Two Strikes, They’re in: When Cape Cod League Umps Worked in the Majors

It’s a long way from umpiring on the Cape to the major leagues. Umpires parking lot, Cotuit, 2025. (Photo: Bill Nowlin)

 

As the seagull flies, it’s about 49 miles from the Sagamore Bridge on Cape Cod to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.1 For most of the Cape Cod Baseball League’s participants, the distance might as well be a million miles. Even the most talented players, managers or coaches don’t go straight from the Cape to the majors, unless they’re buying a ticket to sit in the bleachers.

The umps kept their full-time jobs and, apparently, harbored no illusions about a permanent place in the majors. For them, and for fill-in umps in other cities, the regular umpires’ walkouts gave them a chance to work on the big stage they’d always dreamed of. Clement called his stint in the majors “a great thrill,” while Merritt rhapsodized, “I feel like I’m on cloud nine. It’s a nice way to be in the big leagues.”2

At the start of August 1978, Clement was a 59-year-old World War II veteran and department-store manager in Hyannis on the Cape, while Merritt was a 47-year-old Air Force veteran of the Korean and Vietnam Wars, working for the state of Massachusetts and living in Bourne.3 The Red Sox held a 5½-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League East Division. And major-league umpires had only gone on strike once before – for a single day, October 3, 1970, for the opening games of the AL and National League Championship Series.4

But trouble was simmering on the umpiring front. The major leagues’ 52 unionized umps, with more than three years remaining on their contract, called for better pay and cost-of-living increases, as well as more in-season vacation time. On August 23, Richie Phillips, an attorney representing the arbiters, hinted at a strike if the AL and NL did not negotiate in good faith.5 Talks led nowhere, and two days later, NL ump and union president Bob Engel appeared on national television to estimate the chance of an umpires strike at 90 percent.6

Major-league teams had received orders to have replacement umpires ready in case of a work stoppage, and one began just hours after Engel’s TV appearance. The umps’ walkout on Friday, August 25, started with a Blue Jays-Twins day game in Toronto and continued for the remainder of the big-league schedule.7

The Red Sox had polled Boston-area baseball veterans for umpire recommendations, producing a list of 12 names, some of whom turned down the opportunity because of their own union affiliations.8 The team ended up making arrangements with five umps – four plus a spare – for the weekend series of August 25-27, signing contracts with them hours before the start of the Friday night game.9

Clement and Merritt brought broad experience to their unexpected new roles. In addition to umping in the Cape League since 1961, Clement had worked the finals of the state’s high-school baseball tournament.10 He was also an experienced college ump who went on to work the NCAA College World Series final games in 1979 and 1980.11

Merritt was credited in news accounts with 22 seasons of umping experience, and had also served as a coach and manager.12 He’d been pictured in a Cape Cod newspaper just two weeks before, awarding a league trophy for sportsmanship to Gary Cicatiello of the Falmouth Commodores.13 Like many amateur officials, he worked other sports as well, including regional action of the previous year’s state high-school basketball tournament.14

Merritt served as the spare on August 25, while Clement worked at third base. True to his roots, Clement wore an umpire’s shirt with a Cape Cod League logo.15 Clement said he chatted with Boston’s Carlton Fisk and Danny Goodwin of the visiting California Angels about their time playing in the Cape League, and also talked with Boston’s Jerry Remy, who grew up in Somerset, a town in southeastern Massachusetts.16 Two of Clement’s daughters, living on the West Coast, were able to turn on television sets and watch their father’s big night.17

The Red Sox, who entered the day 6½ games up on the Brewers, beat the Angels, 6-0, behind a four-hitter by future Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley. The game passed without incident, and Boston manager Don Zimmer expressed strong praise for the replacements, calling them “damn good” and adding, “Those guys know what they’re doing out there.”18 Veteran Angels first baseman Ron Fairly echoed Zimmer: “These guys did every bit as good a job as we get from the regular umpires.”19

Boston Globe sportswriter Leigh Montville dramatized the replacement umps’ experience: “For one night they called third strikes on the owners of Mercedes-Benz automobiles. They told holders of long-term, no-cut millionaire contracts to shut up and sit down. … For one night, Fenway Park and all its inhabitants, all its noise and excitement, all its charm and boyhood possibilities, were theirs.”20

It was a dream come true for Clement and his on-field compatriots, but it looked as though Merritt would be denied the same thrill. The backup on August 25, he was supposed to rotate in and work subsequent games as the other replacement umps took turns sitting out.21 But a US District Court judge in Philadelphia ordered the regular umpires back to work after one day off, ending the strike and keeping Merritt on the sidelines.22 The 1978 Red Sox, of course, went on to blow their division lead, pull back into a tie with the New York Yankees, and lose a dramatic one-game tiebreaker playoff for the AL East title.

Merritt only had to wait until the following spring for another chance. The unionized major-league umps refused to report for the start of spring-training games on March 7 in a protest over salaries, and most of them remained estranged as the start of the regular season approached.23

Calls went out from the Red Sox to Boston-area umpires on April 4, the day before Opening Day. Merritt was working a college doubleheader, while Clement had to get permission to miss a scheduled college assignment that conflicted with Opening Day.24

On April 5, Clement umpired at second base for a 7-1 Red Sox victory over the Cleveland Indians, while Merritt made his delayed big-league debut at third base. The day passed with a few grumbles but no significant controversies.25 Merritt got to make a close call on a Dwight Evans home run to left field: “He must have hit that thing 700 feet up, and it just kept going and going. It was about 15 feet foul, but it curved inside the foul pole.”26 Merritt added, “I’m just so thrilled to get my name in the record books as having worked a big league game. No one can take that away from me.”27

Opening Day was Clement’s only major-league game in 1979. Forced to choose between college and professional umpiring, he opted for colleges.28 Merritt umpired 14 additional games, including a single appearance behind the plate on May 9, a 9-8 walk-off Red Sox win over the Angels. Neither umpire made any ejections.

The strike was resolved on May 19, with unionized umps clocking several victories – higher salaries, vacation time during the season, and more per diem pay. Substitute umpires were reportedly given league passes for the rest of the season.29 The regular umps returned to the field that day, and Clement, Merritt, and their stopgap colleagues never worked again at Fenway Park.30 Or, at least, they never worked another major-league game at Fenway: Merritt umpired at least one Cape Cod League all-star game played on the Red Sox’ home turf.31

Clement continued in the Cape League through the end of the 1994 season, after which he was not asked to return due to advancing age. He survived four heart attacks, including two that occurred during Cape League games, and continued to work college, high school, and other contests.32 Clement died at age 86 on June 29, 2006, living long enough to see himself inducted into the Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame and the Cape Cod Baseball Hall of Fame.33 Since 2004 an award in his name has been given each year to outstanding Cape League umps.34

Merritt enjoyed golf and traveling in a recreational vehicle in his spare time, and also refereed basketball games. He died at age 76 on August 18, 2010.

Postscript: Other Cape Umpires

Several other umpires with connections to Cape Cod also worked in the majors during the labor disruptions of the late 1970s.

Bob Giard had three seasons of pro umpiring under his belt in the Florida State and Southern Leagues when he left the professional ranks in 1975.35 While working as a counselor in the Lynn, Massachusetts, school system and umping college and high-school games, he was contacted to work the August 25, 1978, game at first base.36 News reports indicate Giard worked in the Cape League in 1979 and 1980 before earning a law degree and leaving Massachusetts for a position with the district attorney’s office in Manhattan.37

Dick Clegg was umping in the Boston Park League when he worked 20 games at Fenway in 1979. He umpired for more than 30 years in the Park League and was posthumously elected to its hall of fame. A fundraising golf tournament that supports the league was also named in his honor. Clegg was named the Cape Cod League’s umpire-in-chief in 1998, but died in December 1999.38

Jim McNally had much in common with Clegg: He was a Boston Park League umpire39 who worked 15 games at Fenway in 1979. Also like Clegg, McNally was elected to that league’s hall of fame.40 McNally later moved to the Cape and umpired in the Cape Cod League for 14 seasons, winning the Curly Clement Award for outstanding umping in 2005.41 A roofing contractor by trade, he died in a job-related accident in Sandwich, Massachusetts, in 2013. His obituary asked, in lieu of flowers, that donations be made to the Cape Cod League.42

Lester Pratt worked a season in the Cape League in 1974, then spent four seasons as a minor-league umpire in the New York-Penn and Carolina Leagues from 1975 through 1978. He was 25, living in West Barnstable, and employed as a carpet cleaner when he was tapped to work 14 Red Sox games in 1979.43 Pratt landed in national news coverage on May 16, 1979, when Rick Burleson of the Red Sox bumped him in a dispute over a strike call. Burleson drew a three-game suspension.44 Pratt reportedly returned to the Cape League in 1979, but his engagement notice in a Cape Cod newspaper in 1980 described him as “a former Cape Cod League umpire,” so he doesn’t appear to have stayed long.45

KURT BLUMENAU grew up in the Rochester, New York, area, following the Mets and the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings. He works in corporate communications in the Boston area. He has a strong interest in the minor leagues, particularly the New York-Penn League, and also enjoys watching college games.

 

SOURCES

In addition to the sources identified in the Notes, the author consulted other news articles from Cape Cod newspapers made available through the Cape Libraries Automated Materials Sharing (CLAMS) library network. He also consulted Baseball-Reference and Retrosheet for basic background information on teams, seasons, games, and players.

 

NOTES

1 As measured using Google Maps’ Measure Distance feature. It’s about a 57-mile drive from the bridge to Fenway Park.

2 Francis Rosa, “Sub Umpires Keep Show Going,” Boston Globe, August 26, 1978: 17.

3 Rosa, “Sub Umpires Keep Show Going”; “Robert F. (Curly) Clement” (obituary), Legacy.com , posted June 30, 2006, https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonglobe/name/robert-clement-obituary?id=25982375 ; Lisa Merritt, “Bourne Man Gets Chance to Umpire in Major Leagues,” Bourne High School (Massachusetts) Dispatch, May 8, 1979: 1; “Clarence Merritt” (obituary), Legacy.com , posted August 20, 2010, https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/clarence-merritt-obituary?id=23043342 . The third of these stories was a short piece written by Clarence Merritt’s daughter, a high-school student.

4 Associated Press, “Second Umpire Strike in Major League History Under Way,” Salem (Oregon) Capital Journal, August 25, 1978: 17A.

5 “Second Umpire Strike in Major League History Under Way”; Associated Press, “Meeting Set for Today on Umpire Strike,” Daily American Republic (Poplar Bluff, Missouri), August 24, 1978: 13.

6 “Second Umpire Strike in Major League History Under Way.”

7 “Second Umpire Strike in Major League History Under Way.”

8 Rosa, “Sub Umpires Keep Show Going.”

9 Rosa, “Sub Umpires Keep Show Going”; Associated Press, “Five Fill-Ins at Fenway,” Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, Massachusetts), August 26, 1978: 13. Besides Clement and Merritt, the other three umpires hailed from communities north of Boston: Bob Giard of Lynn, Joe Driscoll of Billerica, and Bill Robinson of North Andover. United Press International, “Now Look Guys … That’s Third Base Over That Way, OK?” (photo and caption), Lynn (Massachusetts) Daily Item, August 26, 1978: 31. The game marked the only big-league appearances of Giard and Driscoll. Robinson, like Clement, made a second umpiring appearance on Opening Day 1979.

10 Christopher Price, Baseball By the Beach: A History of America’s National Pastime on Cape Cod (Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts: On Cape Publishing, 1998), 64; Bill Mahan, “Two-Time Runner-Up Norwell Beats St. Joseph’s 5-3 for State Crown,” Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Massachusetts), June 21, 1976: 12.

11 “Men’s College World Series Umpires,” NCAA 2009 College World Series Guide, accessed November 2024: 151, http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/baseball_cws_RB/2009CWSfull.pdf .

12 “Cape Umps Get Call,” Cape Cod Times (Hyannis, Massachusetts), August 26, 1978: 13; “Five Fill-Ins at Fenway”; Jack Barry, “A.F. Gets L. League Soaring at Falmouth,” Boston Globe, June 21, 1964: 76; Joe Giuliotti, “Sub Umps: Even the Lip Couldn’t Give ’Em Any Yesterday,” Boston Herald American, April 6, 1979: 33. The “Five Fill-Ins” story says Merritt had 22 years of umpiring experience in the Cape League, which seems questionable, given that he spent part of that period in active military service. The author of this story surmises that Merritt had 22 years of total umping experience in 1978, but perhaps not all, or not continuously, in the Cape League. The story also describes Merritt as a former player in the Texas League. As of September 2024, Baseball-Reference had no record of Merritt playing professionally.

13 Untitled photograph and caption, Falmouth (Massachusetts) Enterprise, August 11, 1978: 16. Cicatiello, an outfielder and first baseman, played three seasons in the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals organizations, topping out at Double A.

14 “Harwich High Makes Good Show in State Tournament Hoop Play,” The Cape Codder (Orleans, Massachusetts), March 10, 1977: 27, https://snow-library.com/viewer/3681?medianame=1977_thecapecodder_vol31_issue52_orleans_000031#page=31&viewer=picture&o=&n=0&q= .

15 The logo was clearly visible in a wire-service photo that showed Boston manager Don Zimmer talking with the substitute umps about ground rules. “Now Look Guys … That’s Third Base Over That Way, OK?”

16 Mark Chapman, “Curly’s Dream Comes True,” Cape Cod Times, August 27, 1978: 29.

17 Chapman.

18 Francis Rosa, “… And Red Sox Steal It, 6-0,” Boston Globe, August 26, 1978: 17.

19 Red Hoffman, “Umps Steal Sox Spotlight,” Lynn Daily Item, August 26, 1978: 31.

20 Leigh Montville, “Big-League for a Day,” Boston Globe, August 27, 1978: 90.

21 Rosa, “Sub Umpires Keep Show Going.”

22 Dan Berger, “Major League Umps’ Strike Ends After Amateur Night,” San Diego Union, August 26, 1978: D1.

23 Associated Press, “Sub Umps Behind Plate,” North Adams (Massachusetts) Transcript, March 8, 1979: 20; Jack Craig, “Who Will Be The Umpires?” Boston Globe, April 5, 1979: 51. The Globe reported that rookie AL ump Ted Hendry was “ignoring” his colleagues’ labor action, while the Associated Press reported that National League ump Paul Pryor signed a contract individually and went back to work for personal and financial reasons. “Umpires Are Upset at Lone Non-Striker,” Daily Hampshire Gazette, April 5, 1979: 40.

24 John Powers, “They Were Good Enough to Go Unnoticed,” Boston Globe, April 6, 1979: 30. Clement’s original assignment for the day: Bentley College vs. the University of Rhode Island.

25 Powers, “They Were Good Enough to Go Unnoticed.”

26 Mark Chapman, “Umps’ Strike: Stuff of 2 Cape Men’s Dreams,” Cape Cod Times, April 6, 1979: 1.

27 Chapman, “Umps’ Strike: Stuff of 2 Cape Men’s Dreams.”

28 Clement is listed as “honor[ing] his commitment to the Eastern College Athletic Conference” in Bill Higgins, “Umps Make Presence Felt at Fenway,” Cape Cod Times, May 17, 1979: 28. Former AL umpire Hank Morgenweck served as the umpiring supervisor of the Eastern College Athletic Conference in the late 1970s. In a 1993 interview with SABR member Tom Harris, Morgenweck recalled that four ECAC umps accepted big-league assignments in 1979, but the conference had rules prohibiting its officials from working in pro leagues. Morgenweck told the umps they could work in the majors for a weekend, but would have to decide after the Sunday game whether to side with the pros or the colleges. According to Morgenweck, all four stayed with the ECAC. Interview with Hank Morgenweck conducted in October 1993 at Morgenweck’s home in Teaneck, New Jersey, and accessed via SABR.org in November 2024, https://sabr.org/interview/hank-morgenweck-1993/ . (This discussion takes place between 57:00 and 59:30 of the recording.)

29 Jane Gross, “Strike Is Out, Work Is In for Umps,” Newsday (Long Island, New York), May 19, 1979: 29.

30 Larry Whiteside, “Men in Blue Back in Game and Happy,” Boston Sunday Globe, May 20, 1979: 48.

31 A photo of the umpiring crew for the 1983 Cape Cod League all-star game at Fenway shows Merritt among the umps. It is reproduced in Dan Crowley, Baseball on Cape Cod (Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Arcadia, 2004): 85, https://archive.org/details/baseballoncapeco0000crow/page/84/mode/2up .

32 Price, Baseball By the Beach, 119-120.

33 “Robert F. (Curly) Clement.”

34 “Awards & Records,” Cape Cod Baseball League website, accessed November 2024, https://www.capecodleague.com/history/awards .

35 The Sporting News umpire card for Robert Giard, accessed via Retrosheet.org, November 2024, https://www.retrosheet.org/TSNUmpireCards/Giard-Robert.jpg ; Tom Dalton, “Lynn Ump Calls Himself ‘Out!’” Lynn Daily Item, April 3, 1979: 13.

36 Dalton, “Lynn Ump Calls Himself ‘Out!’”; Red Hoffman, “Ump Will Play It Safe With the Law,” Lynn Daily Item, June 29, 1982: 16; “On Top of the Play” (photo and caption), The Cape Codder, August 12, 1980: 23, https://snow-library.com/viewer/4016?medianame=1980_thecapecodder_vol35_issue53_orleans_000023&q=%22bob%20giard%22#page=23&viewer=picture&o=search&n=0&q=%22bob%20giard%22 .

37 Bill Higgins, “Umps Make Presence Felt at Fenway,” Cape Cod Times, May 17, 1979: 28; Dalton, “Lynn Ump Calls Himself ‘Out!’”; Red Hoffman, “Ump Will Play It Safe With the Law,” Lynn Daily Item, June 29, 1982: 16; “On Top of the Play” (photo and caption), The Cape Codder, August 12, 1980: 23, https://snow-library.com/viewer/4016?medianame=1980_thecapecodder_vol35_issue53_orleans_000023&q=%22bob%20giard%22#page=23&viewer=picture&o=search&n=0&q=%22bob%20giard%22 .

38 “2023 Tournament Details – Postponed,” Boston Park League website, accessed September 2024, https://bostonparkleague.org/golf-tournament-2023/ .

39 Garry Brown, “Hey, Bowie – The Umpires Need You!” Springfield (Massachusetts) Sunday Republican, May 13, 1979: C7. This article quoted former big-league ump and umpiring supervisor Hank Soar praising McNally’s skills.

40 “Park League Fete Tonight,” Boston Globe, December 2, 1983: 49.

41 “Awards & Records,” Cape Cod Baseball League website, accessed November 2024.

42 “James J. McNally” (obituary), Sandwich (Massachusetts) Enterprise, August 2, 2013: 7.

43 Higgins, “Umps Make Presence Felt at Fenway”; The Sporting News umpire card for Leslie “Lester” Pratt, accessed September 2024, https://retrosheet.org/TSNUmpireCards/Pratt-Leslie.jpg ; Maury Allen, “Burleson Bumps Ump as Bosox Bow to Birds,” New York Post, May 17, 1979: 66.

44 Allen, “Burleson Bumps Ump as Bosox Bow to Birds”; Associated Press, “Burleson Sits Come Sunday,” Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican, May 26, 1979: 11.

45 Higgins, “Umps Make Presence Felt at Fenway”; “Herlihy-Pratt Engagement,” Barnstable Patriot, February 14, 1980: 5.