Times staff writers take a look back at the Centennial Games

The Olympics offer things you don’t normally see.

In the semifinal baseball game between the United States and Japan, a call at home plate by Canadian umpire Glen Johnson brought Japanese Coach Katsuji Kawashima bounding out of the dugout to argue that his batter, Nobuhiko Matsunaka, had been hit in the foot by the pitch, not a foul tip.

And marching right beside him on the advance to the plate, wearing his ACOG-issued Panama hat and volunteer’s uniform, was an interpreter.