March 15- Chicago Cubs

Tonight’s post is the first that I can honestly say that I’m doing as a journalist having graduated with my first two degrees in News/Editorial Journalism and English from the University of Oregon. For the last few years I had thrown that label around, but it never really seemed to stick. I suppose I have the beard, hats and variety of tattoos to thank for that. Nonetheless, I’ve always stayed true to my convictions and principles that it is my responsibility to relay the truth, or at least some version of the truth, to the masses. Writing and storytelling are my gifts, and I am truly honored by all the positive response that I’ve received for doing something I enjoy.

The first time I ever saw this cap was when I was seven or eight years old and living in Bakersfield, California. My best friend Bryan Gildner’s older brother Joel wore the franchise version for a solid year. For the longest time I had thought that it was a Jack Nicklaus Golden Bear hat that had been bleached in the sun. As I got older I was thankful that I had never looked like a dummy and opened my mouth to ask that… even though I’m now admitting my failure at life some 22 years later. You know what? Let’s just move on.

The Chicago Cubs only rocked this cap for one year back in 1914 as it served as their game cap for both home and road games. It should be noted that during the 1910s the Cubs changed their caps eight times, but more importantly, this is the only cap in the 137-year history of the Cubs organization to feature any version of a bear on their cap (excluding batting practice caps). That’s kind of a mind-boggling stat. Even more amazing is that the Cubs are also the oldest organization to not have an official mascot. Yes, I realize over the years the Cubs have had different variations of a bear in the form of a patch on their jackets and jerseys; however, I’m taking about the lack of a dude in a ridiculously elaborate and sweaty suit glad handling children, chucking peanuts in the crown and trying fir up the masses. Needless to say, the Cubs are one of the few longstanding professional sports organizations which have refused to stray far from the old days of conducting business.

Keeping in sync with the one-and-done, old school mentality of the ball club, I didn’t get too crazy with markings on this cap. Rather, I went with the only two notable things to occur that season.

’14- As I mentioned earlier, the Cubs only used this hat for one year in the franchise’s history, 1914. The team had gone 78-76 which was good enough for fourth place in the National League. The Cubs had been six years removed from their final World Series victory, two years removed from Franck Chance, their most successful manager in franchise history, leaving the club and certainly in need of a moral boost. Johnny Evers had taken over as player/manager in 1913 and faired rather well, going 88-65 in his one and only year in that specific role. In a reality, 1914 was just a wash year for the Cubs, so much that they ended up hiring an umpire to handle managerial duties that season.

O’Day- For those of you who don’t know who Hank O’Day is, you should get right on top of conducting your own independent research after reading this. O’Day had only managed for two seasons in Major League baseball: 1912 with the Cincinnati Reds and now the 1914 Cubs. O’Day, a Chicago native, was one of six children born to deaf parents in 1862. He had started out as a steamfitter’s apprentice, but found himself getting heavily involved in baseball at the age of 16. As a pitcher and left fielder, he bummed around the minors for five years before making his Major League debut with the Toledo Blue Stockings in 1884. O’Day played a total of seven years in the Majors which included stints with the Pittsburgh Alleghenys (Pirates), original Washington Nationals and the New York Giants.

After O'Day finished his playing career, he worked as a clerk for the Chicago city recorder's office. While attending a Chicago baseball game as a spectator one Sunday, O'Day was recruited from the stands to substitute for umpire Thomas Lynch, who was unable to make it to the game due to a train service cancellation. O'Day performed so well that he was recruited into full-time service as an NL umpire. Crazy! I wish I could get fitted for a job like that.

O’Day umpired in 10 World Series (1903, 1905, 1907-08, 1910, 1916, 1918, 1920, 1923 and 1926), only Bill Klem, the first umpire elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and a hiring choice of O’Day’s, has umpired in more. O’Day called balls and strikes for four no-hitters, a record matched over 50 years later by Harry Wendelstedt, who you may remember from my National League umpire hat post from February 20. But, the one thing that O’Day will forever be associated with is the infamous “Merkle’s Boner” game witch took place September 23, 1908.

He was working as the plate umpire in the game between the Cubs and the Giants, which ended when Al Bridwell's single drove in the apparent winning run. However, base runner Fred Merkle never advanced from first base to second, in keeping with the common practice of the era. When the Cubs produced a ball – not necessarily the game ball, which had been thrown into the stands – and claimed a force play at second base, which would negate the run, the debate erupted.
Emslie, who as base umpire had been watching the play at first base to verify that the batter had reached base, had not seen the play at second. O'Day ruled that the force play had been valid and that the run did not count, causing the game to end in a tie. It is noteworthy that at that time, Emslie and O'Day ranked as the two longest-serving umpires in major league history. – Wikipedia bio on O’Day

Go figure; a dude born in Chicago, umpiring at a Cubs game, and who later ended up managing the Cubs six years later ended up being the guy who had the balls the size of the attitude at The Weiner’s Circle to make that call. Nice!

O’Day hung it up at the end of the 1927 season. One can only assume that after witnessing the greatest New York Yankees team ever assembled drove him away from the game. (The last sentence I made up… sort of) In the years afterward O’Day served as an umpiring scout, but passed away in 1935 after contracting bronchial pneumonia and stomach cancer.
Despite the lack of player talent not being elected into the Hall of Fame this season, the Veteran’s Committee was at least wise enough to finally elect O’Day into the umpires’ shrine. He will be the 10^th umpire to being given such an honor.

February 20- National League Umpire

After last night’s unfortunate, but necessary research plunge, I was a bit hesitant to have this hat next in the rotation. The one advantage of moving on to the National League umpire cap is that I at least knew the end point of its use on the field. 1995 was the final year, just like its American League comrade, as 1996 ushered in the new era of the giant red “N” with the logo of the NL in the center (a crest with an eagle head and a bat and glove in each talon). So with that, it was back to YouTube and photo archives, funneling through footage from all World Series prior to 1988. Actually, one thing that I should have pointed out in the AL umpire post is that that particular hat was the second edition of the basic white font umpire cap. The first featured the “A” and “L” on separate panels. The one advantage that I have with the NL is that they never changed the look in all of the years they used it.

I decided to start my research in 1982, as I recall seeing this hat used by the NL umpires during the 1983 World Series footage I had scoured yesterday. I couldn’t find many videos on the World Series, but I did comb through 15 minutes of San Francisco Giants highlights from ’82. Being a loyal Oakland Athletics fan, I felt dirty every second my eyes glossed over the screen. About 13:46 into the video I got confirmation. 1981 was a little bit more challenging as most of the videos I found only featured World Series pre-game on ABC with a young Al Michaels and an always tenacious Howard Cosell. Once again I had to comb through several videos of highlights from the previous games until I got confirmation. It took about seven videos, but I got it. 1980 only took about two minutes as I came across a video of a controversial triple play call during Game 5 of the National League Championship Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros. Having four umpires in frame during the 20-minute argument made things very easy for me. Last, the 1979 World Series. Like the previous video, it took about two minutes to confirm that all of the umpires were wearing all-navy blue hats as the Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates slugged it. My total time spent doing research tonight: roughly 47 minutes. Yay!!!

From 1980-1995 the National League umpires rocked this hat, but this is only the second time I’ve ever worn it. My timing couldn’t have been any better when I decided to go with it today as it has been exactly 359 days since I last wore it. How do I know? Well… a week shy of a year ago I was in Phoenix, Arizona as a member of the Top 30 for the MLB Fan Cave. I had taken about six hats down south with me as a precaution. By that I mean I made sure to cover every possible angle I could depending on what we did and who we were to work with. On the last day (today for the current group) I had my panel interview with the executives in charge of the operation. Basically it was about 13-15 people with very prominent jobs within MLB sitting at tables in front of you and on both sides of you while you sit in a chair in the center of the room. Before I had gone in for my session, I waited outside and relaxed. Not knowing what to expect I just sat on the small set of steps which faced the breakfast lounge. During my wait, a gentleman in a light blue polo shirt came out and stopped mid-track to ask me about my hat. His question, “So what’s the deal with the hat?” I asked him to repeat his question, at which he repeated the same thing. Not knowing who he was, my response to the repeat question was, “No, I need you to clarify your question. Are you asking about the history, why I’m wearing it or some other bit of information?” He then asked why I was wearing it. I told him about my collection of hats and how it wouldn’t be complete unless I also had a few umpire hats in the mix. He seemed impressed by my answer, at which we discussed the Diamond Collection. After about eight minutes of this talk he finally told me that he was in charge of the licensing for the Diamond Collection. I then thought about my previous curtness when trying to break down his first question and how it would later affect me as it turns out he was a member of the panel interview. “Oh drat!” I thought. As it turns out, it didn’t affect me at all. Matt Bourne, the Vice President of Business Public Relations at Major League Baseball, had a pretty good-sized folder in front of him, filled with information dating back to before I was in high school, and he led the interview. The rest of the panel consisted of Tim Brosnan- the Executive Vice President of Business for MLB, and is essentially the next guy in line for spot of Commissioner after Bud Selig retires, Jacqueline Parkes- the Chief Marketing Officer for MLB, Jeff Heckelman- a member of the Public Relations staff and Tyler Hissey- the stooge who runs the Fan Cave Twitter account and Facebook page. There were others, but none of them with as high of a ranking as those five. Anyway, I got through the interview with little to no problems. All of my answers were off the top of my head and honest, which is a principle I abide by unless I really need to mull something over. I left the room, but not until I shook everyone's hand and thanked them for their time. My friend, and Fan Cave Top 30 member Brad Jeffers was waiting outside for his run of the gauntlet as I submerged. I felt pretty good about things. Obviously, the rest is history. I was one of nine people to make it to New York City, I was let go, promised assistance for the future (job wise by Parkes and Heckelman) and have yet to be talked to by any of those people since. So, like the umpires who previously wore this cap, the state of my future career is ultimately in their hands. God damn it.

I couldn’t come up with two better people to pay tribute to, so I’ll just roll into it…

#10- John McSherry was a National League umpire from 1971-1995. Throughout his career, McSherry umped in three All-Star games (1975, 1982 and 1991), eight NLCS (1974, 1978, 1983-85, 1988, 1990 and 1992), two NLDS (1981 and 1995) and two World Series (1977 and 1987). Of all the games he umpired, the most notable had to be as the home plate umpire for Game 6 of the 1977 World Series when Reggie Jackson belted three home runs. The 8-4 Yankees victory earned the "Bronx Bombers" their first World Series championship under owner George Steinbrenner and their first title since 1962. After Jackson's first home run off Burt Hooton, Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda came to the mound to make a pitching change. Lasorda asked McSherry who he should summon from the bullpen; McSherry suggested that Lasorda go with right-hander Elías Sosa. Sosa would give up Jackson's second home run in the fifth. McSherry was not a slender man either. At 6’2’’ his weight had ballooned up to close to 400 pounds by the time 1996 rolled around, a note which some say was a contributing factor to his death on April 1, 1996. I still remember this day. It was Opening Day of the ’96 season and McSherry was working home plate for the Cincinnati Reds/Montreal Expos game in Cincy. Seven pitches into the game, McSherry called a timeout, spoke briefly to Reds catcher Eddie Taubensee, and walked slowly towards the Reds' dugout. Moments after signaling for the second base umpire to come in and replace him, McSherry stumbled and collapsed. Resuscitative efforts were begun on McSherry and he was taken to University Hospital in Cincinnati, but he was pronounced dead within the hour. He was 51 years old.

#21- Harry Wendelstedt is arguably one of the best umpires to ever work in the National League, and did so from 1966-1998. During his time he umped in four All-Star games (1968, 1976, 1983 and 1992), three NLDS (1995-1997), seven NLCS (1970, 1972, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1988 and 1990) and five World Series (1973, 1980, 1986, 1991 and 1995). Most notably, Wendelstedt was the home plate umpire for five no-hitters, a distinction he shares with Bill Klem. On May 31, 1968, Wendelstedt made a famous call that preserved Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale’s consecutive shutouts and scoreless innings streaks. Giants catcher Dick Dietz came to the plate in the top of the 9th inning with the bases loaded and no outs. On a 2–2 count, Drysdale hit Dietz on the elbow, apparently forcing in a run that would have ended the streaks. However, Wendelstedt ruled that Dietz made no attempt to avoid being struck by the pitch, and called him back. Drysdale retired Dietz on a short fly ball and got out of the inning without yielding a run, earning his fifth (of six) consecutive shutouts. On March 9, 2012 Wendelstedt passed away after a 10-year fight with a brain tumor. Wendelstedt has a son, Hunter, who is still umpiring in the league and wears #21 to honor his father.

February 19- American League Umpire

I can’t even begin to tell you how much of a pain in the ass doing research for this hat has been. For starters, there isn’t a single dedicated Web site or listing to prove the use of each and every style of cap used by MLB, American League and National League umpires. Trust me; the last fours hours prior to writing this were dedicated to scouring every last terabyte of information revolving around umpires caps. I started with the obvious, “Dressed to the Nines,” a Web site operated by the Hall of Fame which showcases every hat, pant and jersey combination for every team throughout Major League Baseball’s history. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed a lot of flaws with their displays. For instance, the wrong colors are used on a number of hats, which has prompted me to use other resources a number of times on my daily task. Most importantly, none of the umpire uniforms are listed on the site. And with that, a seemingly easy task became more of a vision quest.

Lucky for me, I knew a rough time frame in which this particular cap was used; however, I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to these things so accuracy was key. The first time in my life I could recall ever seeing this cap was in one of my favorite comedies of all time, “The Naked Gun.” If you don’t follow me on Twitter, you should, but I bring my account up because of something I said earlier while I was watching clips from the film: “Why isn’t The Naked Gun in anyone’s Top 10 baseball movies of all time list?” It’s a valid point. I mean, it has actual MLB stars from the era (Jay Johnstone and Reggie Jackson), not to mention one of the funniest portrayals of umpiring/Leslie Nielsen’s brilliance in a five minute clip on the field at Dodger Stadium. (Sidebar: The mere fact that they filmed the California Angels/Seattle Mariners game at Dodger Stadium proves how much people actually hate the Angels outside of Los Angeles) But the most vital detail of this clip is that this is in fact the first indication of when this hat was used on a professional field. Watch…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7igsvOqOYXA 

As a frequent user of IMDB.com I made sure to do my research on my last catharsis. “The Naked Gun” was released on December 2, 1988, which was obviously after Kirk Gibson and the God damn Dodgers beat the Oakland Athletics in the 1988 World Series. After doing some digging I found out that the entire film production took place between February 16, 1988 and some time in April 1988; which means that filming of the baseball scenes took place during spring training OR April 21-24 when the Mariners were in Anaheim playing the Angels (Which is more than likely). Like I said, I did a lot of research. Now, the other part of this question is, “how do I know that the hats weren’t used before then?” Easy, I looked through every World Series, American League Championship Series or significant date within the A.L. I could find from 1980-1988. In an ironic twist that will come up in several blog posts in the future, the 1987 video I found was a Dan Gladden highlight compilation.

Now, I figured out the first part, but I still had to find the end date. The easiest thing to do was start in 1994 when the updated version of “Angels in the Outfield” was released. You remember, Christopher Lloyd saying, “you can call me AL” as he put the cap on. By the way, I’m curious to know if Disney was sued by Paul Simon for that quote. Hmmmmm… anyway, I then bounced around a bit more and found a few photos from 1995 which featured the hat, but not in 1996. ’96 was the first year in which the umpires started wearing those horrific red shirts, but most importantly, it’s the first year in which they rocked the caps with the giant red “A” with an eagle in the middle.

So yah, I did a lot of research on something you’ve probably given little to no thought about. But hey! We have an answer! As for the marks, I had to be just as clever about it.

#11- The American League didn’t adopt numbers for umpires until the start of the 1980 season, so with that I had to roll with someone who umped during the time when this cap was used. So, who better than Don Denkinger? Now, I know what you’re thinking, “who the hell is that clown?” Well, Denkinger is the guy personally responsible for giving the Kansas City Royals their one and only World Series title in 1985, thus preventing the St. Louis Cardinals from winning what would have been their 10^th. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, look it up; Game 6. It is probably one of the most ridiculously blown final out calls outside of Armando Galarraga’s perfect game. Denkinger umped until the end of the 1998 season and served as the crew chief for the 1988 and 1992 ALCS as well as the 1991 World Series.

#50- After doing all of this research I decided to have a bit of fun. If you didn’t watch “The Naked Gun” link I posted, here’s your chance to redeem yourself. Since the filming was one of the first times the cap was used I couldn’t think of anyone better to pay tribute to than Leslie Nielsen. It’s hard to spot, but Nielsen wore the #50 during his umpiring scenes. Baseball is first, and foremost a game and Nielsen did a wonderful job showing just how much fun the guys in blue could have on the field. Granted, if modern day umpires acted like he did they would probably get their immediate walking papers. But just imagine how much more fun the excitement and entertainment would be.