They Called Me God: The Best Umpire Who Ever Lived

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A Hall of Fame umpire calls the game of his own life, concluding, “By God, I loved every minute of it.” to find the place. For example, the first reference given in the Confession is Daniel 9:4-6. This is the Book of Daniel, chapter 9, I gave it everything I had, and when I stepped off the airplane coming home at the end of the season, my wife, Joy, said I looked like walking death. I’d be completely worn out. Harvey notes that when the owners installed Bud Selig as commissioner, he corporatized the game. Umpires now receive six figure salaries, but there are no longer separate crews for the National and American Leagues, and the strike zone has become individualized by each umpire. The introduction of replay has taken the arbitrating away from the umpires, who Harvey refers to as police men on ball fields. Because this is a memoir, Harvey embellishes himself profusely, and there is not one thing negative about him; however, by bringing up how replay and the money grab has dehumanized the umpires’ jobs, Harvey advocates that instead of robots, perhaps what baseball needs is a return to the pre Selig days of separate crews for each league and a uniform strike zone that in the end benefits all players. Doug Harvey was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2010, only one of ten umpires enshrined. As he notes, emerging from an impoverished childhood, he has enjoyed a wonderful life. Hold it, Shag,” I said. “It doesn’t make any difference whether I’m sitting in a waiting room at the hospital or umpiring baseball. I’d prefer umpiring baseball.”

Another aspect of Harvey’s life that he talks about frequently is his drinking. He notes that often after games, there wasn’t much to do so he and his fellow umpires would usually enjoy a few at the hotel bar. This was especially true when he was a rookie and he would join his crew chief there instead of leaving him alone with his drinks. I bring this up because that is how the book reads – like the reader is sitting at the hotel bar with Harvey after a game holding a drink and listening to Harvey tell all of these stories of ejecting players and managers. The Babe could have been talking about me. I knew I wanted to be an umpire when I was six years old. My dad was an umpire—and a damn fine one—and I wanted to be just like him. I wanted nothing more than to be out on that field, and I umpired in the major leagues for thirty-one wonderful years, and for that I’m very grateful. This colorful memoir takes the reader behind the plate for some of baseball?s most memorable moments, including: Doug Harvey was a California farm boy, a high school athlete who nevertheless knew that what he really wanted was to become an unsung hero—a major league umpire. Working his way through the minor leagues, earning three hundred dollars a month, he survived just about everything, even riots in stadiums in Puerto Rico. And while players and other umps hit the bars at night, Harvey memorized the rule book. In 1962, he broke into the big leagues and was soon listening to rookie Pete Rose worrying that he would be cut by the Reds and laying down the law with managers such as Tommy Lasorda and Joe Torre.Many people hesitate to write accounts of their own life, in fear that their experiences are not worthy of attention or because it is too difficult to narrate one's own experiences. However, the truth is there is a much higher appreciation for self-written biographies, otherwise known as autobiographies. Let us look at the meaning, elements and examples of autobiography. Autobiography Meaning

This is when an autobiographer chronicles their entire lifetime, starting from their birth and early childhood, all the way to the present time when the book is being written. Most autobiographers opt for a chronological structure while narrating, although this is not necessary. While not each and every moment starting from the day of their birth needs to be included, the autobiographer must delve into any formative events occurring throughout the entire course of their life. Currently ranked #1 in the world, Rafael Nadal has won nine Grand Slam titles, a career “Golden Slam,” and an Olympic medal. In his best selling autobiography, Nadal takes readers through his childhood and early career to reveal what he believes to be the secret to his success: supportive parents and family, who taught him humility, candor, and the value of hard work. Nadal also provides readers with a behind-the-scenes look at his Wimbledon win in 2008, and discusses the injuries that have continuously threatened his career. Fred Fleig, the National League secretary-treasurer in charge of the league’s umpires, called me in the hospital. Sportswriter Robert Creamer’s extensive biography of Babe Ruth follows baseball’s most famous figure from his early childhood to his abrupt end. Originally published in 1974, a time when many of Ruth’s contemporaries were still living, Creamer’s book is a fascinating look into both baseball and life in the early twentieth century. The hardcore baseball fan will appreciate the stats and vivid descriptions of some of Ruth’s most important games, while the casual baseball fan will get caught up in the Bambino’s celebrity and sometimes surprising character.

Horse Racing

Moe Berg’s baseball card is the only one of its kind on display at CIA headquarters. This is because in addition to his 15-year career as a catcher for the New York Robins and Chicago White Sox, Berg served as a spy for the OSS (the CIA’s predecessor) during World War II. Though there are not many known, definitive facts about Berg’s life, Nicholas Dawidoff follows Berg’s career from pitcher, to law professor at Columbia University, to OSS spy investigating Nazi Germany’s atomic bomb program. This includes significant moments in the autobiographer's life that shaped their personality and their worldview. Sharing these with the readers, their thoughts and feelings during this experience and what lesson it taught them helps the readers understand more about the writer as a person, their likes and dislikes and what made them the way they are. This is usually how autobiographers connect with their readers, by either bringing forth experiences that the reader may identify with or by imparting them an important life lesson.

How he worked a game in tears because he knew Don Sutton was cheating but baseball refused to call Sutton on itA living example of the American Dream, Eritrean-born Meb Keflezighi represented the United States in two Olympic games and several World Championships, and was the first American in 27 years to win the New York City marathon. In Run to Overcome, Keflezighi chronicles his life of hardships. He documents his family’s escape to America from poverty and a violent war, the devastating injury in which he broke his pelvis, and the sudden death of his close friend and fellow runner. He also describes the freedom that comes with running, and his discovery of the real meaning of victory. I firmly believe that Babe Ruth had it right. When Ruth was dying, baseball honored him by giving him a day, and in his speech at Yankee Stadium he remarked, “The only real game in the world, I think, is baseball. You’ve got to start way down at the bottom, when you’re six or seven, and if you’re successful and you try hard enough, you’re bound to come out on top.” Fig. 1 - Adolf Hitler cropped restored (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adolf_Hitler_cropped_restored.jpg) by Unknown Author is licensed by Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 de (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en) It was the last week of the 1975 season, and I was umpiring a series in which the first-place Cincinnati Reds were playing the last-place Houston Astros. The Reds had clinched it, and Sparky Anderson, the manager, announced he was going to play his second-stringers. Meanwhile, an autobiography is also an account of someone's life but written and narrated by the very same person whose life is being written about. In this case, the person on who the autobiography is based is also the author.