Two MLB umpires differ on COVID-19
These two friends have worked in the same business for nearly 40 years together but are taking opposite stances on the upcoming Major League Baseball season.
They are 67-year-old umpires Joe West and Gerry Davis, who have a combined 78 years of experience, worked 12 World Series, seven All-Star Games and 26 postseason series.
Davis, who had planned to retire after he umpired his 43rd game of the season to reach 5,000, told USA TODAY he has officially informed MLB he will opt of the season, fearful of being infected with the deadly coronavirus.
“It was really not that tough of a decision for me,” said Davis, who has high blood pressure and hypertension. “I can’t beat on my chest and say nothing is going to happen to me. My doctors told me I don’t have a higher risk of catching it, but higher implications from catching it . ... We have three young grandchildren. I couldn’t risk taking anything back to my family.”
West, 67, who is 65 games short of breaking Bill Klem’s record of 5,375 for the most regular-season games by an umpire, informed MLB that he will work, believing that not all of the 130,000 deaths in this country should be attributed to the virus.
“Those statistics aren’t accurate, I don’t care who’s counting them,” West said from his Florida home. “When (country music singer) Joe Diffie died, they said he died of the coronavirus. He had Stage 4 lung cancer. The coronavirus may have accelerated his death, but let’s be realistic.
“Our system is so messed up they have emptied hospitals because there’s no elective surgery. The government has been giving these hospitals extra money if someone dies of the coronavirus. So everybody that dies is because of coronavirus. I don’t care if you get hit by a car, it’s coronavirus.”
But while West thinks the numbers are inflated, he understands the concern and says those who aren’t comfortable umpiring in the middle of a pandemic should stay at home.
“I’m being cautious, just like everyone else,” West says. “It’s not like I’m going to go out in a crowd of people. Baseball is doing the right thing looking out for those guys and giving them a choice. If you’re not comfortable, and remotely concerned, you’re doing the right thing by opting out.
“This isn’t the kind of job you can do while worrying about everything else happening around you.”
There might be 10 to 12 umpires who will opt out of the 2020 season. West had the choice, too, and would have been paid as a high-risk employee because of his age. Yet he never seriously entertained the possibility.
“I don’t want to let anybody down,” West said. “Everybody has a responsibility to the game – that doesn’t necessarily mean to the commissioner’s office or the union – but a responsibility to the sport. As long as they’re trying to do everything possible to keep all of us healthy, I’m going.
“I think it’s good for the country that we get back to work. This country has missed it. I feel for the little people in this game. I feel for the vendors. I feel for the ticket takers and the ushers. The parking lot attendants. The groundskeepers. It hurts. You can’t get those games back.
“Baseball could have just thrown up their hands and said that’s it. But to their credit, they didn’t do that, and I think everybody appreciates that.”
Life will be different for the umpires, too. They will resume spring training on Friday, working at teams’ facilities closest to their homes, umpiring intrasquad games and exhibition games before the season opener July 23.
They no longer will be staying at their own hotels, rather the same ones as the visiting team. They will take teams’ chartered flights whenever possible and avoid commercial flights. During games, no player or manager is permitted to be within six feet from them to argue a call. And after games, just like the players and coaches, they are prohibited from hitting the hotel bars and restaurants.
“We’ll have to adjust just like everyone else to keep everyone safe,” West said. “We’ve stayed at a team’s hotel before on the road. We’ve even been on the same flights. There were times, especially when we umpired in one league, we had no choice but to fly with a team going coast-to-coast.”
It’s the banter and camaraderie among the umpiring fraternity that Davis will miss this summer. The umpires all knew the significance of this season to Davis. He was planning to have a retirement party the moment he umpired his 43rd game to reach 5,000, and MLB officials were trying to ensure that the milestone game would be in his hometown of St. Louis.
Davis, who has umpired more postseason games – 151 – than anyone in history, would become only the fourth to umpire 5,000 games overall. Now, COVID-19 willing, the celebration must wait until 2021.
“I’m very comfortable I made the right decision,” says Davis, who had long discussions with his wife, Linda. “I just want to be safe. Hey, 5,000 games is a nice round number, but it’s not going to change anything. If I don’t make it, I don’t make it. Everybody has to make the right decision for your family.
“Quite frankly, I have no reservations about it. This is the right choice for me.”
And for West, he believes he’s making the right decision too. There aren’t enough games in the 60-game season to break Klem’s record this season. He could have waited a year. But for him, the decision was easy.
“The scary thing about all of this is a good athlete can get this virus, never get sick, and pass it on it without knowing he had it,” West says. “So I do worry about the elderly.
“I just don’t consider myself elderly.”