The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Sharing the glory days
Retired MLB umpire, 74, visits veterans in Texas, elsewhere
The Dallas Morning
News
DALLAS >> Larry Barnett shook Cal Ripken’s hand the night the Baltimore Orioles legend broke Lou Gehrig’s record for consecutive games played. He was on the field the first time the Texas Rangers took the field at brandnew Globe Life Park in 1994.
The Dallas Morning News reports Barnett has participated in four World Series, seven American League Championship Series, worked with many of the game’s all-time greats and been an eyewitness to some of baseball’s greatest moments.
But nothing gives the retired longtime umpire more joy than shaking the hand of a disabled veteran.
“I’ve had the greatest job in the world, being in professional baseball for 37½ years. I have a fantastic family, but I think the best thing I’ve probably done in my life is my association with Disabled American Veterans,” Barnett said during a stop in Dallas.
Barnett, 74, has made a second career out of paying respects to military veterans recovering from their war wounds. By his count, he’s made over 3,200 visits to the nation’s 172 Veterans
Administration hospitals over 43 years.
The Prospect, Ohio, resident this month was at the VA North Texas Health Care System.
“Just to say hello to a veteran” is meaningful, Barnett said. “So many of them, you know, they don’t have families or anything that come visit them. They can’t, you know, or won’t — I don’t know the reason for that.”
He charmed patients with jokes and his attention to their stories.
“You’re gonna have to eat
to grow into this,” Barnett said as he gave a commemorative jacket to Navy veteran Russell Moore.
“OK,” Moore responded gleefully.
Later, Barnett offered encouragement to Robert William as the veteran lay in bed.
“You look better than I do, so whatever you’re doing, keep doing it,” he said.
Barnett joked about an autographed picture and baseball card with another man he encountered in a hallway.
“Those are $500,” he said. “I’m going to put it on your bill.”
“Go ahead, the VA pays for it,” the patient replied.
Barnett, who retired from umpiring in 1999, said a friend talked him into working with Disabled American Veterans, an organization created by Congress in 1920.
Any subject is fair game while Barnett spends time with those who served.
“I do these, and sometimes I get tired, but after I’m about halfway through, I feel better,” he said. “So I know how lucky I am to be able to be here. If I make one person happy today in Dallas, it’ll be a good visit.”
The Dallas visit was among Barnett’s last to a VA center. Barnett plans to step away from his travels at the end of the year.
“I’m 74 years old, and I don’t like to travel,” he said. “I’ve traveled my whole life. I don’t like getting on an airplane; I don’t like staying in hotel rooms. And to do this I have to do that, but it’s time to go.”
Barnett concedes that he wishes he’d kept a record of some of the stories behind his visits. He recalled one encounter in Indianapolis with a veteran who hadn’t been conscious for a couple of days.
“I told him who I was, told his wife and son, and he woke up,” Barnett said. “He opened his eyes and he said, ‘You know Larry,’ he said, ‘I’m going to die.’ He said, ‘I know that, but I’m ready.’ He said, ‘All of my life I’ve been a baseball fan, and for you being here today, this is a dream come true, and I’m ready to go.’”