It takes the pressure off of your better players to know they don't always have to be on top of their game for the team to do well.

I always hated to throw a guy out of a game but sometimes it was necessary to keep order.

It takes the pressure off of your better players to know they don't always have to be on top of their game for the team to do well.

The call that always seemed the toughest to me was the slide and tag play at second. You can see it coming, but you don't know which way the runner is going to slide, where the throw is going to be, and how the fielder is going to take the throw.

Boys, I'm one of those umpires that misses 'em every once in a while so if it's close, you'd better hit it.

When it was time for a player to go, he went.

Being an umpire wasn't such a tough job. You really have to understand only two things and that's maintaing discipline and knowing the rule book.