Title/Author:
“They Called Me God:
The Best Baseball Umpire Who Ever Lived” by Doug Harvey with Peter Golenbock
Tags:
Baseball, memoir,
umpire
Publish date:
March 25, 2014
Length:
288 pages
Rating:
3 ½ of 5 stars (good)
Review:
Doug Harvey was considered to be one
of the best umpires in the game in a 30-year major league career that spanned from
1962 to 1992. It is even more impressive when one considers that Harvey did not
attend umpiring school as most other umpires do who make it to the major
leagues. Stories from his career, from high
school games to the World Series, are told in this memoir co-written with Peter
Golenbock.
The title of the book will tell the
reader what the tone of the stories will be like – they are all about himself
and many of them will tell the reader that he believes he was one of the best
umpires because he believed in listening and fairness. Not many will truly
argue these points, but he does frequently remind readers of these points. At times, that repetition took away from the
theme of the stories he was trying to tell.
These are all short stories, rarely taking up more than two or three pages in the hardcover edition. With a long career, one can imagine that he shared stored about many of the players and managers that he had to eject from games. While not every story results in a player or manger being tossed from the game, most of them do involve that in some manner. It is only appropriate that one of the better stories about these ejections involved his ejection of Walter Alston, the legendary manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, in a late season game. Harvey realized that he had not ejected a single person from a game that season, so in order to prove to the league offices that he hasn’t softened, he ejected Alston on a seemingly minor offense. Alston, after hearing Harvey’s reason for the ouster, played along and took it gracefully.
Another aspect of Harvey’s life that
he talks about frequently is his drinking.
He notes that often after games, there wasn’t much to do so he and his
fellow umpires would usually enjoy a few at the hotel bar. This was especially
true when he was a rookie and he would join his crew chief there instead of
leaving him alone with his drinks. I bring this up because that is how the book
reads – like the reader is sitting at the hotel bar with Harvey after a game holding
a drink and listening to Harvey tell all of these stories of ejecting players
and managers.
While the book was entertaining
enough and I liked most of the stories, the repetition of how good an umpire he
was did start to wear a little thin by the end of the book. He is one of only a few umpires that have
been enshrined in the baseball Hall of Fame – that alone says he is one of the
best and there was no need to repeat this.
Otherwise, if a reader likes to read about an umpire’s power over a
game, then this book comes recommended.
Book Format Read:
Hardcover
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