anyone wish Ron Luciano was still around?

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by bniu

I know he's not exactly the "Professional" image that umpires should be, but ya gotta admit, the guy is absolutely hilarious! I wish he was still around, sad that he committed suicide a while back. One thing I like to see is umpires showing some humor out on the field, whether it's a harmless prank or an exaggerated stunt that lets the crowd see that they're human and not robots and yet can still do our job to the highest professional standards. The game it seems has become far too serious and it's like the joy of the game is being sapped out by this sterile professional image that everyone seems to want. I'm not saying that all umpires should be like Ron Luciano, but more of a healthy balance between having fun and being professional...

Well, the question was "anyone wish Ron Luciano was still around?" Since Rutledge is a cynic, he can't answer for all of us. Yes, I wish he was still around on the planet, but not umpiring. I'm not the type to celebrate someone taking their own life. I wouldn't even wish that on Obama. Luciano was a fine author and had funny stories in his books, but his style of umpiring would not set well with the modern-day, totally anal umpiring community of today's world.

He was enjoyable for me to watch growing up, when I didn't know anything about umpiring, and I loved his books. I guess he had seen all he wanted of this messed up world, and decided to suck the exhaust pipe.