Joe Brinkman
 

Has officially retired, according to an article in the Charlotte Observer (http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlot...15316997.htm):

Also, one other article: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...s.2ea98b4.html

In other veteran umpire news, does anyone have any contacts to Ed Montague? He hasn't worked in a while but was at the Bruce Froemming ceremonies in Boston last week. Just wondering if he's also decided to hang up his gear.

My guess is that Ed will pull the plug either this year or next. He has resigned from the WUA (No reason given), been injured and has slowed way down.

If he does in fact retire this year or between season it would be the first time three slots opened up in a very long time (Not counting 1999).

My understanding is that Davidson get's Brinkman's slot & I would guess Guccione would be next up.

I would think Hoye might be getting the next spot...he got to work the Yanks-Sox series this weekend and has been up for most of the year. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get one of the next 2 or 3 spots.

I think that Brinkman is getting credit for something that he had nothing to do with re: the articles stating that he out-foxed Billy Martin. Tim McClelland, who had the plate that day, made the "out" call after talking it over with Brinkman. That call was later over-ruled by Lee McPhail, who ordered a do-over. At that time, most of the AL umpires were pissed at McPhail because he really didn't have the rules back-up to allow the KC protest. The story later came out that someone in the Yankee hierarchy that didn't like Martin leaked to the AL office that Martin was gonna appeal a missed base on Brett's homer. That's why the AL office got an affadavit from Brinkman and his crew stating that no bases were missed. The crew chief on the do-over, Davey Philipps, was given the affadavit and was told exactly what was gonna happen. Philipps was the one that showed Martin the affadavit. Iow, Brinkman was hardly involved in this one at all.

http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hi...003/030624.htm

Btw, Davey Philipps and Durwood Merrill both talked about this play in their biographies, which are both great reads.

He may, though my sources (For what very little it's worth) put Gucci just a tad ahead. Either way they both deserve it.

I can't believe you guys anymore! You all had me convinced that Balkin' Bob was first on the list...and then when Craft retired, Barksdale got the job.

I'm going out on a limb and guessing that no one's sources (unless their source is Bud Selig or his duly designated assistant) really has as good an idea as I do. And my sources tell me Andy Konyer or Dave Yeast (sp?) is going to get the spot.

A couple of questions:

1) Which AAA guy is getting Brinkman's MLB staff vacancy?
2) What about, which MLB staff guy is getting Brinkman's vacant CC position?
3) When was the retirement officially effective as of?
4) Does MLB plan on making an official announcement at some point of this retirement?
5) Is the WUA Web site going to get updated any time soon? I mean, we've had two retirements recently. And, the Ask the Ump feature still has Tim Welke's 2004 crew. What about Joe West's site getting updated? Finally, the MLB umpire section at the MLB site needs to update Phil Cuzzi's bio to reflect his new number change for this season.

Wow
 

Gawd, I am so embarrassed that I was once part of this fraternity.

Regards,

So, what do MLB umpires' jocks smell like?

I feel your pain. But, it gets worse. When you respect the wishes of the MLB umpires you knew or know, you get accused of being a liar. And if you decide to claim credit for what they told you, you would know that you're being dishonest.

Thus you are left with:

1. Accept being called a liar.
2. Become dishonest.
3. Go back to dropping names and disrespect their wishes.
4. Play dumb.

Good luck, friend.

I think that either Rob Drake or Chris Guccione will get the spot vaccated by Joe Brinkman's retirement. As for Joe's CC spot, that is a tough decision. There are a lot of good umpires deserving of that position.

I would say Gary Cederstrom, Ed Rapuano, Jim Joyce, Mike Winters, and Tim Tschedia are probably the front runners for Joe's vaccant CC spot. A lot of the decision will be based on playoff assignments and past evaluations.

All of these guys have worked a World Series or LCS multiple times throughout their careers, so it is a tough decision.

Just MHO, FWIW, but I have seen Mike Winters work a few times in the past two years and have been VERY impressed with how he goes about things on the field. Just my very naive opinion on how a crew chief should be.

:rolleyes:

There is a reason why not much has been publicly said of Joe's retirement. Asking all those questions as if this is some federal case that needs attention NOW is rather ridiculous. In time more information will be forthcoming. Let's just leave it at that.