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Smith at home plate

International baseball umpire Ken Smith was back in the city of his birth this week. Picture: Louise White

Goldfields-born former international baseball umpire Ken Smith made a nostalgic return to Kalgoorlie-Boulder this week and was immediately struck by the game's local history.

Smith moved to Perth with his family in 1953.

But his return was like old times, with one of the first attractions catching his eye being the Hannan Street Goldfields Sporting Hall of Fame plaques of baseball stars Neville Pratt and Greg Harvey.

Based on his own impressive resume, there might one day be room for Smith's own plaque.

Smith, 66, retired from umpiring late in 2013 after 34 years and a remarkable 1597 games.

The tally includes 89 Claxton Shield and National League games and an appearance at the 1987 Festival Of Sport series in Perth, featuring Australia against Japan, Korea and China.

Despite becoming one of Australia's best and most respected umpires, Smith had not been a baseballer himself.

"The whole thing (umpiring) started for me through women's softball in Rockingham in 1976, when I coached and umpired for three years," he said.

"And then they got baseball going in 1979 and my immediate thought was, 'I've got to get involved.'

"That was December, 1979 and I umpired three games on my first day - two at South Perth and one at West Stirling, so it was a pretty busy way to start out."

Smith never expected his career would take him so far and span so many years.

"When I retired 18 months ago, it was with a bit of relief and regret as the body started to hurt, big time," he said.

"My (career) highlight was the 22-inning (State League) grand final (in 1988-89 between Melville and Morley) when I called something like 580 pitches.

"Afterwards, I ran into one of my colleagues and asked him how he thought I went and he said, 'I think you got two (calls) wrong,' which is not too bad over nearly seven hours."

Smith had a simple theory on what made a good umpire.

"Be consistent and be prepared to sit back and listen to others if there's a problem," he said.

"I look back over my career and I never got touched (physically) - I got a bit of abuse, but it was more frustration than anything."