June 5, 1970: Indians, Red Sox affiliates face off in veteran minor-league umpire’s last game

Charles “Doc” Kanupp was a minor-league fixture who came to a tragic end. Late on the night of June 5, 1970, the 53-year-old was driving home on Interstate 85 near Greenville, South Carolina, after umpiring a game in the Class A Western Carolinas League. Kanupp apparently lost control of his car, which left the highway; he died in the accident.1

The jovial, heavyset Kanupp had been a professional and amateur umpire for 25 years.2 His death inspired tributes from league officials, sportswriters, and ballplayers – including the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Jim Nelson, Bob Robertson, and Bob Moose, alumni of the Western Carolinas League. “He was a fine umpire and gave me advice several times that helped me reach higher baseball,” Moose said. Nelson added: “I hate to hear the bad news about Doc, one of the best umpires in baseball, regardless of the league.”3

Kanupp’s final game was a Friday-night thriller between the Greenville Red Sox and the Sumter (South Carolina) Indians, farm teams of the big-league clubs whose names they shared. The Red Sox scored three runs with two outs in the ninth inning to beat the Indians, 8-7. Game accounts and box scores make no mention of rhubarbs, ejections, or controversies, suggesting that Kanupp worked his last game as a vital but unnoticed contributor to the on-field action.

The Western Carolinas League played a season of about 130 games in 1970, and heading into June 5, the loop’s six teams were more than one-third of the way through. Greenville, managed by former minor-league infielder Rac Slider, occupied third place with a 25-21 record, 2½ games back of the first-place Greenwood (South Carolina) Braves.4

Sumter held down the bottom of the league with a 14-31 record, 13 games out of first. Len Johnston, who’d spent 16 seasons as a minor-league outfielder, skippered the Indians. The Red Sox had picked up a win over Greenwood the previous night, while the Indians had lost to the Anderson (South Carolina) Senators.

Right-hander Tom Walsh got the start for the Red Sox. Boston had chosen him in the 29th round of the June 1968 draft out of high school in New Hampshire. The 1970 season was his second as a professional, and he split it between the starting rotation and the bullpen, going 2-8 with two saves and a 3.81 ERA in 33 games and 118 innings. He pitched four seasons at low minor-league levels before leaving the pros.

Twenty-two-year-old right-hander Dan Hatchell got the start for Sumter. An undrafted rookie, Hatchell served as Sumter’s closest thing to an ace in 1970. Over the full season, he led the team with 22 starts, 144 innings pitched, and 92 strikeouts, and was one of only two Indians pitchers to win 10 games.5 Hatchell also pitched four seasons in the minors, peaking at Double A.

Two members of Greenville’s starting lineup later reached the majors. Shortstop Ramón Avilés, an 18-year-old Puerto Rican rookie, hit .296 in 94 games that season. His four big-league seasons included 51 appearances as a member of the 1980 World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies.6

Right fielder Dwight Evans, also 18, had been Boston’s fifth-round selection in the June 1969 draft out of high school in California. Playing in his second pro season, he hit .276 in 108 games. Evans reached the majors in 1972 and stayed for 20 seasons, winning eight Gold Glove Awards and two Silver Slugger Awards, playing in three All-Star Games, and tying for the American League home-run title in 1981 with 22.7

Sumter’s lineup included only one future big-leaguer but, like Evans, he was a blue-chipper. Second baseman Buddy Bell, also 18, had been Cleveland’s 16th-round draft pick from Cincinnati’s Archbishop Moeller High School8 in the June 1969 draft. The son of former big-leaguer Gus Bell, Buddy reached the majors in 1972 and spent 18 seasons there, winning six Gold Gloves as a third baseman9 and making five All-Star teams. Bell and Evans were teammates representing the AL at the 1981 All-Star Game.10

The two-man umpiring crew consisted of the veteran Kanupp and Kenneth Roy, a rookie.11 Kanupp had been married for almost 34 years and had three daughters, two sons, and nine grandchildren.12 He was known in the Carolinas for his girth – as much as 280 pounds on a frame just shy of 6 feet – and his colorful, showman-like personality.13 He’d begun his pro career in 1949 and also worked high school, American Legion, and college games, in addition to amateur football and basketball.14 He often encouraged young pros to stay with the game, though he’d also been known to gently suggest that less talented players look for another occupation.15

The 412 fans who came to Greenville’s Meadowbrook Park saw the visiting Indians take an immediate lead. Center fielder and leadoff hitter Larry Shaw tripled off Walsh, and right fielder Nelson Peguero singled Shaw home for a 1-0 Sumter advantage.16 The Red Sox tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the second, as second baseman Ken McCormick followed a walk with a run-scoring double.17

The teams continued their sparring with a run apiece in the third. Shaw, who hit only four homers in 1970 and five in his four-season minor-league career, took Walsh deep to give the Indians a 2-1 lead. The Red Sox responded with a triple by center fielder Scott Neat and a run-scoring fly out by third baseman Tommy Hanegan.

After two scoreless frames, Sumter notched two runs in the top of the sixth to take a 4-2 lead, driving Walsh out of the game after 5 1/3 innings. Lefty reliever Bill Sandstedt, who was 5-5 with a 4.95 ERA in 34 games across the full season, replaced him and worked two innings.18

Once again the Red Sox pulled even in the bottom half, as Evans hit a two-run, inside-the-park homer to tie the game at 4-4. This was not a precursor of speed to come: Only one of Evans’ 385 major-league homers was an inside-the-park affair.19

Evans again played a key role in a seventh-inning rally that gave the Red Sox their first lead of the game. Hanegan doubled off Hatchell, and left fielder John Stephen – Greenville’s season leader in home runs and RBIs20 – singled Hanegan to third. Evans grounded into a run-scoring force out, and Greenville led, 5-4.

Sandstedt couldn’t hold the lead. With one out in the eighth, he gave way to third-year righty Paul Sparkman, who compiled a 16-5 record and a 3.52 ERA in 40 games that season, mostly out of the bullpen. Available game accounts don’t explain how Sumter scored, but the box score charged Sandstedt with two runs – one unearned – as the Indians claimed a 6-5 lead.

Sparkman was dinged for another tally in the top of the ninth as the Indians pulled ahead 7-5. The catalysts for these rallies were likely the Indians’ fourth through sixth hitters – left fielder Bruce Cannon, third baseman Harold Harris, and first baseman Kevin Casey – who between them were credited with scoring the four Sumter runs not scored by the prolific Shaw.21 Bell, who went 2-for-5, picked up an RBI during one of these innings. So did shortstop Tommie Bozich, who went hitless.

Hatchell returned to try to nail down the win, starting the ninth with a strikeout of catcher Sam Fletcher.22 Infielder Jack Hamilton23 drew a pinch-hit walk, but was thrown out trying to take third base on Neat’s single. Neat took second base on the throw to third.

Only third baseman Hanegan stood between Hatchell and a complete-game win – and Hanegan drove Hatchell’s first pitch deep to right-center field for a home run, tying the game, 7-7. It was one of seven homers Hanegan hit in 112 games that season.

Manager Johnston beckoned left-handed reliever Gary Ruby, who went 4-5 with one save and a 5.78 ERA in 31 games that season. Stephen grounded to shortstop, but Bozich threw the ball away, allowing Stephen to reach second. Evans capped the rally with a walk-off single up the middle that scored Stephen for an 8-7 Red Sox win – Greenville’s sixth victory in a row.24

After the game, Kanupp stayed to chat and eat with Greenville team President Verner Ross, who shared his healthy appetite and love for baseball.25 Kanupp then set off for his home in Hickory, North Carolina, about two hours away, but fell victim to the accident while still in the Greenville area.26 Six umpires, including Roy, served as pallbearers at his funeral on June 8. Mourners included Ross; Western Carolinas League President John Moss; managers of three of the league’s six teams; and Joe Linsalata, umpiring director of the National Association of Minor League Baseball and a former AL ump.27

The Western Carolinas League later changed its name to the South Atlantic League. In a sign of his enduring legacy, Kanupp was elected to the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame in 2000, 30 years after his death.28

Acknowledgments

This story was fact-checked by Carl Riechers and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Charles Kanupp, courtesy of Ann Campbell / FindAGrave.com.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for general player, team, and season data.

Neither Baseball-Reference nor Retrosheet provides box scores of minor-league games, but the June 6, 1970, editions of the Greenville (South Carolina) News and Sumter (South Carolina) Daily Item published box scores.

Notes

1 News accounts of the crash differed in the details. One had Kanupp’s car striking a bridge; another said his car struck a bridge abutment and rolled down a nearby bank; and a third reported that his car drove through a guardrail and over the side of a bridge. None of the stories reported a possible cause for the accident. “C.E. Kanupp Dies at 65 [sic],” Hickory (North Carolina) Daily Record, June 6, 1970: 15; “‘Doc’ Kanupp, a Legend, Killed in Car Accident,” Gastonia (North Carolina) Gazette, June 7, 1970: 1; “WCL Umpire Meets Death in Crash,” Greenville (South Carolina) News, June 7, 1970: 3:4.

2 “‘Doc’ Kanupp, a Legend, Killed in Car Accident”; Dusty Gardner, “In the Dugout,” Gastonia Gazette, June 14, 1970: 2D.

3 Gardner, “In the Dugout,” June 14, 1970; Dusty Gardner, “In the Dugout,” Gastonia Gazette, June 21, 1970: 2D. Robertson played in the Western Carolinas League in 1965, Moose in 1966, and Nelson in 1966 and 1967. By coincidence, Moose also died in a car accident, on his 29th birthday in October 1976. 

4 Western Carolinas League standings taken from the Greenville News, June 5, 1970: 32. Slider never played or managed in the major leagues but spent four seasons as a bullpen and third-base coach with the Boston Red Sox between 1987 and 1990.

5 Left-hander Nicholas Hockett was the other.

6 Avilés appeared in the 1980 National League Championship Series and the 1981 National League East Division Series but did not play in the World Series.

7 Evans tied with Eddie Murray of the Baltimore Orioles, Bobby Grich of the California Angels, and Tony Armas of the Oakland Athletics.

8 Also the alma mater of Hall of Famers Ken Griffey, Jr. and Barry Larkin.

9 Bell was predominantly a third baseman with Sumter in 1970, appearing in 82 games at third and 38 at second. When he reached the majors, he spent his first season as an outfielder before being shifted back to third base.

10 Bell also managed in the majors for nine seasons with the Detroit Tigers, Colorado Rockies, and Kansas City Royals.

11 It’s not certain whether Kanupp was working behind home plate or on the bases. Kanupp’s name is listed first of the two umpires in the box score printed in the Greenville News, but this might have been due to alphabetization. While it seems likely that the umpire listed first in the box score was the plate umpire, a study of other game stories and box scores from the News in 1970 did not conclusively prove this pattern.

12 “C.E. Kanupp Dies at 65.” Both Kanupp’s The Sporting News umpire card and his gravestone list his birth date as October 15, 1916. The text of the story gives his age, correctly, as 53; the error is limited to the headline.

13 Weight from Gardner, “In the Dugout,” Gastonia Gazette, June 14, 1970; height from Kanupp’s The Sporting News umpire card, accessed via Retrosheet in March 2025, https://retrosheet.org/TSNUmpireCards/Kanupp-Charles.jpg. Kanupp’s weight is listed on his umpire card as 233 pounds. While Gardner’s 280 pounds might have been an overly generous estimate, all sources make clear that Kanupp was heavy for his height.

14 The Sporting News umpire card for Kanupp; Gardner, “In the Dugout,” Gastonia Gazette, June 14, 1970; “C.E. Kanupp Dies at 65.”

15 Gardner, “In the Dugout,” Gastonia Gazette, June 14, 1970.

16 Unless otherwise noted, all game action is based on “G-Sox Rally Late to Whip Sumter, 8-7, Extend Streak,” Greenville News, June 6, 1970: 7, and the accompanying box score. The Sumter (South Carolina) Daily Item ran a brief game account, perhaps sourced from a wire service, that did not add any information to the Greenville account. The Sumter newspaper also printed a box score.

17 The story does not specify who drew the walk. It might have been the hitter preceding McCormick, first baseman Fernando Santiago, who is credited with scoring a run despite going 0-for-3 at the plate.

18 Neither the Greenville nor Sumter papers specifies how the Indians scored in the sixth inning.

19 According to Baseball-Reference’s home-run log for Evans, accessed in March 2025. Evans was 36 years old when he hit his only recorded inside-the-park major-league homer, off Ted Power of the Kansas City Royals on July 4, 1988, at Royals Stadium.

20 Stephen and first baseman Bill Brown tied for the team lead in homers with 12, and Stephen led outright with 77 RBIs.

21 Box scores credit Harris with scoring two runs and Cannon and Casey with one apiece.

22 As of August 2025, Fletcher’s page on Baseball-Reference referred to him as John S. Fletcher. Most Greenville newspaper coverage from 1970 referred to him as Sam Fletcher.

23 As of August 2025, Hamilton’s page on Baseball-Reference referred to him as John F. Hamilton. Greenville newspaper coverage from 1970 referred to him as Jack Hamilton.

24 At season’s end, the Red Sox finished first with a 77-52 record, while Sumter was fourth with a 61-68 record, 16 games back. The league divided its season into halves. Greenville finished first in both halves, so there was no postseason playoff. Dan Foster, “Greenville Red Sox Win WCL Crown,” Greenville News, August 27, 1970: 26.

25 Dan Foster, “Team Gives G-Sox Boss Big Lift,” Greenville News, June 10, 1970: 10.

26 “C.E. Kanupp Dies at 65.” Highway distance from Greenville, South Carolina, to Hickory, North Carolina, calculated using Google Maps in March 2025.

27 “Diamond Notables In Town for Kanupp Rites Monday,” Hickory Daily Record, June 9, 1970: 16. The managers were Eddie Haas of the Greenwood Braves, Paul Walstrom of the Gastonia Pirates, and Red Berry of the Spartanburg Phillies.

28 Keith Jarrett, “Terrell Named to SAL Hall of Fame,” Asheville (North Carolina) Citizen-Times, June 2, 2000: C1.