Bruce Froemming

For 36 years, major-league umpire Bruce Froemming has been as noted for his talent as his fire. Who else can say that he was handpicked to man home plate in the last two National League one-game playoffs? And threw Yankees manager Billy Martin out of the final game of the 1976 World Series - in the Bronx? And dared call ball four on Milt Pappas when the Chicago Cub hurler was one pitch away from a perfect game? Tough? How about getting back on the field 10 days after undergoing surgery to clear a 95 percent blocked aorta in 1992?

Outcome: The Dodgers won the best-of-five series, three games to one. Turning point: Oct. 7 will always be known as Black Friday in Philadelphia. With the series tied at one game apiece, the Phillies took a 5-3 lead into the top of the ninth inning at Veterans Stadium. With two outs, the Dodgers tied the score when umpire Bruce Froemming ruled that Davey Lopes was safe on an infield hit, although television replays indicated otherwise. Lopes scored the winning run on Bill Russell's single.

Bruce Froemming has been hit with another punishment in the wake of his anti-Semitic remark about an umpiring administrator. Suspended for 10 days without pay for his derogatory comment concerning Cathy Davis, Froemming has been told to stay away from the Los Angeles Dodgers' adult baseball camp that begins tomorrow in Vero Beach, Fla. Froemming lives in Vero Beach and has worked the adult camps for about 10 years, umpiring games during the...

The Cincinnati Reds acquired lefthander Scott Schoeneweis from the Toronto Blue Jays yesterday for a player to be named or cash. The move came two days after the Reds learned that lefthanded reliever Kent Mercker needs reconstructive surgery on his left elbow. The Reds transferred Mercker to the 60-day disabled list. Schoeneweis is a graduate of Lenape High in Burlington County. The Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies were a part of history on Tuesday night, the first time in major-league history that two games on the same day lasted as long as 18 innings, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The Florida Marlins agreed to let Gary Sheffield play basketball for fun, and he agreed to keep playing third base for them. Sheffield's love of basketball was one of the few hang-ups in contract negotiations, before the sides agreed yesterday to a four-year, $22.45 million deal. At 24, Sheffield became baseball's highest-paid third baseman and Florida's best-paid player. His salary will average $5.6 million a year, the 10th-best in baseball. Sheffield, obtained June 24 from San Diego in the Padres' salary purge, made $3.11 million this season, 86th on the opening-day salary chart.

WATCHING THE Phillies lose yet another game toward the unenviable 10,000-loss mark on a recent night, I was suddenly whisked back to another dark, ugly loss in our fabled history - October 1977, the one we Phillies' diehards remember as "Black Friday. " Sure, the Phillies lost the 2007 game I was watching to the Astros, 4-3, in extra innings, thanks to a blown call on a surefire double-play by umpire Lance Barksdale. But this was just a regular game, and one game doesn't really matter when it comes to the overall season standings, right?

Baseball will try to suspend Cincinnati owner Marge Schott today, perhaps for the rest of the season, the San Francisco Chronicle reported in a story published today. The newspaper quoted unidentified sources as saying the suspension would be the first step toward wresting day-to-day control of the Reds from Schott. Although Schott has been vilified for alleged racist and anti-Semitic remarks, sources told the Chronicle that her suspension would be tied to her frugal operation of the Reds.

Baseball has never had a clock, but there has been a push by commissioner Bud Selig in recent years to shorten the amount of time it takes to play a game. The most recent effort has focused on the umpires, some of whom began receiving e-mail messages from baseball officials earlier this month, telling them that they were not calling enough strikes and that the pitch counts in the games in which they had worked the plate had been too high. In response to those e-mails, the World Umpires Association filed a grievance Saturday against Major League Baseball, claiming the use of pitch counts to evaluate umpires was in violation of the labor agreement the sides negotiated.

Umpire Drew Coble's wife is fighting terminal cancer. Richie Garcia is a 57-year-old grandfather. Eric Gregg has four children to feed, Frank Pulli wants to get all six of his through college. Each of them could be out of work tomorrow, unless a federal judge or the National Labor Relations Board intervenes today. Umpiring baseball games is the only work they know. "It will be virtually impossible for the 22 to find other employment," umpires union general counsel Richie Phillips argued in seeking an injunction that would save the jobs until at least a ruling from the NLRB could be issued and pursued.

LOS ANGELES - It was a Monday game at Shea Stadium, a day game, May 26, 1975. The Mets beat the Dodgers, 6-3, on a walkoff, three-run, pinch-hit home run by Wayne Garrett (although it was not called a "walk-off" in the newspaper accounts the next day). Garrett hit it off of Dodgers starter Andy Messersmith, who had been 7-0 to that point. Walter Alston was the Dodgers' manager, Yogi Berra the Mets' manager. A young Bruce Froemming was the home plate umpire. Game time was 2 hours, 7 minutes.

LOS ANGELES - It was a Monday game at Shea Stadium, a day game, May 26, 1975. The Mets beat the Dodgers, 6-3, on a walkoff, three-run, pinch-hit home run by Wayne Garrett (although it was not called a "walk-off" in the newspaper accounts the next day). Garrett hit it off of Dodgers starter Andy Messersmith, who had been 7-0 to that point. Walter Alston was the Dodgers' manager, Yogi Berra the Mets' manager. A young Bruce Froemming was the home plate umpire. Game time was 2 hours, 7 minutes.

Outcome: The Dodgers won the best-of-five series, three games to one. Turning point: Oct. 7 will always be known as Black Friday in Philadelphia. With the series tied at one game apiece, the Phillies took a 5-3 lead into the top of the ninth inning at Veterans Stadium. With two outs, the Dodgers tied the score when umpire Bruce Froemming ruled that Davey Lopes was safe on an infield hit, although television replays indicated otherwise. Lopes scored the winning run on Bill Russell's single.

WATCHING THE Phillies lose yet another game toward the unenviable 10,000-loss mark on a recent night, I was suddenly whisked back to another dark, ugly loss in our fabled history - October 1977, the one we Phillies' diehards remember as "Black Friday. " Sure, the Phillies lost the 2007 game I was watching to the Astros, 4-3, in extra innings, thanks to a blown call on a surefire double-play by umpire Lance Barksdale. But this was just a regular game, and one game doesn't really matter when it comes to the overall season standings, right?

The Cincinnati Reds acquired lefthander Scott Schoeneweis from the Toronto Blue Jays yesterday for a player to be named or cash. The move came two days after the Reds learned that lefthanded reliever Kent Mercker needs reconstructive surgery on his left elbow. The Reds transferred Mercker to the 60-day disabled list. Schoeneweis is a graduate of Lenape High in Burlington County. The Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies were a part of history on Tuesday night, the first time in major-league history that two games on the same day lasted as long as 18 innings, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

For 36 years, major-league umpire Bruce Froemming has been as noted for his talent as his fire. Who else can say that he was handpicked to man home plate in the last two National League one-game playoffs? And threw Yankees manager Billy Martin out of the final game of the 1976 World Series - in the Bronx? And dared call ball four on Milt Pappas when the Chicago Cub hurler was one pitch away from a perfect game? Tough? How about getting back on the field 10 days after undergoing surgery to clear a 95 percent blocked aorta in 1992?

Bruce Froemming has been hit with another punishment in the wake of his anti-Semitic remark about an umpiring administrator. Suspended for 10 days without pay for his derogatory comment concerning Cathy Davis, Froemming has been told to stay away from the Los Angeles Dodgers' adult baseball camp that begins tomorrow in Vero Beach, Fla. Froemming lives in Vero Beach and has worked the adult camps for about 10 years, umpiring games during the...

Baseball has never had a clock, but there has been a push by commissioner Bud Selig in recent years to shorten the amount of time it takes to play a game. The most recent effort has focused on the umpires, some of whom began receiving e-mail messages from baseball officials earlier this month, telling them that they were not calling enough strikes and that the pitch counts in the games in which they had worked the plate had been too high. In response to those e-mails, the World Umpires Association filed a grievance Saturday against Major League Baseball, claiming the use of pitch counts to evaluate umpires was in violation of the labor agreement the sides negotiated.

Umpire Drew Coble's wife is fighting terminal cancer. Richie Garcia is a 57-year-old grandfather. Eric Gregg has four children to feed, Frank Pulli wants to get all six of his through college. Each of them could be out of work tomorrow, unless a federal judge or the National Labor Relations Board intervenes today. Umpiring baseball games is the only work they know. "It will be virtually impossible for the 22 to find other employment," umpires union general counsel Richie Phillips argued in seeking an injunction that would save the jobs until at least a ruling from the NLRB could be issued and pursued.

Baseball will try to suspend Cincinnati owner Marge Schott today, perhaps for the rest of the season, the San Francisco Chronicle reported in a story published today. The newspaper quoted unidentified sources as saying the suspension would be the first step toward wresting day-to-day control of the Reds from Schott. Although Schott has been vilified for alleged racist and anti-Semitic remarks, sources told the Chronicle that her suspension would be tied to her frugal operation of the Reds.

The pizzas arrive at the door of the umpires' dressing room a little after 5:30 p.m. Two large plain, a complimentary pregame meal for the four umpires working the Phillies' home opener at Veterans Stadium. Inside, an old exercise bike, the kind you might see in a garage sale or at the end of the driveway on trash-collection day, sits in the corner. No one is on it. No one is sure it still works. "They wouldn't put that thing in the ballplayers' room," umpire Bruce Froemming said before last night's game against the Colorado Rockies.