- Bruce Froemming
Bruce Neal Froemming (pronEng|ˈfɹɛmɪŋ; born
September 28 ,1939 inMilwaukee, Wisconsin ) is a former umpire inMajor League Baseball who became the longest-tenured umpire in major league history in terms of the number of full seasons umpired, finishing his 37th season in 2007. [http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070416&content_id=1913105&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb] He first umpired in theNational League in 1971, and from 2000 to 2007 worked throughout both major leagues. Early in the 2007 season, Froemming tiedBill Klem for the most seasons umpired (Klem's final season, 1941, included only 11 games as a substitute). [http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070416&content_id=1913105&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb] Previously, onAugust 16 ,2006 , Froemming umpired his 5,000th game between theDetroit Tigers andBoston Red Sox atFenway Park , making him the second umpire to reach that milestone; Klem retired after 5,374 games.cite web |url=http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2006-08-15-cover-froemming_x.htm |title=Froemming calling his 5,000th |accessdate=2006-08-17 |date=2006-08-15 |last=White |first=Paul |publisher="USA Today "] OnApril 20 ,2007 , he umpired at first base in theCleveland Indians -Tampa Bay Devil Rays game, passing Klem to become – at age 67 years 204 days – the oldest umpire in major league history. He worked his final regular-season game at age 68 years 2 days onSeptember 30 ,2007 , when Froemming received a standing ovation before umpiring his last regular-season game, manning the third base position as theMilwaukee Brewers hosted theSan Diego Padres at Miller Park in his native Milwaukee, with much of his family in attendance. [ [http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=669232 JS Online: Hall expects to be back on the center stage ] ] Because Froemming is over age 65, he will become eligible for election to theBaseball Hall of Fame in 2010 instead of having to wait the customary five years.Career
After a brief semi-pro playing career, Froemming became the youngest umpire in professional baseball in 1958 at age 18, working his way up through the minor leagues to the
Pacific Coast League before joining the NL staff in April 1971. While in the minor leagues, his work had caught the attention of skilled observers such as Hall of FamerJocko Conlan . Froemming became one of the NL's six crew chiefs in 1988. He alsoreferee d high school basketball games, and was recommended for the NBA byAl McGuire , but declined the opportunity when NL umpireAl Barlick helped him in his advancement to the major leagues.cite news | first = Dwyre | last = Bill | title = He's Not Ready For Last Call | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 2006-06-21 ]Froemming worked in 5
World Series : 1976, 1984, 1988, 1990 (Games 3-4) and 1995. He umpired in the League Championship Series in 1973, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997 and 2000, all in the NL. With his tenth appearance in the LCS in 2000, he broke the record he had previously shared with Doug Harvey;Jerry Crawford tied the record in 2003, and broke it with his 11th LCS in 2005. (Froemming and Crawford share the record of 10 NLCS, as two of Crawford's 12 were in the American League.)Froemming also officiated in a record 9
Division Series : 1981 (East Division), 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2007 (all but the last in the NL). He was the home plate umpire for the playoff games to determine the NL wild-card team in both 1998 and 1999. He also umpired in the All-Star Game in 1975 (played atCounty Stadium in his hometown of Milwaukee), 1986 and 2007, calling balls and strikes for the last two contests. [cite web |url=http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=txfroemmingallstar&prov=st&type=lgns |title=Froemming to serve as crew chief at All-Star Game |accessdate=2007-06-14 |date=2007-06-14 |publisher=Yahoo! Sports ]In the 2003 NLDS, Froemming surpassed Klem's record of working in 103 career postseason games (all Klem's games were in the World Series), ending the series with 107 games; Jerry Crawford passed him with 108 games upon working in the 2006 ALCS, but Froemming regained the record in the 2007 ALDS. He ended his career having officiated in 22 World Series games, 52 NLCS games and 37 Division Series games, a total of 111 postseason games.
Froemming was known for his extremely loud and enthusiastic strike call. He wore uniform number 6 beginning in the late 1970s, and kept the number when the umpiring staffs of the AL and NL were merged in 2000. "
Los Angeles Times " sports editor Bill Dwyre described him as "one of the game's true characters and legends," also calling him the prototypical umpire: "If Hollywood did a movie, they'd send 27 yuppies to study him. Often regarded as stern and stubborn, Froemming nonetheless occasionally displayed a sense of humor; when Fox Sports wired umpires with microphones for broadcasts of Saturday games in 2007, Froemming looked toward the huge baseball glove beyondAT&T Park 's outfield wall and wondered aloud whether Fox analystEric Karros had ever hit a ball that far. [cite news |first=Teddy |last=Greenstein |title=Umps find their voice on Fox telecasts |work=Chicago Tribune |page=IV-2 |date=2007-05-11 ]For his final season, Froemming's crew included
Brian Runge , the son ofPaul Runge , who served on the NL staff from 1973 to 1997; Froemming has recalled that he used to baby-sit for Brian.Froemming was also associated with the
Joe Brinkman umpire school inCocoa, Florida , which was renamed the Brinkman/Froemming umpire school several years prior to its closing in 1998.Memorable games
Froemming is reviled in
Philadelphia to this day for a call in the1977 National League Championship Series . [http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=18482530&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=581267&rfi=6] [http://www.philaphans.com/forums/showthread.php?s=cf5aeb725a94d8075322884e7f8c8a47&postid=797367] In Game 3 of the series, thePhiladelphia Phillies led theLos Angeles Dodgers by a run with two outs in the ninth andManny Mota on third.Davey Lopes hit a smash that struckthird baseman Mike Schmidt in the knee and caromed toshortstop Larry Bowa , who fired to first. Replays showed the throw clearly and easily beat Lopes, but Froemming called him safe. The Dodgers went on to win the game and the series in four games.On
September 3 ,2001 , Froemming was the second base umpire for theno-hitter pitched byBud Smith of theSt. Louis Cardinals . That game marked the record 11th time he had umpired in an official no-hitter; he had previously shared the record of 10 withSilk O'Loughlin ,Paul Pryor andJim McKean . OnSeptember 26 ,1981 , he was behind the plate forNolan Ryan 's record 5th no-hitter. Froemming did eventually work a perfect game, as the first base umpire forDennis Martínez ' gem onJuly 28 ,1991 . Two days earlier, he also umpired in what would have been a 12th no-hitter, but Montreal's Mark Gardner surrendered three hits in the 10th inning and lost; under current guidelines, baseball does not recognize games of nine hitless innings as no-hitters if hits are given up in extra innings.In April 2001, Froemming was the home plate umpire for the first game at Miller Park in his hometown of Milwaukee. On
July 24 ,2004 , he was the plate umpire in the famous game between theNew York Yankees andBoston Red Sox that involved a brawl. The game was won by the Red Sox on a dramaticwalk-off home run byBill Mueller off Yankee closerMariano Rivera .Controversy
A commanding presence on the field who was fined by National League and Major League Baseball on more than one occasion for his public comments and behavior, Froemming has acknowledged that "the one moment I would take back if I could" was in January 2003 when he referred to an umpire administrator as a "stupid Jew bitch" during a dispute over a relatively minor conflict over travel arrangements to Japan; the comment was made at the end of a voice-mail message, apparently after Froemming thought the call had ended. He was given a 10-day suspension without pay for the incident, which he accepted after making a public apology. Froemming was also fined in 1996 for going into the
Los Angeles Dodgers ' clubhouse before a game in New York against the Mets to getMike Piazza 's autograph.cite web
url=http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2003-01-30-froemming-slur_x.htm
title=Suspended Bruce Froemming apologizes for comment
accessdate=2006-08-17
date=2003-01-30
last=Walker
first=Ben
publisher="USA Today "] Froemming told Piazza that catcherJohnny Bench refused to sign baseballs for him once and proceeded to go 0 for 4 that day with three strikeouts. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=1501643&type=news ESPN.com - Slur costs umpire 10 days, Opening Day assignment ] ]New York Yankees ownerGeorge Steinbrenner blamed Froemming for not delaying Game 2 of the2007 American League Division Series between the Yankees and theCleveland Indians , in which an infestation of Lake Erie gnats swarmed around Yankees relieverJoba Chamberlain , who afterward lost a 1-0 lead in the 8th inning. However, Indians starting pitcherFausto Carmona pitched the top of the 9th inning in the same conditions and didn't allow a run.Froemming was calling balls and strikes on
September 2 ,1972 , when Cubs pitcherMilt Pappas had aperfect game with two outs and an 0-2 count in the ninth inning before walking the 27th batter (pinch-hitterLarry Stahl ); Pappas then completed the no-hitter, but later criticized Froemming for wasting his chance at immortality. The umpire notes, "It's gotten ugly now. Right after the game, he said the 3-2 pitch had missed, but as time has gone on, that pitch has gotten better and better."No-hitters
Froemming umpired in a record 11 official no-hitters in the major leagues:
*
April 16 ,1972 (second base) -Burt Hooton ,Chicago Cubs 4-0 vs.Philadelphia Phillies
*September 2 ,1972 (home plate) -Milt Pappas ,Chicago Cubs 8-0 vs.San Diego Padres
*August 5 ,1973 (third base) -Phil Niekro ,Atlanta Braves 9-0 vs.San Diego Padres
*August 24 ,1975 (home plate) -Ed Halicki ,San Francisco Giants 6-0 vs.New York Mets
*September 26 ,1981 (home plate) -Nolan Ryan ,Houston Astros 5-0 vs.Los Angeles Dodgers
*September 26 ,1983 (third base) -Bob Forsch ,St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 vs. Montreal Expos
*July 28 ,1991 (first base) -Dennis Martínez , Montreal Expos 2-0 atLos Angeles Dodgers -perfect game
*August 17 ,1992 (first base) -Kevin Gross ,Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0 vs.San Francisco Giants
*September 8 ,1993 (second base) -Darryl Kile ,Houston Astros 7-1 vs.New York Mets
*June 25 ,1999 (home plate) - José Jiménez,St. Louis Cardinals 1-0 atArizona Diamondbacks
*September 3 ,2001 (second base) -Bud Smith ,St. Louis Cardinals 4-0 atSan Diego Padres Quotes
*"It's great to see a young umpire like that. He's a nice boy, conscientious, hardworking, a million-dollar heart. And guts. They told me that he put an announcer out of the ball park one night in Tulsa. The announcer made some remark or other over the public address system about the umpire. Froemming stopped the game, turned to the announcer and said, 'Get out.' When I heard about that, I said, 'This is something. I'd like to see that, making an announcer leave the ball park.'" - Jocko Conlan, in his 1967 autobiography "Jocko"
*"The sun is 93 million miles away, and I can see that." - Froemming, when asked about his eyesight
*"For him, it's a calling, not a job. Something like holy orders. A sacrament, not a profession." - sportswriter Jim Murray
*"Bruce Froemming was an absolute terror at first - a cross between Napoleon and Hitler...especially if it's a day game after a midsummer's night contest and he has to umpire behind the plate." -Larry Dierker [http://www.brucefroemming.com/ (Site critical of Froemming)]References
External links
* [http://www.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/official_info/umpires/bio.jsp?id=2474 Major league profile]
* [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/F/Froemming_Bruce.stm BaseballLibrary.com] - career highlights and list of articles
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/29/sports/baseball/29umpire.html?ex=1285646400&en=7a377cf703f629b7&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss Umpire Revels in the Calls, and in Getting Them Right] - "New York Times" profile article, September 2005
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/17/AR2007081701690.html "Diamond-Hard Integrity"] - profile byGeorge F. Will ,August 19 ,2007
* [http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2006-08-15-cover-froemming_x.htm "USA Today": "Froemming calling his 5,000th"]
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