frank McCourt to the same party, no more than you would invite Frank McCourt and Jamie McCourt to the same party. Of course, the McCourts would offer a better reason to engage socially with them. They were married.

The only vows Selig and McCourt might exchange would be oaths of a profane nature.

Selig was delighted last year when Tom Hicks was forced to sell the Texas Rangers. He will be ecstatic when McCourt sells the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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