I have been a baseball umpire for the last 16 years. I have had the pleasure of working High School, Little League and showcase baseball. Very soon, I will have a tryout for a college umpiring association. However, while this may be good for me, the umpiring world has recently taken a huge loss. Less than a month after being honored in LA, the last surviving Negro Leagues Umpire, Bob Motley, has died.
A legendary fixture in the national baseball and umpiring communities, Motley was 94 years old. Motley served with the first-ever black Marine regiment, the Montfort Point Marines, in World War II, where he was decorated with a Purple Heart and a Congressional Gold Medal, and umpired in the Negro Leagues from 1947-1958, serving as a chief umpire. He also officiated collegiate baseball, and was a crew chief in Omaha for the College World Series.
The first African American to attend and graduate from the Al Somers Umpire School, Motley advanced to professional baseball's Pacific Coast League (Triple-A) before an offer from the big leagues during a labor dispute with major league umpires turned Motley off to the idea of working Major League Baseball: succinctly, Motley was a man of principle and he refused to cross a picket line, even if it meant a shot at the big leagues.
Mr. Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum of Kansas City, recently announced in a statement that they will be opening up a new umpire exhibit which will feature the late Motley. One of the large proponents of this is the fact that Motley himself helped create the museum following a 12-year Negro Leagues umpiring career, as well as stops in college baseball (including the College World Series) and Minor League Baseball's Pacific Coast League.
Kendrick made the following announcement regarding Motley's impending honor at the NLBM:
Bob Motley is truly an American hero. From the baseball field to the battlefield, he served with tremendous pride, dedication and passion. While his passing leaves a void in our hearts; he leaves us a lasting legacy that will play on forever at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
In November, Motley will once again call balls and strikes when his life-size statue is added to the Field of Legends at the NLBM. It will proudly be the centerpiece of a new display dedicated to African-American umpires in his honor.
The Field of Legends features a mock baseball diamond with 12 life-sized bronze sculptures of Negro League players Buck O'Neil, Satchel Paige, Rube Foster, Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, Pop Lloyd, Judy Johnson, Ray Dandridge, Cool Papa Bell, Oscar Charleston, Leon Day, Martin Dihigo, and, soon, Bob Motley.
Turning into an umpire is an immense obligation. It requires devotion, responsibility, and it is demanding both physically and mentally. Finishing only one season behind the plate or on the bases makes a pile of situational awareness. Mr. Motley not only realized this fact, he lived it every day both on and off the field. Now, he thunders his calls in the game in the sky.
Life is a ball game
Bein' played each day
Life is a ball game
Everybody can play
-Sister Wynonna Carr “The Ballgame”
