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Ref Memories

    This week I would like to share with about someone who influenced me even though I never refereed with him. I was sad to hear that Larry Nickol from Killarney passed away recently. Larry played the game but his first love was baseball. He played in championship games but also umpired in those championship games as well.

    One day as I was about to continue to umpire baseball games, I was invited to go to an umpires’ school. There were a few of us that went as we would be umpiring the Manitoba Senior Baseball League, including working games in the Provincial playoffs. We spent time going over the rule book and the interpretation of those rules and how they applied to the game of baseball.

    Larry was running the clinic and he said one sentence that stuck with me all through hockey and baseball seasons. He asked a question. “What is fair?”  I had never heard that said before. It really resonated with me! It was a statement for the ages with me. Thank you Larry for being a great mentor. It shifted my thought process in umpiring baseball games as well as refereeing. 

    In hockey we see it all the time, the punches in the face after a whistle that are ignored, yet if someone retaliates, they get called. Why in the world is the first punch not called? Why is retaliation always called?  That is not fair and an official can make this biased decision, based on that way of officiating.

    The fighting instigator penalty always made no sense to me. The instigator gets a 2-minute penalty and, more often than not, it is not called correctly. What was the initial penalty that would be called, that would be the instigator penalty. Now here is a scenario. I slash, crosscheck, punch or any other minor penalty and go after you and drop the gloves and we engage in a fight. Who is the instigator? Well, in my opinion the player who started the whole thing with a slash, punch etc would be the instigator and should be penalized accordingly.

    Back to Larry. I worked some Provincial league finals and Manitoba senior baseball finals. Working with Larry was always fun. He was never in a rush to make the call unless it was a bang, bang play at first.

    One night in Brandon the Cloverleafs were playing the Riverside Canucks. Larry was the first base umpire, I was calling second and third base. Well, we had a bang, bang play at first and Larry was taking his own sweet time about making the call. Was the runner safe or out? After which seemed like an eternity, Larry called the runner out, which in my opinion was the correct call.

    At the end of the inning, I walked over to Larry and said, great call Larry, that was a banger. He smiled and nodded his head and said thank you. I said, I do have a question for you, why the delay in the call. Did you go for coffee or something? Did you forget what you were going to call, or were you distracted in some way ?

    Larry said, I was just trying to keep the crowd in suspense, keep them on the edge of their seats. Now run along back to your base and do your job! Larry was grinning from ear to ear. We had a lot of laughs in the clubhouse after the game. He said I just wanted to replay the call in my mind, it was that close a play, which it was.

    The world is not a better place without him, but his memory stays with me. Larry, it was my pleasure working with you, and thank you for teaching me. It has always stuck with me even to this day what you said at that umpires school so long ago, back in the 1990's. Rest in Peace big guy, it was a lot of fun working with you!