Ron Luciano

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The Umpire Strikes Back by Ron Luciano

Ronald Michael Luciano (June 28, 1937 - January 18, 1995) was an American umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the American League from 1968 to 1980; he became known for his flamboyant style, simple love for the game, clever quotes, and humorous books he wrote about his umpiring career.

Luciano was born in Endicott, New York. Before getting into baseball, he was a standout lineman for the Syracuse University football team.

In his career, Luciano umpired in the 1974 World Series (he did not work behind the plate in the Series, as the Oakland Athletics closed out the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games, denying Luciano the opportunity to call balls and strikes in a Game 6), the 1973 All-Star Game, and the 1971, 1975 and 1978 American League Championship Series.

He would frequently render an out call by pumping his arm several times or with a mock shooting gesture with his right hand.

Luciano had more than a few encounters with managers, but more than any other, the Baltimore Orioles' Earl Weaver gave him trouble. When the two first met in a minor-league series, Luciano ejected Weaver from all four games. In the final game Luciano threw Weaver out during the pre-game meeting at home plate. After they both reached the majors, Luciano once ejected Weaver from both ends of a doubleheader. The anger between the two was so great that the AL decided to take Luciano off Baltimore games.

Briefly after his retirement in 1980, he was a sports commentator with NBC. But Luciano spent most of his time writing five books, including The Umpire Strikes Back and The Fall of the Roman Umpire. His material was considered as clever and witty as his titles and the books did pretty well. The books contained mostly stories and jokes about his umpiring days. He was found dead at age 57 in his garage at his home in Endicott; it was later determined to be a suicide via carbon monoxide poisoning.

[edit] Quotes

"Any umpire who claims he has never missed a play is . . . well, an umpire." - from his book "The Umpire Strikes Back."
"When I started, the game was played by nine tough competitors on grass, in graceful ball parks. But while I was trying to answer the daily quiz Quiz-O-Gram on the exploding scoreboard, a revolution was taking place around me. By the time I finished, there were ten men on each side, the game was played indoors on plastic, and I had to spend half my time watching out for a man dressed in a chicken suit who kept trying to kiss me." - after retiring
"I never called a balk in my life. I didn't understand the rule." - regarding the sometimes misunderstood balk rule