Sunday, August 01, 1999
Umps get a warning
No infighting, intimidation
The Associated Press
Baseball warned the bickering umpires not to harass each other as the infighting over their failed mass resignation plan got nastier and more emotional.
The wife of a union supporter sent an angry letter to another umpire's wife saying her husband was a “Judas” for betraying his fellow umps. And one of the game's most respected umpires broke down in tears as he was interviewed on television before Saturday's “Game of the Week.”
“I'm not going to give up my job of 25 years and sit down,” said Richie Garcia, one of the 22 umpires whose resignations were accepted, as of Sept.2.
“I'm not going to let people that have been in baseball 15 years or 10 years or five years or three years take my job. I love this game,” Garcia said on Fox's broadcast, wiping tears from his eyes.
Many of the umpires who support union head Richie Phillips are angry with the 13 who refused to resign and the 14 who withdrew their resignations before last Tuesday. The union hoped the threat of a mass walkout would force baseball to immediately negotiate a labor contract to replace the one that expires Dec.31.
AL president Gene Budig and NL president Len Coleman sent a memo to umpires warning them of possible discipline.
A letter from Marcia Montague, wife of NL ump Ed Montague, to Denise Hirschbeck, wife of AL ump John Hirschbeck, was an example of the kind of anger and emotion that has split the union. Phillips' supporters blame Hirschbeck and AL ump Joe Brinkman for organizing the opposition group.
“You must be very proud of your husband for undermining 20 years of work from an association that has reaped him so many benefits,” wrote Marcia Montague, whose husband still has his job.
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