Tnterview with Edward Vargo Q: Dad, tell grew up at. me a l-ittle about your childhood and where you A: Dave, f was born in Butler, P.A. on the Pillow Street area, which is on the wsgU-. end part of town. f have a 1ot of memories there because that is where f started my career in basebal1. Pullman Park was in that arear ErDd f was a batboy for the Butler Yankees for a period nine to ten years, and that is what got me started in baseball, and I am very thankful for that. f attended Butler High School r Etrd I was a graduate of Butler High School. f lived in Butl-er all of my lifer EIIId Butler is just a wonderful place to be from, and f am proud to f rom be Butl-er. the famous people that you met? A: The Butler Yankees were the farm team of the New York Yanlrees. f met a lot of 1 .players, and many big leagures came from the Butler farm system sueh as Whitey Ford, Joe Co1lins, Dick Starr dnd Carl Drew, and f was a part of those people. f am very happy to say that during the war they disbanded baseball here in Butler. Frankie Frisch visited Butlerr dnd he was the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates at the time. f was a guide for Frankie Frisch because there was some big event in Butler at the time, but f cannot remember what it was. Anyhow, Frankie invited me to come down and work with the Pirates. I fourteen years o1d at the time, and f would hop the Harmony Short Line bus every chance f got during the summer when Pittsburgh was at home, and f would go down to Forbes Field was and work out with the Pirates. f canremdmgen great thrill for me was at batting practice. Hank Greenberg was among many that were there, and they had a coach by the name of Honus Wagner, and f would sit on the trunks in right fiel-d. Honus rrould have his arms around il€r and we would talk nothing but baseball-. He was a wonderful old gentlemanr dnd it was a great thrill for me just to be in a company of a man of his caliber. Q: What did you do after you graduated high school-? A: f went to play baseball after graduation. f was scouted. by St. Louis Cardinal farm team, and they took me to spring training where f played two years for their organization, and then the army came by and took me. f played baseball in the army and managed a ball team which was the Ft. Belvoir team and managed the St. Albans Naval Hospital team. I also umpired during my tenure in the serviee because at that time they needed somebody who knew about baseball to umpire, so I started playing- l- " -; " baseball and umpiring at the same time. f could not throv anymore after my release from the service because my arm was hurt r so I took up umpiring and went to George Barr's school for umpiring in L954. The elasses lasted for about six weeks, and they only had one job opening at that time timer Errd my roomate by the name of Phil Reeves got the only job available in our c1ass. f came back to Butler and went to work in the Pul-lman Standardr drd about a mot'rtrhpassed away when I reeeived a phone call- from a Mr. Anderson who was the president of the GeorgiaFl-orida League. He called and said that my roomate Phil- Reeves decided he would no longer umpire anymore beeause he had a father who was il-l at home, so Phil recommended me to Mr. Anderson, and f am very much grateful to Phil because f would not be here today in baseball had it not been for Phil-. f worked in the GeorgiaFlorida League that year, and I went to the Piedmont League for my second fulI year. Piedmont is Cl-ass B, and f had a good year for them. The Piedmont League folded the following yearr so Mr. Anderson called me and asked me if f woul-d l-ike to come back down to the Georgia-Florida League and umpire, and I told him no. He then called my parents and told them not to l-et me quit and have me come back because he thought f was big league material. f talked it over with my parents, and they decided f should go back. f went back to the Georgia-Florida League that yearr drd it was a break of a lifetime going back there because f was bought the fol-lowing year by the Eastern League. It is Class A ba11, and f worked in that league for a period of six weeks. The International and f League then bought my contract, worked for them for two years. The National League then bought my contract in 1959, and here is where I am today. Q: Dad, you worked your first game in 1960 in San Francisco. Were you very nervous? A: Dave, they actually bought my contract in 1959r drld I did work some games that year for the National League, but f irst full my year was 1960. I opened in Candlestick Parkr ' ! r.'l and actual-ly f was nervous as a devil just l-ike anybody else woul-d b€, and that is the day that a knock camr:r on my door in the dressing room. f was rubbing up baseballs as a rookie always does for the gamer dnd a knock eame on my door. Somebody asked me if Dick Nixon could come in and use the restroom facilities, and f told them no because f did not know who he was talking about. A second knock came on the doorr dnd f opened the door, and there was Richard Nixon, the Vice President of the United States. He told me he was Vice President Nixonr dnd wanted to know if he could use the restroom facilities. him that he most certainly could. ft was my first he f told day in the big leaguesr dnd f ended up throwing out the Vice President. We had a niee chat. He told me that he came back from Venezuela,whefe they spat on himr so he told me to have a good time and wished me good l-uck. Q: Dad, what were some of the most memorable events that you were involved in in your twenty-four plus year career? A: Dave, there were so many memorable events that f was involved in. For example, f worked four World Series. The first World Series was between the Dodgers and the Twins. The second series was a great thrill for me. ft was between Pittsburgh and Bal-timore in 7971, and I had the pleasure of calling that particular game because Series historyr drd it was a great thrill ba1ls and strikes it was the first night game in World for me to umpire in front of my hometown fans because f called a great ball game. The third World Series was in 1978 between the Dodgers and Yankees, and f worked the 1983 World Series between Baltimore and Philadelphia. f also worked four AlL Star games. f worked the 1974 game in Pittsburgh which was another great thrilI me because for it was in front of my hometown people here. f also worked four LCS championship games and two tie breakers. Another memorabl-e occasion was when f cal1ed four no hitters in my career. Two were by Sandy Koufax, and the other two were by Don Notterbach and Don Wilson. One other great thrill for me was when working the plate vhen Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth's record of 714 home runs. ft took p1-ace in Cincinatti, and that was another great thrill Ohio, for me. f al-so umpired the last game in Forbes Field in Pittsburgh and umpired the last game at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. at Crosley Field in Cincinatti New Also, f worked the last game and also the Polo Grounds in York. f had so many events that it would take me a long time time to tell you just how many memorable oecasions that f have had. Q: What was the atmosphere l-ike on that day when Hank Aaron hit the home run that tied Ruth's record of 714 home runs? A:- Tt was opening day in L974r dnd it was just like any other ball game. Jack Bil-linqham was the pitcher for the Redsr came up and hit a 2-2 pitch to left field Errrd Aaron for a home run that tied the recordr dlld the place went crazy. There was a lot of security following Hank, and time was called as soon as he hit it out of the park. They located the ball that he hit over the fencer dnd President Ford came over and chatted with me for whil-e until Hank Aaron came over, and he presented Aaron with the baseball and shook his hand. Hank was a great player a great power hitter. Q: Dad, what were some of the favorite across a and managers that you came ? A: f never really hated any manager. Leo Duroucher was supposed to be one of the toughest manager$ with the umpires, but f really o1 ',',,\l never had a problem with Leo.lrWalter Al-ston, 'Gene Mauch, and lives in New Castler drrd I consider him a great gentleman and a good manager uho never gave the umpires any trouble, and f really did not have any problems with any Chuck Tanner. Tanner managers. Q: Who were some of the umpires that you worked vith all of those years? A: Most all umpires are good that f worked with and some that come to mind are Jocko Conlan, Augie Donatellir A1 Barlick, Ken Burkhart, Frank Secory, Bill Jackowski, and Me1 Steiner. f have a 1ot of respect with A1 Barlick, and A1 and Jocko are both in the Hall of Fame. f worked with A1 for nine yearsr dnd A1 introduced me to your mother on the airplaner dlld A1 works for as a supervisorr and I enjoy having him as one of my top fellows that goes out and l-ooks for umpires which helps me secure umpires for the National League. Q: What year did you finally retire from basebal-l-? A: I retired after the 1983 season. I thought f had enough because I was getting some injuries and did not want to get hurt anymore than f actually wasr so f retired after the 1983 season. Chub Feeney was the head of the National League and asked me if I wanted to be a supervisor for himr dnd I took the offer and was a supervisor for Chub in 1984, 1985, and 1986. Chub then retired as presidentr dDd the late Bart Giamatti came on the scene and hired me in this position as umpire me today supervi sor . Q: What kind of man was Bart Giamatti? A: Bart was the former head of Yale University. He loved the of baseball-, and he was a very elose friend of miner drd we became very close friends. We spoke almost 365 days a year. Bart died in September of 1989, and that was a great loss for me. We were very close friends, and I am sti1l very close with his family today. Bart loved baseball,and we would not have this mess we do today if Bart were sti1l living. f just cannot put into words how f feel about the late Bart Giamatti. He was a wonderful and brilliant rrErnr but he did not know too much about the game at that time. f taught him everything he needed to know about baseball. We would have connecting rooms in the hotels, and the door would be open between his room and my room. He would be reading some novel, and out of the blue he would ask me what some rules were in the rulebook. Bart was a great man for the game because he loved umpir€sr and he would visit them everytime he went to the balIpark. He was a true friend of the umpiresr and all of baseball loved him. Q: What does a supervisor actually do? A: f have many responsibilities of being a supervisor. First, f do all of the scheduel-ing for spring training and the regular seasonr dnd that is a headache in itself. f also find and train umpires for the National League and have two supervisors that work with me vho are Nick Colosi and Al- Barlick. f also serve on the rules committee for baseballr ilDd that itself is enough in this position. Q: what did you think of that whole ease between pete Rose and game Bart A: f Bart Bart first Giamatti? very famiLiar with that case between Giamatti and Rose. thought that what he did was right concerning Pete Rose. would have helped Pete only if Pete went to him in the placer dfld the decision hurt Giamatti quite a bit because I had breakfast with him just two days before he died, and the situation affected him dearly. Pete Rose was a tremendous athlete and a great competitorr dnd someday I would like to see Pete get into the Ha1l of Fame because he deserves it. Q: What is the atmosphere likei.tn 0ooperBtowh?,.NewltYorlt?:":? A: Cooperstown i" Jittle village with about 2,500 peopler drrd it builds up to about 50,000 people coming in for the Hall of Fame weekend. f have been going up there for the past ten years or sor and f umpired many of the Hal-l of Fame games. I play golf up therer rndrr/ of the legends tell stories. Money cannot buy the experience f have with these legends of basebaIl. Q: What does it take to become an umpire? A: It takes a few things sueh as having good judgement, good technique, and the most important thing is that you have to have a 1ot of guts to become an umpire because you have to take charge when you have to. f look for those points when f scout umpires to see if their judgement can be helped. Most young kids in the minors have to have the desire to become a good umpire. ft takes a 1ot of hard work both on and off the field, and that goes for any walk in life. People can be what they want to be such as a doctor or a laruyer, but you have to have the desire to do it. People thought, that r was too small to become am an umpire, but here f am in the big leagues being five foot nine and head of all of the umpires. Q: Do you think that baseball is headed in the right or wrong direction? A: The strike has really hurt the game of baseball very much. I think that the owners and players should get together and resolve this thing beeause the young kids are suffering. Baseball is the number one sport in the country,and the situation has hurt the game very much. The owners and players should qet a deal together and get it over with. Players are makinq millions of dollars and stil1 want more, but the one thing that is forgotten is the kids. They ought to lower the price of the tickets and open the stands so the young kids can come into the park because they are the backbone of this country and of basebalI. Baseball wiLl be better of as soon as they do that. Q: What do you think is going to happen to the smal-l market teams in the future? A: f hope that nothing happens to them because the Pirates have been here for years, but most of the small market teams are hurting bad1y. Pittsburgh is a smalI t.v. marketarea, and they put a lot of money in the game. The Yankees get thirty million a yeaf from MSG, but Pittsburgh does not make that in ten yearsr drd they real-ly have to do something to help these sma1I market teams, and I hate to see Pittsburgh lose their franehise and move elsewhere because it woul-d hurt people that are already involved with baseball-, and it hurts the economy in the cities. Q:Who were some of the players that you remember the most? A: The outfieLd would have to include Hank Aaron, Stan Musial, Willie Mays, and Roberto Clemente. To me, Clemente was the greatest pl-ayer f had ever seen. He could rurlr field and throw the most. My top pick for first base would be cil Hodges. The second baseman would be Bill Mazerowski. My pick for shortstop would be Ozzie Smithr drrd third base is a tossup between Brooks Robinson and Cleve Boyer. Catchers would be Johnny Bench pitcher would have to be Elroy Face because he played for the Pirates. There were a 1ot of them that were my favorite players. Q: What do you think about baseball expansion? A: They have been tal-king about adding two or four new teams, and I think it would be a big mistake. We just expanded two years ago and John Roseboro. The relief in Denver and Miami, but I really do not think that there are enough players to go around. The pitching is very sl-im todayr drd they better think twice of expanding in my opinion because it is really hurting the game. Q: What do you love the most about umpiring? A: f am still in the game because f get to see at least 140 or 150 games a year. Baseball is a wonderful game that has been very good to me, and f hope that f have been good to the game. f will never put the game down because it is sueh a wonderful profession to get intor Errrd f hope that someday somebody will be just as lucky as f am to have this position. Q: What is your hometown of Butler like? A: Butler is a wonderful place because my roots are here and friends are here. I love the city because it is a wonderful p1-ace to raise a family. f do not think that there is any place in the United States that f would rather live than the eity of Butler. People are very friendlyr Brd they are also helping peopl-e. There are colleges around here such as S1ippery Rock and Grove City. ft is just a wonderful place to raise a family and be from. Q: What are some of the treasured artifacts that you have colleeted throughout your career? A: f have many autographed balls from the A11 Star games. I also receive bats every year from Cooperstown from working the games. f also have many personal autographs such as Ted Wi11iams, President Kennedy, President Ford, President Nixon, President Bushr zrrrd some also from Vice Presidents. f also have a bat that f very much treasure because it is an Honus Waqner bat that nobody really has in this area. ft was given to me by the manager of the Pirates years ago when f was a youngster. f also have World Series rings, A11 Star rings, bats from different teams, and f am very proud of my collection. Q:What was it like being out on the road away from your family? A: THe travelling was very difficult. I hit eight cities when f first started out, and when they expanded to ten I hit ten cities, and f very seldom got home. I used to like to see my schedule when it said Pittsburgh on it, and it was very difficult for your mother who really had to be a mother and a father when f was away from home, but that is just part of the profession that r had to realize. r know r did not spend a lot of time with you kids growing up, but that is part of life. I made a nice living by it and educated all of my kids, and f reall-y enjoyed the umpiring profession. Q: Dad, how would you like to be remembered as an umpire? A: f l-ike to be remembered as a man who contributed to the of baseball. f spent twenty some years umpiringr drd I hope they reaLize that f did a good job of umpiring for these people game and the National League.