Today in Baseball History: Umpire John McSherry dies after collapsing on the field

Opening Day in Cincinnati is special. Everything basically shuts down. A big parade is held and a party atmosphere pervades the city. The Reds have not gotten the honor of hosting the absolute first game of each year’s baseball schedule for some time, but the first Reds game each year — always at home, always a day game — is a special experience.

Opening Day 1996, however, was a tragic one, as home plate umpire John McSherry, working his 26th season as a major league umpire, collapsed and died during the first inning of the Reds game against the Montreal Expos.

McSherry was in good spirits before the game, jokingly telling Reds catcher, Eddie Taubensee, “Eddie, you can call the first two innings.”  A few moments later, however, there were some signs — recognized only in hindsight — that something was off. Expos coach Jim Tracy said that when he brought out his team’s lineup card, McSherry slurred some of his words. Reds starter Pete Schourek was surprised when his first pitch of the game — a fastball delivered to leadoff hitter Mark Grudzielanek that was right down the middle — was hesitantly called a ball, as if perhaps McSherry didn’t really see the pitch.

Things proceeded normally for a few moments. Grudzielanek flied out to right. Expos second baseman Mike Lansing struck out swinging. Then Rondell White came to bat. With the count 1-1, McSherry stepped away from the plate, raised his right hand, and waved it toward second base. Taubensee later recalled that McSherry said “hold on, timeout for a second.” Taubensee thought that maybe McSherry had pulled a muscle in his leg or hurt his back. He walked back toward the gate in the stands that led to tunnel leading to the umpire’s room. That’s when he collapsed.

MLB announces historic crew-chief assignments

Article first paragaph:

Veteran umpires Gary Cederstrom, Dana DeMuth, Mike Everitt and Jeff Kellogg are all stepping away from the full-time Major League staff, creating four crew-chief vacancies that will be filled by Kerwin Danley, Dan Iassogna, Alfonso Marquez and Jim Reynolds. Danley will be the first African-American crew chief, while Marquez becomes the first Mexican-born crew chief.

Why Giants brought in umpires for second round of bullpen sessions

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.—When Andrew Suarez kicked at the dirt on the bullpen mound Saturday and looked in at his catcher, most of what he saw was similar to every other bullpen session of his life. There was one key difference, though: An umpire in full uniform crouched behind the catcher.

Suarez fired a fastball, and the umpire emphatically pointed a finger to his left, signaling a strike.

“It was different, but I liked it,” Suarez said. “You get a good feel for the plate.”

The Giants have made a lot of subtle changes to drills under manager Gabe Kapler and a 13-person coaching staff. Pitchers fielded pop-ups Sunday, an extreme rarity in a sport where the default move for a pitcher is to get out of the way and let an infielder take over. The outfield drills more closely resemble the NFL combine, with cones meticulously set up and coaches focusing on change-of-direction. But the biggest difference through a week of camp has been the addition of three real professional umpires to bullpen sessions.

MLB Umpires to Explain Replay Review Decisions Via Microphone for 2020 Season

Umpires in MLB will begin communicating the decisions for video reviews to fans by microphone during the 2020 season, according to ESPN’s Pedro Gomez.

Gomez added umpires “may also explain rules, if necessary.”

MLB’s Replay Operations Center is tasked with conducting the reviews and relaying the decisions to umpires on the field. Allowing an umpire to explain the outcome—much like an NFL referee—should provide a level of transparency for fans.

Having said that, the change is unlikely to eliminate the controversy that can grow from contentious calls on the field.

It takes hard work to come up with such a bad idea…..

Prior to Game 6, World Series umpires say goodbye to one of their own

HOUSTON — Early Monday morning, when the World Series left Washington D.C. for Houston, the series’ seven umpires boarded a charter flight to Iowa to bury their friend.

Eric Cooper had been a major league umpire for 24 years. They’d worked the same season-long crews with him. One had worked this year’s Minnesota-New York division series with him. They’d shared long nights on hot fields in front of edgy crowds, the hard lifestyle between those games, and the meetings at home plate to begin the next one.

Coop, as they called him, was 52. He’d died nine days before. A blood clot, believed to be a complication from knee surgery a few days prior, had quieted the laugh, had silenced the frequent encouraging text messages, and had put them on a dawn flight to Des Moines.

In Iowa, they joined some 50 other active big-league umpires, along with retired umpires and other baseball officials, including several men who tend the umpires’ rooms in ballparks. The fraternity is close.

M.L.B. Will Investigate Umpire’s Tweet About Trump Impeachment

Major League Baseball will look into a tweet sent by Rob Drake, an umpire, that mentioned the possible impeachment of President Trump, firearms and the specter of an American civil war, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Drake tweeted Tuesday “I will be buying an AR-15 tomorrow, because if you impeach MY PRESIDENT this way, YOU WILL HAVE ANOTHER CIVAL WAR!!! #MAGA2020” The tweet, which was first reported by ESPN, has since been deleted and the account was deactivated.

Drake previously had posted several other tweets supporting President Trump and criticizing the impeachment inquiry. USA Today reported that Drake’s previous tweets included a reply repeating the debunked conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Another tweet included an expletive to call Hillary Clinton a “liar” about a lethal attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012. ...

MLB Umpire is prepared to shoot people in support of Donald Trump

Major League umpire Rob Drake posted and deleted a tweet late Tuesday indicating that he would be purchasing an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle on Wednesday in order to wage “CIVAL WAR” should Congress impeach peabrain president Donald Trump. Going to go out on a limb here and assume that “CIVAL” means “civil,” and that Rob Drake is fantasizing about shooting the libs.

Eric Cooper, MLB umpire for 21 years, dies at age 52

Condolences to the Cooper family