Bruce Froemming, a giant of the umpiring profession who called 5,163 games across 37 major-league seasons, ranking No. 3 on MLB’s career list, died Tuesday in Milwaukee. He was 86 years old.
Froemming’s sons, Steven and Kevin, said their father had slipped and fallen at his home in Mequon, Wis., early Tuesday morning and was taken to a local hospital. He was then transferred to Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital in Milwaukee, where he died from brain bleeding.
Froemming was on blood thinners, Steven Froemming said, and doctors could not stop the bleeding.
“He loved the fact that baseball was like a fraternity,” Steven Froemming said. “You argued like hell on the field, and after the game was over, you left it at the stadium, and it was a new day tomorrow.”
A signed photo of the 1973 NLCS brawl signed by Rose, Harrelson and Froemming. (Photo courtesy: Froemming family)
Froemming, who trails only Joe West and Bill Klem among games as an umpire, had a knack for mediating memorable melees. He was at second base at Shea Stadium when Pete Rose and Buddy Harrelson brawled in the 1973 National League Championship Series.
More than three decades later, on July 24, 2004, Froemming was working the plate when Jason Varitek shoved his catcher’s mitt in Alex Rodriguez’s face at Fenway Park. That image quickly became a bar-room staple throughout New England.
“Our dad was in between them and he said, ‘Knock it off!’” Steven Froemming said. “They got closer and closer, and Dad just kind of walked away like, ‘Nothing I can do!’ – and let them go at it.”
Froemming, who was born Sept. 29, 1939, in Milwaukee, served 13 years as a minor-league umpire before reaching the majors in 1971. After retirement, he worked for the commissioner’s office for eight years.
In his second year in the majors, on a September afternoon at Wrigley Field, Froemming chose integrity over history.
Milt Pappas, a veteran right-hander for the Chicago Cubs, was one strike away from a perfect game against the San Diego Padres. Facing Larry Stahl, a left-handed pinch hitter, Pappas threw a full-count pitch just off the outside corner. Stahl checked his swing. Froemming did not raise his arm. Ball four.
Pappas was livid, barking at Froemming from the mound, though he recovered to salvage the no-hitter and told reporters that Froemming had made the right call. He changed his stance over the years, to Froemming’s annoyance.
“The pitch was outside,” Froemming told the The New York Times in 2010. “I didn’t miss the pitch; Pappas missed the pitch. You can look at the tape. Pappas, the next day, said, ‘I know the pitch was outside, but you could have given it to me.’ That pitch has gotten better over the years. That pitch is right down the middle now.”
Froemming’s sons were at the game that day, and the story became part of family lore.
“Our dad would say, ‘The only one that was perfect that day’ was him,” Steven Froemming said. “Meaning our father, not Milt Pappas.”
Froemming later called three more no-hitters: Ed Halicki in 1975, Nolan Ryan in 1981 (Ryan’s fifth, a record) and Jose Jimenez in 1999. He made 125 ejections in his career, from Atlanta Braves manager Lum Harris in 1971 to Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon in 2007.
The most famous of those 125 came in the first of Froemming’s five World Series. It was Game 4 in 1976, and the Big Red Machine was wrapping up a sweep in the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium. When Billy Martin, the embarrassed Yankees manager, came unglued, Froemming sent him away.
“Billy was rolling baseballs at the home plate umpire to get his attention, and our dad told him from first base, because the dugout was right there, ‘One more and you’re outta here!’” Steven Froemming said. “He rolled another one, testing our dad’s patience — and some umpires have more patience than others.”
Froemming is survived by his wife, Rosemarie; Steven and his wife, Elizabeth; Kevin and his wife, Lynn; grandchildren Nicolas and Christopher; a sister, Cathy, and a half-brother, John.