Center Field on Fire: An Umpire's Life with Pine tar Bats, Spitballs, and Corked Personalities - Hardcover

Phillips, Dave; Rains, Rob

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1572435690 ISBN 13: 9781572435698

Publisher: Triumph Books, 2004

Synopsis

Recalls thirty-two years of umpiring in baseball's major leagues, including Disco Demolition Night, the Pine Tar Game, and the 1979 umpire strike.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Whether you consider it a blessing or a curse, Dave Phillips was major league baseball’s version of Forrest Gump throughout his remarkable 32-year umpiring career. Few people, if any, have been involved in as many historic, controversial, and just plain peculiar incidents on a baseball diamond. Among the more notable games Phillips worked was the infamous Disco Demolition Night in Chicago in 1979. He emerged from the umpires’ dressing room expecting to start the second game of a doubleheader, only to find that thousands of fans had converged on the field and portions of the outfield were in flames due to a radio station–sponsored promotion gone bad. Phillips was also in uniform during 1994’s "Batgate" (which also took place at Chicago’s Comiskey Park), during which he confiscated Albert Belle’s suspect bat and subsequently became the victim of one of baseball’s most notorious crimes.

Phillips had legendary run-ins with the likes of Earl Weaver and Billy Martin—the most memorable of which came in the George Brett Pine Tar Game in 1983—and he was the first umpire to catch famed spitballer Gaylord Perry in the act. In Center Field on Fire, Phillips recounts these and dozens of other amazing stories from his unique perspective. His tales are not only wildly entertaining and humorous, but also provide an insider’s glimpse into some of baseball’s most prominent and controversial personalities over the last half century. Phillips reveals telling anecdotes about Pete Rose, Reggie Jackson, Sparky Anderson, Bud Selig, and many more of the game’s heavy hitters, and he offers informed opinions about important issues in baseball today, such as labor relations and drug use.

One of the most talented and respected professionals in the business during his long tenure, Phillips accurately portrays the life of an umpire. Following in his father’s footsteps, he toiled in the minor leagues for several years before getting his shot in the majors. Once there, he learned how to live with the constant travel, stress, conflict, and never ending ire from fans, players, coaches, and managers.

Center Field on Fire provides a candid and humorous look inside the fascinating life of a true major leaguer.

About the Author:

Rob Rains is the author of 20 books, including Mark McGwire: Home Run Hero, which made The New York Times best-seller list in 1998. He is also the coauthor of autobiographies of Jack Buck, Ozzie Smith, and Red Schoendienst. Rains lives in St. Louis with his wife, Sally, and sons B.J. and Mike.

About this edition

• Publisher: Triumph Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1572435690
• ISBN 13: 9781572435698
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224