Friday, April 29, 2011

Old-School Umpires


On the way home from work today, I was listening to the start of the Phillies' game on the radio. After giving the lineups, the broadcaster said the names of the 4 umpires, not one of which I recognized!

Immediately, I began recalling some of the names of umpires from back in the day (National League only, as I grew up following the Phillies). Names like Shag Crawford, Harry Wendelstedt, Chris Pellakoudas, "Big" Lee Weyer, and Frank Pulli. The only AL umpire I can recall was Al Barlick (or maybe it was Al Bartlett). Other NL umps from the next generation were Eric Gregg, Joe West, and Jerry Crawford (Shag's son).

How about you all out there? Who are some of the NL or AL umps you can remember from the 60s and 70s?

(Please limit your answers to names from memory only! Looking guys up on the computer or in books detracts from any trivia exercise, in my view. The names above were retrieved from little-used brain cells, not Google.)

9 comments:

Matt Runyon said...

Doug Harvey, Dick Stello

Jim from Downingtown said...

Ahh yes, Doug Harvey - I forgot about him. (Dick Stello doesn't ring a bell, though.)

Jim from Downingtown said...

Matt,

The name Satch Davidson just came into my head (no, really!)

Then I sifted through 5 of the most popular boys' names of the early 20th century (John-Bill-Bob-Jim-Charles) and thought of Jim Quick and Bill Haller. I think Quick worked in the 70s & 80s. Haller was an AL ump, and the brother of Giants' catcher Tom Haller.

(There must be an ump from those days named John or Bob.)

Jim from Downingtown said...

Ed Vargo

Jim from Downingtown said...

I heard Darren Daulton recounting a Bruce Froemming story on the radio tonight.

Jim from Downingtown said...

Augie Donatelli!

Jim from Downingtown said...

I saw this post appear under "popular posts" on the sidebar, and it reminded me of a few months ago, when I found a Wikipedia page for NL umpires.

After more than 2 years, I'm "flipping over all the cards" to say:

Other familar names I found there were John McSherry (who died on opening day 1996), Dutch Rennert, Tom Gorman, Ed Sudol, and John Kibler.

Other umps of that time period who didn't ring a bell with me were: Nick Colosi, Paul Pryor, Bob Engel, Ken Burkhart, Andy Olsen, Bill Williams, Frank Secory, Mel Steiner, and Tony Venzon.

Unknown said...

Don't forget Nester Chylak and Don Denkinger. Someone already beat me to Augie Donatelli.

Unknown said...

Wow, just came across this post.
Thanks to all the contributers. It's
Interesting how ones memory can be challenged to recall things from our youth. I followed the Dodgers from 62, listening to Vin Scully on a transistor radio. All the umpires we're introduced during his broadcast and he would share tidbits if info about those umps as the game was described by the legendary announcer. You kinda got to know those umps along with the players. Vince Scully was a gem as were those Great umpires named in the previous posts.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane.