Umpire Eric Cooper had to pull car over after learning of World Series selection
As noted we on Friday, the umpiring crew for the 2014 World Series has been selected and announced. The expanded crew of seven, which now includes one umpire who will be assigned to oversee replay challenges in New York, will include four veterans who are set to make their World Series debuts.
Among the first-timers is 16-year veteran Eric Cooper. He received the good news in a phone call from MLB’s Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations Joe Torre, and at the time of the call was driving home with wife Tara after they took in an afternoon movie.
Understandably, Cooper was taken aback by the call. After all, he’s been in the business a long time now, and that late October call had never come before. There probably wasn’t much indication that his outlook would change much this season, but it has, and it appears he at least partially had expanded replay to thank for that.
So the call comes, and apparently all heck nearly broke out in his vehicle. Here’s how Cooper described it to USA Today’s Bryce Miller.
“I picked it up and he said, ‘Hey, Coop, it’s Joe Torre. How are you?’ ” Cooper said Friday of Torre, the Hall of Fame manager and the league’s executive vice president for baseball operations. “I said, ‘Well, I just about wrecked the car when I saw the area code.’ Mr. Torre said to pull the car over and put it into park. He said, ‘How would you like to work the World Series this year?'”
Only Cooper and his wife know if he was truly in danger of crashing, but it sounds like the call not only caught him offguard, but genuinely moved him on an emotional level.
“It’s one of those two or three phone calls you’re always going to remember in your career,” Cooper said. “Outside of the birth of a child, marriage, kids graduating and those things, it’s a humbling call. Professionally, I can’t put it into words. It’s kind of surreal still.”
Based on the numbers released on Friday, it’s well deserved as well. Throughout the entire regular season, Cooper only had three calls challenged and overturned by replay. Considering there were right around 600 calls overturned overall, he didn’t miss much. Of course, that data doesn’t factor in calls that weren’t challenged, were non-reviewable or didn’t have enough evidence to overturn.
Cooper was correct 87.68 percent of the time on balls and strikes calls during the regular season. That ranked eighth among umpires who made at least 1,000 calls.
Cooper’s highest previous honor was umpiring the 2004 National League Championship Series. He was also selected for the 2005 All-Star game.
As for the aftermath of Friday’s news, everyone did get home safe and sound. But Cooper might owe another thank to Torre, because he overturned Cooper’s decision to continue driving.
“I was pretty emotional,” he said. “Mr. Torre suggested my wife drive the rest of the way home. So I hugged my wife, we switched seats, and she drove.”
Good call, Joe. And congratulations to Cooper.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
