TRANSCRIPTWW - Wes[ley] Washington, interviewee / LR - Lyn Royce, interviewer
LR: You, you... It was; you were umpiring then for... What were you doing...
WW: For 36 years
LR: ...for 36 years? Okay, let's... Tell me a bit about that.
WW: [clears throat] Umpiring - I loved it. I did it for 36 years and my best buddy, he went to heaven 2 years ago, and we travelled all over. And they used to call us, but I mean it was a, a little dig, but they called us "Salt and Pepper" - he was a white man and I was black - they used to call us "Salt and Pepper," but I ruled with an iron fist. And Johnny, he was super. We had all our signals, and, and we... We used to go down in the States and did hardball; uh, all... fastball, slo-pitch, you name it, anybody put a bat in their hand - we umpired.
LR: Wow...
WW: ALL OVER! Ooh, uh... As it turned out, uh, we'd go, and we'd go to say, up the Sault [Ste Marie]; up the Sault [Ste Marie]. And, uh, Al Guire, he's the head of the, head of the Fastball League. And he'd turn around and say, phone me and say, 'Wes, uh, what are you doin?' I said, 'Well, I'm on holidays.' He says, 'I want you to go to Sault Ste Marie, do the Championship Games. There'll be 2 other umpires with you,' and he says, 'You're in charge and I'll leave it up to you, and I already told the umpires who's in charge.' So, I went to Sault - they pay for room and board, mileage and everything, and meals - so I went to Sault and, uh, and uh went out there, it rained for 3 days. [chuckles]
LR: Oh!
@ 01:45
WW: But I went out and checked the field - it was too wet. Finally; finally, it was a 2 out of 3. Uh, mm, uh, McCrea, McCrea Plumbing and Heating, was the Championship Team and the other one was in, uh, Sault. So I went out there and got the ground rules, got the two umpires off to the side, told them how I umpire, and then they said, 'Yeah, we know about you.' [chuckles]
LR: [laughs]
WW: And uh, and uh, I call the coaches over, the managers over and I told 'em, 'This is how it's going to be.' I says, 'You, uh... If there is an interpretation of the rule,' - which I never had an interpretation of the rule for somebody put a protest in as long as I umpired and I umpired for 36 years. I says, uh, 'If, if there's a call and you come running across that line there, the foul, foul and fair line, that's chargin' and I'll throw you out.' The guy says, 'But we don't have that there.' I said, 'I just finished telling you, I'm in charge here. You run out there, you're finished. All; whoever runs across there, they're all gone, games over. That's what I, how I umpire.' And, um, the ballgame come then, McCrae's, Mc Crae's beat 'em, I think was 11 to 2; the, then we had another game - we had a rest - and then we did the next, the second game. And I told the umpires on the bases, I told 'em, 'You look, you 2 umpires look after 1st, 2nd, and 3rd; I got home.' But I says, 'If there's a tick foul ball and the, and the batter gets up and blocks my view, and I point down to you, at 1st base, or I point down to you at 3rd base, I want you to turn around and give me a signal immediately. And give me the right signal, don't have me hangin'. And then everything [snaps fingers several times] went precision built. The guys turn around, after the game, the umpires shook my hand, got my autograph. The players turned around, that lost, took, took my autograph. That's how much I loved ball.
LR: Wow...
WW: And I did; I did. And I taught ball too. And I taught ball; and taught how to play ball and I turned around and did umpiring too.
LR: Wow... Now, were you doing that just because you loved doing it? You said they paid your expenses, but...
WW: Yes.
LR: ...but did you get paid for doing the umpiring?
WW: Yes. Yeah.
LR: Ya did; okay...
WW: But it wasn't a 'xhorbitant 'mount, amount of money.
LR: No...
WW: You know, it was a little bit a money; some guys that umpired with me, they'd turn around and they'd use it fer, fer smokin' and drinkin', which I didn't do; neither one.
LR: Okay; right...
WW: Yeah.
LR: Yeah... So it was, it was pocket change
WW: Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
LR: But a good way to make some pocket change!
WW: That's true.
LR: Lots of fun.
WW: Oh, lots of fun! |
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