"An Umpire, Some Scouts and A Baseball Card Comes to Life"
I met Ria Cortesio in the summer of 1995, not surprisingly, at a baseball game. Ria was born and grew up in the Quad Cities and the Quad Cities River Bandits were the low Class A affiliate of the Houston Astros. I was in my fourth year of scouting and covering the Midwest League for the Astros.
My wife and I had recently moved to Davenport, Iowa and I was scouting a three game series at a stadium that was only a mile from our house- a real treat. I sat behind home plate, usually close to the pitchers in street clothes who were charting pitches for the game. I'm not certain, but I think Ria attended all three games also. She was only 18 or 19 that summer and much later I found out she attended Rice University, located in Houston, Texas so it made sense she was an Astros' fan.
I did not know her true ambition was to become a professional baseball umpire. After attending Jim Evans' five week school for umpires, Ria began her professional umpiring career in the minor leagues in 1999, in the short season Pioneer League.
She became the fifth female professional umpire in the history of the game and one of her masks is in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
I didn't see Ria again until she began umpiring games in the Midwest League. I probably saw her umpire 8-10 games during her Midwest League tenure and if you didn't see her name listed on the pre-game rosters, most fans and even scouts would not even notice a young woman was umpiring the game. Midwest League games have only two umpires on the field so they are forced to cover more territory than the four person crews and she did it smoothly with no mis-steps,
I never heard a manager, coach, player or fan berate her because she was a woman. In fact, post season questions about her work were usually answererd very favorably by everyone whose job it was to watch the game closely.
I think that maybe the best tribute you can direct her way is-she was a true professional and went out and did her job as flawlessly as anyone could have done in the games she worked.
She advanced to the Southern League (Double A), spending five seasons in the league. She worked both the 2006 All-Star Futures Game and the Major League Home Run Derby Contest, Just like players, coaches and even managers, umpires want to advance and climb through the different levels with the goal to reach the big leagues.
In late March of 2007, she became the first woman umpire to work in a Major League exhibition game since Pam Postema in 1989.
I mentioned several times in my new book, "Baseball's Test of Spirit," that often a professional career does not end well, often with disappointment and surprise, and Ria fell into that category. She worked five years in the Southern League and at the conclusion of the 2007 season she was released.
At the beginning of the 2007 season she was listed as the top-ranked umpire in Double A ball. This meant if there had been an injury or retirement she would have been eligible for promotion to AAA.
That's when Ria's upward course began to take a turn in the wrong dirction and by mid-season she was now listed in the middle of the pack of the Double A rankings. That drop in the rankings soon became a point of contention for Ria and other supporters.
Minor League baseball had a policy then to fire any umpire not promoted after five seasons, Since the 2007 season was her fifth consecutive year in AA, she was fired after the 2007 season.
Her release was not received well by many supporters, but the decision to fire her was not going to be reversed.
Like the women before her, Ria was a trailblazer, Eight years after Rea's dismissal, Jen Pawoll had the opportunityto umpire during MLB spring training, She is just the seventh woman to work as a professional umpire.
Ria worked a few college games after her dismissal, then retired from scouting.
Ria Cortesio
Some Scouts
I alluded to the fact that most of the time during my early years of scouting I followed the "listen and learn approach." I don't think it was intimidation as much as it was respect for those veteran scouts. I rarely mentioned I came directly from the college ranks because someone told me that the veteran guys didn't like that. (I didn't know why) And I never spoke about beginning my baseball coaching career as a little league coach. (I do know why)
I slowly built some confidence to the point that I was confident I could compete with opposing scouts. I made some mistakes, but nobody hits on every evaluation.
There was always a part of me that looked at some individuals with very high regard and it was a real treat to spend time with them. Many of them were fascinating conversationalists on a list of subjects. They had seen so much in their career and yet they were scouts just like me and it was a true pleasure to hear their baseball tales. They had great stories.
I told some of them in my book, but it was just a glancing blow. I felt confident that I could occasionally voice a thought, but it was more fun listening.
I met Jerry Krausse, the general manager of the Chicago Bulls during their six NBA championships between '91-98. Many people don't realize Jerry was a baseball scout before and after his time with the Bulls.He scouted for several major league clubs in the 70's including the White Sox. After his NBA career, he went back to baseball scouting with the Mets in 2005 and in 2010 he joined the White Sox again.
I had the opportunity to talk with Jerry during a long rain delay in Columbus, Ohio and later at a round table with four or five other scouts during a break in spring training action and finally during several games at Wrigley.
I watched the complete Netfix special on Jordan and the Bulls and what I thought about most of the time was how Jerry treated a younger baseball scout (like me) without ever showing the least bit of boastfulness or bragging. Someone else usually brought up the subject of the Bulls and he never complained or was negative about anyone during our conversations, He spoke only about players he thought may have been overlooked on a team that had several of the best players in basketball history-all on one team-some that Krausse had made magnificent trades for. I recall he spoke very highly of Bill Cartwright, acquired in a trade and who became the Bulls starting center in three championship years, 1991-1993.
Jerry passed in 2017 at the age of 77.
It was enjoyable to see and talk briefly to Pete Vuckovich, who was a junior when I was a freshman at Clarion University (Pa.). Pete was drafted by the White Sox in 1974 and later won the American League Cy Young Award with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1982.
Pete is also well known for his role as Yankees slugger Clu Haywood in the baseball film "Major League.
Vuckovich held several different scouting roles including; special assistant to the general manager with the Pirates and later with the Mariners, He also was a professional scout with Arizona for several years.
I was scouting for the Oakland Athletics when I was assigned to cover the White Sox at the end of the season. We were a playoff contender and although Chicago's playoff chances were slim, they were still mathematically in the hunt. I was scheduled to see them play on a Sunday afternoon and if they won, drive back home to catch a flight to Kansas City the next morning and continue covering the White Sox until they were eliminated from playoff contention.
Scouts are often in a hurry to depart after a game because they often have a long drive or flight to their next game site. Seated in the first row of seats, you often have to weave your way through aisles of people who aren't in the same hurry that you are to get to the concourse and head to the exit.
I didn't know Charlie Kerfield that well, but the former pitcher for the Astros proved to be the perfect guy to follow on your way to the stadium exits. Charlie pitched for Houston in the late 80's before becoming a minor league pitching coach and eventually a special assistant with the Phillies.
Charlie's large frame allowed me to follow him up the stairs and out the stadium exits several times. He didn't push or shove. He just created space automatically. I just followed his route, like a halfback running behind his pulling guard. He probably never knew it, but he was responsible several times for me making record time out of parking lots after games. I was home for dinner after that particular White Sox game (they won) and the 200 mile drive home.
In 1998, I had the opportunity to be the hitting coach for the A's short season club in Medford, Oregon, After the free agent draft, I made the 2,000 mile drive to Medford to begin a 76 game season.
Greg Sparks was our manager and Gil Lopez and I were his coaches. Each of us were ejected once from separate games during the '98 season. The same umpire tossed each of us at different times. The individual fine for an ejection at that time was 25 dollars, which was almost three days of meal money in the low minors at that time. That stung a little bit.
I was back to my regular season scouting position to begin the next season. It was opening day back in the Midwest League and I was watching batting practice when I heard my name being yelled, "Jim Pransky." I turned around and it was the same umpire who had bounced me out of the Northwest League game the previous summer. He had advanced a level in his umpire career and there he was again. He was cordial, but neither one of us had forgotten about the incident in Oregon.
A scout once told me he attended a big league game and it was the first time he ever saw an inning without the catcher flashing a signal. The Astros were protecting a ninth inning lead and Billy Wagner was sent in to close. He threw nothing but 97-100 mph fastballs and struck out the side on 10 pitches. The catcher knew what was coming. The hitter knew what was coming, but on this day and many other times for the lefty closer, it didn't matter who knew what they were going to see.
I was working for Tampa Bay and covering a playoff series in Philadelphia with the Phillies hosting Atlanta. The Phils took a big lead early and coasted into the ninth up by five or six runs. They brought Brad Lidge in to close, really just to get in some work. He had an outstanding year and all the scouts had already seen him throw many times that season. He struck out the first 2 hitters and the scouts started up the steps to watch the final hitter on the television screens in the concourse area,
As we made our way up the steps. the Phillies' fans called us every vile name they could think of and some I had never heard before.
"We're scouts." some guys said and that had absolutely no affect on the fans' anger,
"How can you leave a Phillies' playoff win? You guys aren't Phils' fans. Get out of our stadium!" Those were the mildest questions and instructions. And we had to come back the next day. The Phillies won game two of the series and even a few of the Philadelphia fans tried to beat the traffic. We said nothing and Philadelphia was a happy city with a 2-0 lead.
They felt ecstatic ten days later when they defeated the Rays in the 2008 World Series.
There's a section in my book where I listed 30-35 scouts who had a major role in my career and who I considered friends and advisors. They played a large part in my development as a scout during my 25 year career. That list of scouts could have been twice as large. There were several scouts who I didn't know very well, but just watching their professionalism day after day, game after game, set outstanding examples for me to watch and eventually follow.
A Baseball Card Comes to Life
Anyone who ever collected baseball cards knows there is usually one player you usually found in your pack of cards almost every time you opened one and it almost definitely was not going to be Koufax, Stargell, Brooks Robinson, Maris, or Mays.
One of my frequent acquisitions was Minnesota's Tom Brunansky. Tracy Jones of the Reds was another.
My nephews, Shane and Brett, came down to visit me in central Florida during their spring break in 1987 which coincided with baseball's spring training season. I lived only five minutes away from the Astros' training camp.
The boys were only 12 and 10 years old, but they already had a healthy collection of cards and, of course, I did also. Many of mine went back to the 50's and 60's. We designed a plan to pull as many cards as possible of players or players turned coaches who we might see at the spring training site.
Before our initial visit we sat in my living room, brought out all the cards and began to put together our cards of players, like Terry Puhl, Kevin Bass, Billy Doran and other Astros players. Our preparations were running smoothly.
We eventually discovered we had 14-15 cards of Eddie Watt, both as a player and as a coach. We had twice as many cards of Eddie than we did anybody else we thought we might see.
We went to the Houston complex three days in a row, arriving about 8:30 each day for the 9:00 a.m. workout. We'd pull into the parking lot each day and as we walked toward the cloverleaf of practice fields we always saw Eddie sitting alone on a bench outside the clubhouse entrance.
He was always one of the first members of the coaching staff outside and the boys would take a couple of his cards and approach him.
Shane and Brett were always polite and Eddie was always gracious, seemingly a bit surprised that these two youngsters would have some of his cards.
We did that for three straight days and I think Eddie always enjoyed and may have looked forward to the morning routine each day. I always stayed away from the kids and let the boys spend time with Eddie. I was happy that the boys were happy having a good time with it. Eddie probably signed hundreds of cards during his career and now we had about 15 of them signed and just as memorable for the boys was they actually had conversations with the Astros' minor league pitching coach pitching every day.
Shane and Brett began to realize that the player they had never heard of a week earlier was actually a contributing member of some very good Baltimore Oriole teams. Eddie played in the big leagues from 1966-1975. He was not a high profile pitcher, but also was overlooked at times despite playing a prominent role on some championship teams.
The 5'10 righthander was a member of the Orioles when they won three consecutive American League pennants from 1969-1971 and won the World Series over the Reds in 1970. He also was a member of the Orioles' World Series champion team in 1966. He was 38-36 in his career with a 2.91 ERA and 80 saves.
As my nephews grew older, every once in a while we would talk about those autograph days and Eddie's name would surface, Brett, who was now a very good writer thought about penning a story about his Florida spring training experience as a ten-year-old.
He called Eddie, who lived in Lamoni, Iowa. Eddie spoke pleasantly to him and included some good baseball stories including the time he acquired one of Brooks Robinson's gloves for his grandson.
As he watched his grandson play in a pickup game, Eddie asked him about Brooks' glove. His grandson replied that the glove was in use-as second base, stepped on, kicked around, but in the eyes of the kids serving a valuable purpose. A Hall of Famer's glove. Maybe the greatest fielding third baseman of all time. Yikes!
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