Three and Two. Tom Gorman Autobiography

[Majordave]

I just finished Three and Two. The Autobiography (as told to) of Tom Gorman, National League Umpire for 25 seasons.

Typical umpire biography. Easy read. Well laid out with some interesting anecdotes. Some of the opinions he offers on managers and players are very interesting. He umpired from 1951 to 1976 in the National League. As a result of being a National League umpire he did not have a lot of disparaging remarks about Earl Weaver like Ken Kaiser does but he does get in one or two comments about Earl from World Series meetings with the little pain in the A$$. Every umpire who ever met Earl Weaver seems to hate him and I would guess that the feelings were mutual. Tom's nemesis seems to have been Leo Durocher but they seem to have made up late in life after they both retired.

Being a 48 years young man I grew up reading about and watching a lot of the players he writes about. It really took me back. Unfortunately, I did not grow up wanting to be an umpire. I don't remember one umpire's name from any game whatsoever while I played or watched. This is my chance to learn about one of the apparent great ones.

The book flows well and is interesting enough. Tom compares ballparks and it was great to hear about the old places like "The Launching Pad"-Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium (Chicken Wire fencing), the bleacher bums at Wrigley, The Polo Grounds in New York, The Los Angeles Colisseum, Dodger Stadium, Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Ebbets Field......... I absolutely love reading about and watching old baseball in the 40's and 50's. He discusses Harry "Steamboat" Johnson and some other legendary old-time umpires as well. Having read Standing the Gaff by Johnson it really ties the stories together. He discusses female umpires and the story of the first female professional umpire who worked one game of a DH on the bases after winning a six-year court battle, ejected a manager, had two or three controversial calls and arguments then she quit between games of the DH never to umpire professionally again.

It is a great read and worth the few bucks I paid on Amazon.

[dumbdumb]

And it would be interesting for his son Brian to write a book one day talking about what he remembers of his fathers time as a MLBU as well as his own time as a MLBU. I believe it was Bernice Gera who was that first umpire, since he discusses them in his book. It is kind of ironic that prior to his death, Tom would have been one of the assistant supervisor's (along with Al Barlick, and Augie Donatelli) for NL supervisor Ed Vargo scouting Pam Postema and first reporting to administrator Blake Cullen and NL President Chub Feeney while Peter Ueberoth was commissioner, and then to NL president and future commissioner Bart Giamatti, to decide if she would become the first female MLBU prior to his death in 1986. Postema was the first to reach AAA and was being watched by the NL in which Bill White was the President in 89 with Fay Vincent taking over upon Giamatti's death on Sep. 1, 1989 prior to her dismissal in 1989.

[jnazz]

I've got the book on my bookshelf and it hasn't been cracked yet. Maybe it'll be my next read. I tend to dive into the umpire reading as the season approaches.