Bob Davidson (umpire)

Robert "Balkin' Bob" Allan Davidson (born August 3, 1952) is a former umpire for Major League Baseball.

Major League Baseball career

Davidson was on the full-time umpiring staff for Major League Baseball (MLB) in the National League (NL) from 1982 to 1999. He resigned in 1999 as part of a labor negotiation strategy, then later returned to professional umpiring and rejoined the MLB staff several years later. He wore uniform number 31 during his career in the NL. Number 31 was worn by umpire Mike Reilly in the American League (AL), and it was assigned to Reilly when the AL and NL merged their umpiring staffs in 2000, so when Davidson later returned to MLB he was assigned 61 as his new number. For the 2011 season, he wore number 6, later changing back to 61.

Davidson officiated in the 1992 World Series, as well as the National League Championship Series in 1988, 1991 and 1996. He also worked in the National League Division Series in 1995, 1998 and 2009, and in the 1987, 1993, and 2014 All-Star Games. Nicknamed "Balkin' Bob" or "Balk-a-day-Bob" due to his frequent balk calls,^[1] Davidson was voted by players and managers as one of the worst umpires in MLB, placing fourth-worst in a Sports Illustrated poll in 2011.^[2]

During the baseball off-season and during his late 1990s hiatus from baseball, Davidson was a part-time talk show host for 850 KOA in Denver (the radio broadcast partner of the Colorado Rockies).^[3] He also did a semi-regular stint about once a week being interviewed about umpiring as part of Rockies pre-game shows prior to his resignation (see below).

Resignation and return

Davidson resigned from the NL staff in 1999 as part of a failed mass resignation during labor negotiations. He was out of professional baseball until 2003, when he resumed umpiring in minor league baseball, including the A-level Midwest League. In December 2004, he and fellow resignees Tom Hallion and Ed Hickox were guaranteed three of the next five positions on the Major League umpire staff, with Davidson reportedly guaranteed the first vacancy. Davidson returned in 2007 to umpiring Major League Baseball games after the retirement of Joe Brinkman.^[4]

Suspension

On May 15, 2012 during a game in Philadelphia, Davidson and the Phillies' catcher bumped into each other during a play involving a strike 3 wild pitch. The Astros' runner was able to safely make it to first base on the play. Davidson yelled into the Philadelphia dugout "You think I wanted to block his ass?"^[5] During the argument, Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel was ejected by Davidson. Three days later, Major League Baseball suspended Davidson from umpiring one game because of "repeated violations of the Office of the Commissioner's standards for situation handling". According to MLB, the suspension resulted from a "culmination of several incidents" as well as Davidson's conduct during the argument with Manuel. Manuel was also suspended for one game.^[2]

2006 World Baseball Classic

In the top of the eighth inning of a second-round tie game against the United States, Team Japan's Tsuyoshi Nishioka was at third base when Akinori Iwamura hit a pop fly to left field off of Joe Nathan. This was easily fielded by American fielder Randy Winn. Nishioka started from third base on the sacrifice fly. Winn did not catch Nishioka at home, giving Japan a 4–3 lead. The American team executed an appeal play, arguing that Nishioka had not properly tagged up at third base. As third base umpire Neil Poulton had gone out to left field for the catch/no catch call, home plate umpire Davidson became responsible for making calls on the runner on third base. Second base umpire Brian Knight ruled that Nishioka was safe. American manager Buck Martinez argued that Nishioka had left third base too early and that the wrong umpire had made the call on the appeal play. Davidson met with the other umpires and then ruled Nishioka out. Video replay showed that Nishioka had properly tagged up at third base. Japan lost the game by one run on an Alex Rodriguez double in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Other notable calls

• On August 23, 1989, in the 11th inning of a game between the Montreal Expos and the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers, Expos mascot Youppi! danced on the visitors' dugout, drawing the ire of Tommy Lasorda. Davidson ejected Youppi! for such antics, marking the first time a mascot had been ejected during a major league game. However, Youppi! later returned to sleep on the home team's dugout roof. The Dodgers would then go onto win the game in 22 innings.
• On October 20, 1992, in the third game of the 1992 World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Atlanta Braves, Davidson ruled that Deion Sanders was not tagged out on a controversial play in the 4th inning. After a David Justice blast to center field was snagged by Devon White, baserunners Terry Pendleton and Sanders crossed each other on the basepath, resulting in an automatic out. With two outs now on the play, John Olerud delivered the ball to third-baseman Kelly Gruber. Gruber and shortstop Manuel Lee now had Sanders engaged in a rundown, and as Gruber closed in on Sanders, feigning a throw to second, Sanders dove headfirst back to second. Gruber dove as well, dragging his glove across Sanders' right foot before his hand reached the base. Davidson called Sanders safe and refuted an argument from manager Cito Gaston.
• On September 21, 1998, Davidson controversially ruled that a ball hit by St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire in Milwaukee County Stadium was an automatic double instead of a home run. Davidson said that a fan reached over the outfield fence to catch the ball, interfering with a ball in play. The home run would have been the 66th of the season for McGwire, who had broken Roger Maris's single-season home run record earlier that month. McGwire and Cardinals president Bill DeWitt said after watching replays that they thought it should have been ruled a home run, and DeWitt attempted to appeal the ruling to Major League Baseball.^[6]
• On August 5, 2010, Gaby Sánchez of the Florida Marlins hit a hard ground ball down the third base line which was ruled foul by Davidson. However, subsequent replays showed that the ball landed just in fair territory, bounced over the base and landed again in fair territory, sparking outrage from the Marlins dugout. The Philadelphia Phillies went on to win the game in ten innings by a score of 5–4. Davidson later stated, "In my opinion, where it goes over the bag, you can't tell. ... I'm very confident I got it right. What the ball did when it went past me is irrelevant."^[7][8][9]
• On September 8, 2010, Davidson ejected three people during a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers.^[10] In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Davidson ejected Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan for arguing balls and strikes from the dugout. Later, during the bottom of the 5th inning, Davidson ejected Brewers batter Chris Dickerson after Dickerson dropped his helmet and bat to the ground after taking a called third strike. The final ejection occurred during the bottom of the 7th inning when Davidson ejected a fan for heckling Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina.^[7]

Personal life

Davidson is a graduate of Duluth East High School in Duluth, Minnesota, and he played baseball at the University of Minnesota-Duluth before pursuing a professional umpiring career. He spent eight years in the minors before being promoted to the majors. He is married to Denise and has two daughters, Amber and Andrea, and two grandchildren, Alana and Brock. He resides in Colorado. In 2010, Davidson was elected into the University of Minnesota-Duluth Athletic Hall of Fame.^[11]

Retirement

Davidson announced his retirement at the end of the 2016 MLB season.^[12]

See also

• List of Major League Baseball umpires

References

External links

• MLB.com Bio
• Retrosheet
• Bob Davidson on Twitter