HOUSTON – The final out of the game settled into Shawon Dunston’s mitt and Bob Davidson’s 18-year career as a National League umpire was over.
Davidson, who worked the plate last night in the Mets’ 9-5 win over the Astros, tugged the bill of his cap, turned his back to the field and walked toward the tunnel that leads to the hall where the umpires’ room is located at the Astrodome.
The Mets all poured out of the dugout toward the mound to celebrate the victory, save for veteran pitcher Orel Hershiser. He peeled off from the pack to shake Davidson’s hand then joined his teammates.
“I knew he was the only guy on the field on his last day of work and that’s a pretty lonely place to be,” Hershiser said, explaining the handshake. “The other three crew members go on with their employment and everybody on both teams goes on with their employment. I’ve always thought Bob was a good umpire. He always works hard, always was into the game and that’s all you can ask for.”
Davidson’s final paycheck arrived at his Littleton, Colo. home Tuesday. His wife opened the envelope and read a note that detailed the specifics of when his health benefits expire. With that, the umpires’ job security story that has bored readers of sports pages across the country for the past six weeks took on harsh reality for the Davidson family.
Thanks to umpires union chief Richie Phillips’ addled negotiating strategy, Davidson might never work a major league game again. Eighteen years of experience down the drain because he put his faith in Phillips, turned in his resignation and was left helpless when Major League Baseball accept his resignation and that of 21 other umpires.
Davidson did not want to make talking to reporters before or after the game part of his routine. He let crew chief Ed Montague do the talking for him.
“The main thing right now is to get the 22 jobs back,” Montague said. “Nobody wants to see anybody get fired.”
A good Phillips soldier, Montague used the term “fired,” inaccurate terminology. The umpires resigned and when they attempted to withdraw those resignations some withdrawals were accepted, others were not.
The 25 new umpires begin their jobs today. The 22 umpires out of work will attempt to get their jobs back through an arbitration proceeding, but the umpires agreed not to strike in an attempt to force Major League Baseball to hire back the 22 blindly loyal men who followed the lead of Phillips all the way into the unemployment line.
Thus far, Phillips has been more successful in brainwashing NL umps into making Commissioner Bud Selig seem like the bad guy, but more AL umps are able to see the real culprit as Phillips.