THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Baseball game seemed like normal — but was it?

It was a weird walk from the parking lot of the Kroc Center to Thorco Field in Coeur d’Alene on Sunday.

What was I going to see, when I crested the hill for the first live event I would cover since pandemic-monium swept the country nearly 3 months ago?

But what I saw was a baseball game that, with a few exceptions, looked very much like any other baseball game I’ve witnessed in nearly four decades of covering sports in North Idaho.

Four teams — The Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen, the Northwest Premier, which included several North Idaho players, and two Spokane Crew squads gathered at Thorco Field for a rain-delayed tripleheader that, once play began just before 3 p.m. — nearly 3 hours late — was completed without further interruption.

Maybe the weather gods also wanted to see the return of baseball.

There were a few fans in the bleachers behind home plate — some scattered, a few sitting together.

There were two folks up in the press box, at least 6 feet apart.

The fans of one of the teams were scattered to that team’s side of the plate. Some stood behind the backstop on their team’s side, near the dugout. Others sat in the bleachers past the dugout.

One dog, on a leash, eyed intently another dog on a leash, perhaps 50 feet away.

Just like any other day at the ballpark.

THE UMPIRES were the first thing I noticed that was not normal.

Why was there an umpire off to one side, near the backstop, stationed behind an “L” screen used by pitchers throwing batting practice?

Was he a trainee?

No, he was the home plate umpire.

And, as he explained later, that was something the umpires decided to do, at least for the time being, so the home plate umpire could keep a social distance from the catcher.

That made sense.

And, to his credit, he hustled out from behind that screen every time a ball was put into play, assuming all the duties of a home plate umpire.

Meanwhile, another ump stood behind the pitcher — at a social distance — and called balls and strikes. It reminded me of one of those games where they only have one umpire, and he does the best he can from behind the mound. And this guy did fine.

During the game, I was dying to ask the guy what he was doing behind an “L” screen, instead of behind the plate. But he looked kinda busy, and besides, I didn’t want to get too close and hear him roar ...

“Six feet, buddy!”

I guess that would have been better than ...

“Yer outta here!”

ONE OF the players getting ready to play in the next game I recognized — in part for the irony.

He played in the last game I covered — for Post Falls High, in the state 5A boys basketball championship game, on Saturday, March 7, at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

Little did I know the next game I would cover would be a Legion/club baseball game nearly three months later.

There was a high school baseball and softball game or two played since then, and a track meet held, before the coronavirus halted pretty much all sports at all levels.

But, at least locally, baseball is back — for now.

Who knows if we were all safe at Thorco Field on that Sunday afternoon — didn’t see a lot of masks, and doubtful any of the folks from Spokane quarantined for two weeks over here before they showed up at the field.

Guess we’ll find out.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.