Friday, August 20, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section B·Page 7
Baseball
Respected umpire sure of return
The Associated Press
CLEVELAND — Richie Garcia will be in Tiger Stadium on Sept. 2, working behind the plate or at one of the bases, just like he has every baseball season since 1975.
And he promises the game between the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers won't be his last.
"I'm not quitting. We're not quitting," said Garcia, one of 22 umpires whose resignations were accepted by baseball. "I've got in my mind that I'm going to be working Sept. 3, and if not Sept. 3, then some other time."
Fearful baseball would lock them out after their labor contract expires Dec. 31, umpires announced last month that they would quit en masse to try to force an early start to negotiations.
But the strategy backfired when their union split and 27 of the 68 umpires either refused to resign or withdrew their resignations. Baseball then hired 25 new umpires from the minors.
Garcia, a 57-year-old grandfather of four, is one of the game's most-repected umpires. He's surprised that some of the umpires being kept have less experience and lower ratings.
Garcia has earned a reputation as one of the best balls-and-strikes umpires in the league. His engaging personality has always made him popular with players, managers and fans,
some of whom best remember him for his controversial call in the 1996 AL playoffs. That's when young Jeffrey Maier reached over the right field wall in Yankee Stadium, prevented Baltimore's Tony Tarasco from s a t c h i n g Derek Jeter's drive and turned it into a home run.
After his name appeared on the list of umpires possibly on their way out, Garcia said he has been approached by people around the league offering kind words and advice.
"This situation has been a chance for me to realize there are people who have appreciated what I've done on the field for 25 years," he said. "Obviously, the American League doesn't appreciate it. All I heard from them was, thank you for 25 years and I hope you have a nice retirement."
That day still is years away as far as Garcia is concerned, so long as he gets to plead his case.
"I had a long visit with Richie before the game," Texas manager Johnny Oates said Wednesday night. "Don't count on him leaving just yet. This thing can get worked out where we're able to keep the good umpires."
hours each day working to make sure he and the other 21 umpires are heard. He is in constant contact with umpires and the union's lawyers, who are trying to convince the National Labor Relations Board to seek an injunction to prevent the 22 from being let go.
Garcia, vice president of the umpires' union, said he's spending 18 or 19
"We're still going to the NLRB every couple of days," Garcia said. "We're sending more and more evidence of unfair labor law practices. We're actually putting our faith in the legal system. Hopefully, we can get something negotiated before Sept. 2."
The last month's upheaval has strained relationships among some of the umpires, Garcia said. Friendships have been broken and those umpires who crawled back to baseball won't be forgotten — on his crew, Mike Reilly broke with the union leadership and Laz Diaz and Brian O'Nora agreed to become permanent replacements.
Garcia also blames baseball and the league offices for not creating a dialogue.
"There's a lot of animosity," he said. "We feel that they contributed to the firing of the 22 girls."
Garcia is holding out hope that a solution can be found before Sept. 2. He has plenty of ideas on how to fix things, Garcia just wishes management would listen.
And he's hoping the umpires who broke with the union will explain why.
The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Cardinals have decided the future is now for Rick Ankiel.
Earlier in the season, general manager Walt Jocketty said he was not going to rush Ankiel, a second-round draft pick in 1997 who turned 20 last month but has one of the most promising arms in baseball. Then he went 6-0 with an 0.91 ERA at Double-A Arkansas, and they promoted him to Triple-A Memphis.
After watching Ankiel throw six innings where there was only one-hit ball Monday, Jockeyt had seen enough that he can't wait for September to bring him up with the rest of the minor-league callups. Ankiel, who was 7-3 with a 3.1 ERA in 16 starts for Memphis, will make first major league start Tuesday night at
Cardinals bring up rookie pitcher
offers
"The last few days, we decided to kind of speed the process up a little." Jackett said.
Jockety said the main reason Ankiel was getting an earlier look-see was because the rotation was shy one member after Jose Jimenez, who had been a disappointment aside from his no-hitter and two-hitter against Randy Johnson, was demoted Tuesday.
"We talked about it at length with our minor-league personnel after I saw him pitch," Jocketty said. "We just decided since we were making the change with Jimenez, we would bring Rick up now and give him an opportunity."
It's no coincidence that Ankiel's debut will come on the road, to cut down on pressure. A bonus is it's coming in Montreal, one of the least baseball-savvy cities.
Ankiel, who signed for $2.5 million straight out of high school, had 119 strikeouts in 88-1-3 innings at Memphis. Last year, he had 222 strikeouts at Peoria and Prince William, both Class A teams, leading all minor leaguers.
"He's really going to get too much attention," said manager Tony La Russia. "But I'm really going to be oblivious, and so will (pitching coach) Dave Duncan to popular opinion.
we're going to watch this young man and do
"what's beef for him."
La Russia said that depending upon how Ankiel pitched would determine if Ankiel stayed with the team.
Ankiel will be the Cardinals' youngest pitcher to make his debut since Al Hrabsky also broke in at age 20 in 1970.
"We've got 25-year-olds playing and their first couple times out it's a little shaky playing in front of 40,000 people," reliever Rick Croushore said. "But he's got a good head on his shoulders, and if he stays calm and does what he has to do, I think he'll be all right."
Another top prospect, infielder Adam Kennedy, will join the team today in New York. Kennedy, 23, was the team's No.1 draft pick in 1997, and he batted .329 with 10 home runs, 62 RBIs and 18 steals in 89 games at Memphis.
Kennedy also played for the United States's silver medal-winning team in the Pan American Games last month.
"I'd be surprised if he doesn't hit in the big leagues," Jockett said. "He's hit everywhere he's played. He deserves to come up here and show what he can do."
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