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.