Saturday and Sunday Brian Knight was in Anaheim.

Monday, he may be in St. Louis, Seattle or Salt Lake City.

Such is the itinerant life of an umpire, and Knight wouldn’t trade it for any other profession.

“I don’t think too much about the future,” Knight said during a recent visit to Helena. “There are too many unanswered questions. You just kind of go day by day with this career and hopefully the chips fall the right way. If they do, I am one lucky guy. I have been extremely lucky thus far.”

Knight, a Helena native, has been umpiring major league baseball games since 2001, however, his career path has been a little unsettled at times. He has split time between Class AAA and big-league games until this season, where he has worked exclusively in the major leagues. However, that doesn’t mean he is a member of the exclusive club along with 68 major-league men in blue.

Umpiring jobs are similar to Supreme Court judgeships in that a person has to retire for a spot among the 68 to open up. Knight is showing this season that he belongs in that select group.

Knight, who began umpiring close to home in Pioneer League games in 1995, has steadily moved up the chain. In 2001, he began splitting time between Pacific Coast League games and MLB games.

This year, however, he called a major-league game on opening day and because various umpires have been out of duty due to sickness or vacations, he hasn’t stopped yet.

On April 1, he was on the field for Oakland’s game against Boston for opening day a game that he calls a “great thrill.”

A month later, he called a game that provided even more excitement and once again it involved the Red Sox.

Young Boston pitcher Jon Lester was throwing BB’s and the Kansas City Royals were waving at the ball with no success. Knight was Behind the plate.

“Around the seventh inning, I was taking notice that there were no hits,” said Knight. “My main goal was to remain calm. I didn’t want to be a factor in the outcome either way.”

The umpiring crew went unscathed for the game with no calls that were controversial. The only scare came when Boston center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury made a diving catch midway through the contest to prevent a bloop single.

“The main thing for me was to go about doing everything the same as normal,” Knight said. “There wasn’t a lot different from that game than any other game. Everybody was trying to keep everything normal.”

Lester went on to toss the no-no and Knight had a first in his career, a first time calling a no-hitter.

While Knight was able to call a clean game in that instance, he does work at correcting the rare missed call, using video on Major League Baseball’s Web site to evaluate his performance after each game.

“I am not looking to see if I got a play right or wrong,” he said. “If I see a missed call, I want to know why and understand how I could have gotten into better position.”

He also has an excellent resource in his father, Jim, who has been a long-time umpire in the Helena area as well.

Contrary to what many fans believe, missed calls by umpires are rare. Knight points to statistics that were released last season that say that umpires make the correct call 99 percent of the time.

“You always remember the ones you miss and hopefully those are few and far between,” he said.

One night in a game between Baltimore and Texas, he called an Oriole runner out at the plate after a passed ball. Knight was blocked on the play and called the runner out. The call was missed, but Knight said that he didn’t dwell on it.

“I remember that one, because it was at a big point in the game,” Knight said. “I don’t feel bad when I miss a call per se, because I know that I tried my best to get into position to see it.”

He has seen countless plays in countless stadiums and been part of countless calls. He does still have ties to home as he frequently runs into fellow Capital High graduate Chris Roberts on the road. Roberts is part of a band, One Flew South, based in Nashville. The pair visit on the phone and get together when their respective paths come together.

However, for now Knight’s road takes him to the far corners of the United States and he waits for the call to tell him what city he is headed to next.

“I will never get used to the fact that I am on a major-league field and I let myself be a little awed by it,” he said. “No matter how many games I am up there for, I look around and see so many people and realize these are the stadiums I have seen as a kid. I realize that I am lucky enough and blessed enough to walk on that field. The ride so far has been terrific.”

Sports Editor Tom Cotton: 447-4070 or irsports@helenair.com