Tom Hallion has been fielding calls from panicked investors looking for someone to blame for the shrinking value of their portfolios. The yelling doesn't bother the Morgan Keegan Inc. broker. After all, he's a Major League Baseball umpire.

In the last month, Hallion has watched historic drops and record rallies in the stock market, while umpiring in the World Series for the first time. He spends his days setting up an office in his hotel room, working his laptop and cell phone to monitor the market and keep in touch with clients. At night, he's in his black-and-grey uniform, calling balls and strikes on the baseball field.
``My pride is to get every call right,'' Hallion said during an interview at his office in Louisville, Kentucky, on Oct. 17. ``When you don't get it right, it's hard to swallow.''
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index is down more than 38 percent this year on concern slumping economies around the world will hurt corporate profits. Hallion manages about $25 million for his clients, including 25 fellow big-league umpires.
In his 20th-floor office during a break in the playoffs, Hallion ignored the buzzing of his Blackberry and recommendations blaring from the squawk box as he tried to convince a client on the telephone that it was time to put money into the stock market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average had just opened down 200 points, even after billionaire Warren Buffett told investors to buy shares and capitalize on the fear that has gripped the market. Hallion hung up the phone without an order.
``Knowing it's a great buying opportunity and getting people to commit to going in is very difficult,'' said the 52- year-old father of three.
Umpire Joe West is one client Hallion doesn't need to convince. West called him with an $11,000 order to buy more shares of oil tanker companies Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. and Arlington Tankers Ltd. Hallion first recommended Arlington prior to its initial stock sale in 2004.
``Tom and I talked about it,'' said West, who has worked with Hallion since he started as a broker. ``This is the time to buy. These two companies are not going out of business.''
West said he has already made money on both purchases. He bought Nordic American at $22 a share and it's now up to $26.84, while American Tanker has climbed to $9.46 from $7.10. Both pay dividends of more than 20 percent.
Hallion scrolls through the dozens of e-mails he gets from Morgan Keegan analysts and clicks on one that advises buying high-dividend paying stocks in the S&P 500. He favors shares of U.S. pipeline partnerships including Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP and Energy Transfer Partners LP because of their 8 percent and 10 percent dividends. Both companies were undervalued following declines of as much as 18 percent and 34 percent in October, he said.
(Source: Bloomberg)