A Baseball Interview With:

Gary Poster

By:

Adina M. Edwards

Pennsylvania History

Dr. David Dixon
November 22, 1994

A Bit of Baseball History
Quest i on

:

Answer:

Question:

Let me start by asking your

name.

My name is Gary Foster.

Ok, and can f have some of your background that you
have in baseball?

Answer

f managed Little

League Basebalt in Evans City.

fortunate to play in 1953 when the Little
first

organized in Evans City.

four teams and it's

was

League was

It started off with

now got twelve.

And I was for-

tunate enough to end up managing a Little
team that...it

I

League

was the Cubs and f managed them for

about seven years then I went on to do Pony League
Baseball in County League and American Legion

and

uhhh...got out of that and qot invloved in softball.
Question:

And you said you managed and coached r |ou umpire now?

Answer: Yes.
Quest i on

:

Ok, and what do you think that baseball has contributed to the community of Evans City?

Answer: I think it's

gave the kids that participate

a chance

of learning the game and keeping them out of trouble
and just giving them clear minds if it's taught right.
Baseball is what the managers or coaches are.
words , if

you have a manager or coach that's

for one reason, just to win a gold trophy,
first

Other-

there
become

place, dnd just use his best kids and not play

everybody else; f don't feel this is the way f was

brought up and the way f coached. It f had fifteen

:

boys on my team everyone played three innings.

I

didn't win any championships, but f knew the kids
got to play and down the road what happens is if
they don't p1ay, they don't continue on playing
basebal

Question:

1

.

And you said that or you stated before we started

this,

that Evans City holds tournaments. Can you

elaborate a little

bit on that.

Answer: Yeah, Evans City has Littl-e

ments. They have...Litt1e

League Baseball tournaLeague is based orrr they

use the same rules as the Little
out in Williamsport,

League World Series

Pennsylvania.

a team fo out to participate

They never had

there, but we have been

fortunate enough to have umpires that. . . I have a
friend that has done two Little

League World Series

in WilJ-iamsport, Pennsylvania.

And myself, f have

never done anything like that, but it was a dream.
But, then I got into the Amateur

Sof

tball- Associat,ion

and f 've done Meadville's slow pitch and fast pitch
National and State Tournaments. I managed a softball
team out in York, Pennsylvania in a National Tournament and in 128 teams we finished sixth.

Which was

a bunch of young kids and it was a great honor.
had me crying and my wife.

It

It was a Labor Day Tourn-

ament, a three day tournament.
Quest j-on:

You just stated a memorable experience, but is there

any other memorable experiences that you've had in
throughout your years invol-ved in baseball?
(2)

Answer;

Yesr f've had

many,

that actually,

but you mean something f

remember

that f was involved in baseball that

f feel was. . .
Question:
Answer:

Yeah, like you just statedr |ou know, on Labor
weekend, something, anything else?
I've had something.

Day

I was fortunate enough that in

1970 at the church up...

the Reformed Church in

Evans Sity I was fortunate enough to meet Roberto

Clemente, and it was a great honor beeause to me, he
was the greatest baseball player that ever lived and

it was tragic the way his tife
had five,

tially

ended and is...poten-

tenr mdlbe five,

ten more years of

baseball, but Robert Clemente was my idol and I stood
in line,

the church is right here in Evans City, it's

up on the hil1,

and he was a Born Again Christian and

he was giving this tal-k and what I remember about it
so much was his broken English.

He could not talk

much English, but he was so funny because he addressed...

I was thirteen,

fourteen years ol-d at the time...but

what f can al-ways remember about Roberto Clemente
was he was the kind of person r ds good as he was, he
was a family man. And all he talked about in front

of the kids and the people that were there was his
life

on Earth wasnrt to be a baseball pJ-ayer. It

was to be a husband and a father and f'11 never for-

qet that because I this tape and if you look at this
tape, everything that f'm telling

you is what he

stood for, but f look now and see all these baseball
(3)

players on strike

for all the big money and his

biggest year was $150,000 and they're asking for
That was my greatest honor.
three or four million.
I got to personalj-y shake his hand and f got an autographed pictue vhich my mother burnt, didn't

know it

was in the box when I went to the Air Force.

It

would have been worth something.
Question:

Wow,

what is the, is there any differences in the

game

of baseball now than what there wdsr like say ten,
twenty years

fifteen,
Answer:

Question:

ago?

Yeah, the...
or whatever...you know playing

Like in officiating
or officiating?

Answer:

The rules have changed. Not so much in baseball as
mueh as softball.

umpires.

We

We have

have tvo groups of softball

what f've talked about, the A.S.A,

which is an Amateur Softbatl Association Certified,
then they have a Tripl-e A.S.A Umpires Assocoation
and it' s a l-ittle

bit dif f erent than the

A. S.

A.

The

A.S.A wears bl-ue uniforms Iike the regular umpires,
navy blue pants, light

the insignia A.S.A.

blue shirt,

blue hat with

U Triple S.A. wears a red shirt,

why, f have no idea, a black shirt with U Triple A.S.A,

they

a mat in there strike zone.

We

umpires, we play slow pitch softbaLl,

it's

use

foot arc.
an

A.S.A

six to ten

And what that means is when the ball was

released from the pitcher's

dip or

do not.

arc.

hand it had to have

a

It can't be any lower than six feet

and it can't be any higher than twelve feet.
(4)

And if

its

Question:

Answer:

over twelve feet it's an illegal pitch and if it's
fl-at and no arc on it, it's an illegal pitch. That's
the on1-y difference.
A friend of mine told me about this, I don't know if
it's in Minors or Little League or what, but there's
a rule about you have to slide into home is that...?
Softball has this. (That's softbalL. ) Baseball might
have it too in your younger groups of organized, like
Littl-e League. Waht it is, is to protect the players
from getting injury.

A.S.A Amateur Softball rule is

you must slide at home if there is a play being

That's to protect the catcher. You are
not a1l-owed to come in and boil the catcher over, hit
him with your arms r ot knock him over. You have to
slide. There can't be no intention of hurting a person. That's on any base. An umpire's decision is...
what our rule is, if you feel- that someone intentionally
tried to take a player out, boys or girl-s, intentionally
tried to hurt them they are ejected, they're out
ejected from the game along with their manager. This
is A.S.A rul-e.
So, you have to slide into almost every...every base?
You don't have too, but what the rule says; that any
base if you feel a person is not sliding to hurt someone or to break up the play, it's dt it's a judgement
cal-l-, but you must slide. You don't have to slide at
every base, but the best thing to do, especially in
amateur softball is to slide because there, they're
on a player.

Question:
Answer:

made

(s)

safety minded. They're there to protect anybody.
Yourre there to play the game and not to hurt anyputs alot of safety in their

one. And A.S.A strictly

game. That's why now they eome wittr helmets.
in an league must wear a helmet.

Girls

They are not allowed

to take the helmet off at anytime.

Even after

the

play is made and they are walking to the dugout, they
keep the helmet on.

The reason is A.S.A is a proven

faet that sometimes a player will

take their helmet

off and be walking, a wild throw hit them in the head
and cause damage. The rule is, if you feel,

and I get

this at every tournament f go to, Hey ump, somebody
throws their helmet off.
of the girl

too big on her head, f can

because it's

but we tell

If it comes off

I can teII.

them to wear straps.

tell

this,

it's

on her head and she qoes like thisr

her head back, I know she intentionally
it ot run.

Alot of girls

like wearing the helmet.

will- do this.

But, if

?nd throws

got rid of
They don't

They don't like wearing their

hats, but the League, the tournament rules is; everyone is in uniform.
has a hat on.
Question:
Answer:
Quest i on :

Answer:

If one girl

has a hat on everyone

If nobody has a hat oor that's

fine.

Does hat go for men, boys too?

Right.
ok.

Any sanction A.S.A League or Tournament has a uniformed

coat.

Question: Ok, now that you're mentioning girls,
ca1led Title Nine.

f believe it's

1t lets girls play in the game.
(6)

Answer:

Quest i on :

Answer:

Question:
Answer:

Question:

Answer:

Is that what that's caIled. Did you...Iike I
don't know somebody told me that...Title Nine,
which ltes girl-s play in the game which was a rule
or something that 1et girls play in Little League,
that's what it was called.
Oh. I don't know that, but f know that softball we
have leagues like f'm doing down in Beaver Falls
right now, f'm helping out District Ten Umpires in
a co-ed league, and what that is is twenty-eight teams,
they're all co-ed, it's five guys and five gir1s. The
rule states that you ean not start a game without
fove girls and four guys. It can't be five guys and
four girJ-s. It has to be f ive girls and four guys.
You
And what it is, you bat a guy, girl, guy, girl.
can't bat two guys.
Nor two gir1s.
Or two girls no.
Ok, Do you...
But I've never heard of that.
f was just told thatr so I was just wandering if
that's what it was caIled or when it...Do you
know when it came into effect, that girls were all-owed
to play in Little League or anything? Or was there
a rule that said they couldn't?
Yes, they did have a rule where...f don't know if
it was a rul-e, but you just didn't see girls participate in Little League Baseball. But, back three or
(7)

four years ago there is girls
in what f mentioned, Little

that even participated,
League World Series.

There

vas one played this year.
Question:

Ok, because baseball, alot of peopte say it is becoming like a science, like throwing the ball and

batting.

People say that throwing is becoming

a

science because more people are getting homeruns.
I don't know...Have you heard anything about, I think
this is in the Major Leagues r ot whatever, making the
outfield

bigger or the wall higher.

Answer:

They've talked about it.

Question:

They've talked about it.

Ok, how d.o you feel about

this?
Answer:

I feel that, if it takes t,his to make the game better
played that they should do d,t,. f don't know if you
have heard, but aluminum bats, they use aluminum bats

in sof tbaII,

but they don't use al-uminum bats in pro-

fessional- baseball, but they do use them in college
baseball.

But, a basebatl comes off and aluminum

bat like a torpedo and if the Majors ever used it
they'd have people kiLled.
line drive to the pitcher,

They wouId. Head injuries,

couldn't see it.

I don't

think the Major Leagues would ever go from the
bat, but softball
Question:

wooden

has aluminum bats.

Do you agree that pitching

is becoming a science of,

you know, is becoming a science, people are becoming
such good pitehers?
(B)

Answer:

Question:

Answer:

Yes I do. More so than what it use to be. Theytre

bigger, bigger guys, learning more different pitehes,
stronger, throw faster. I can remember when f was
growing up playing Legion Baseball- and stuff myself,
when you heard of anybody throwing a sixty mile per
hour fastball, man, he was a terrific pitcher. Today
they're averaging in Triple A and Double A Minor
League Baseball CAmps, they've got kids, nineteen
twenty, throwing seventy-five to eighty mile per hour.
And they've even clocked pitchers a 100 miles per hour/
It is...they are getting stronger and faster.
Ok. I understand tha you've had a letter of intent
to be a Major League umpire, can you expJ-ain a little
bit more about that.
Yes f can. When I rras umpiring baseball with the
P.I.A.A, I didntt know it at the time, but I received
a letter from Harry Winderstat, which is a professional
umpire, professional baseba1l, and it was a fourteen
week school, but f was working at the corporation
at the time, which was Mine Safetyr drld I went and asked
to have a leave of absence to go to the school and
they couldn't do it, so I didn't...couldn't just
quit my job because I was young and just started the
job and didn't want to lose it. So, I didn't go.
But, I was very proud that somebody did feel that I
was a good enough umpire to give it a Bhot. And being
(e)

a Major League umpire is not and easy thing. You
have to be good at what you do, but you're trained.
They have...in

fourteen weeks you have like a boot

camp in the Service, physical-r 1rou have to learn and
show all

your fundamental mechanics, that, the out sigR,

safe sign, dead ball ca1ls, which is the same thing
an A.S.A umpire. When T go to clinic

as

I go in front of

a Board to do a State or National, they have three or
four men which watch you.

You wear your uniform,

they look for your dress, they'11 holler out, safe,
dead ba1l. or different

and you have to give the

mechanics which is done with your hands. Safe is
down to your hips, straight

a dead balI,

1rouE

out.

Out is out.

come

We have

right arm goes up and down. That

means you have a foul on the fiel-d,

it's

runners ean't advance. Things like this.
was a proud moment, but I didn't

a dead ba1l,
Yes, it

get to do iL, but

that's why now f 've been invol-ved in Amateur Softball
umpiring going on twenty-eight years.
Quest i on

:

And as an umpire I guess you see alot of trouble on

the field,

and tou stated that sometimes the parents

get more carried away than the plyers
Answer:

Yes, especially in Little

do?

League Basebal1. Alot of

the parents forget the kids at that alle are there, not
to win, they're there to learn fundamentals of baseba1l.
Myself, the biggest thing rhr bothered me was even when
my boys were playing the g[ame, and even when I was

playing the game, some of the parents forget that the
kids are there to learn the game and not to win the
(10)

gold trophy.
until
Little

I feel competitiveness shouldn't

be

Pony League, the age of fourteen or fifteen.

League ahould be everybody should get a chance

to play, l-earn the game, be good sportsmen about it
winning is secondary. Being a good sportsman is

and

number

one, and f feel that even as they get up in the Legion,
with being an umpire I see alot og kids and alot of
of good attitudes
I can tell

and I see the negative side too, but

the kids that tras brought up from a manager

or a coach or even an umpire if the tact of teaching
sportsmanship is number one and winning is immature.
Sure, everybody likes to be a winner, but to be a good
winner you have to be a good loser too, because you
don't always win.
Quest ion

:

And uhh...basebalI

past-time.

is known as America's favorite

Hov do you feel about that?

I mean with

al-l the other sports out there.
Answer:

I feel, myself because I've been involved in baseball.
I was sma1I all the through school-. I never got to
play footbalI,

f was too small.

But, basebal-l is the

National past-time because of all ages. You have Adult
Leagues in baseball.

The same you as you do in Softba1l.

What they call Eagle County League. You have Sandl-ot
teams around the area, which are semi-pro.

And guys

that just want to play good enough to get to the prosr
but sre good enough to play Sandlot ball.
in Pittsburgh.

(tt1

Alot

down

Question:

And uhh...to

wrap things up, now that we said that

baseball is America's favorite

past-time what do you

think about the famous salary cap and the baseball
strike?
Answer:

How

do you think about that?

I personally,

f think it stinks, but, that's

opinion and the reason I feel this,

my

I,m not knocking

alot of the baseball players, because, but f don't
feel not just in the sport of baseba11, hocl million

dollars a year.

And the thing that hurts

me

so much is some of these baseball players, a fine example, I'11 give a name. Barry Bonds. He is a great
bal-l player.
player.

His dad Bobby Bonds was a greater ball

He never seen the salary Barry Bonds is ask-

ing for.

When

he played at Pittsburgh,

I won't take

it away from him, he was the best baseball pl-ayer,
other than Roberto Cl-emente, in my eyes, but Barry
Bond's attitude
game good

that's

was money's first

and if I play the

fine and the kid does have al-1 the tal-

ents, but what I was so upset eith him abouti
was first.

He wanted nine million

a year.

money

Pittsburgh

offered him seven. He didn't want iL, so he 1eft.
But, I feel- baseball players, not al-l of them, but al-ot
of them are over doing it.
Question:

They're asking for too

much.

So, you, that maybe in the beginning, baseball players
are getting in, whenr sd]r when they hit the Majors,
they just feel honored to be in the Major Leagues,
(12)

do you think that eventually rrhen they are in
there, like you said like for some of them,

money

overrides that?
Answer:

Question:

Yes. Yes it does.
Ok. Wel1, thank-you for your interview.
appreciate it.

(13)

I really