Umpire David Rackley perches behind home plate as Washington’s Wilmer Difo takes a cut from a pitch during a recent game against Philadelphia at Nationals Park. (Dan Ronan/Transportation Topics)
On July 17, Major League Baseball’s best players will participate in the 89th All-Star Game at Nationals Park in Washington, DC.
While much of the attention will be on the American and National League stars, a third team is on the field: the umpires.
From early March and the start of spring training until late October and the final game of the World Series, MLB’s 76 full-time umpires (and 15 Triple-A umpires who cover vacations and injuries) travel from city to city. But unlike teams, every game is a road game unless they live in a city with a major league team. Rainy and postponed games, injuries and other factors can sometimes result in last-minute schedule changes and additional travel.
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Twenty-six-year veteran referee and crew chief Larry Vanover and his refereeing partners – David Rackley, Mark Wegner and Chris Guccione – are in a hurry.
It’s 1:30 a.m. and they’re leaving Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., after officiating the Nationals’ game Sunday night against the Philadelphia Phillies, an 8-6 victory in Washington that included a 38-minute delay due to the rain.
Time is running out to get the referees and their equipment to the next city. Two companies, DHL Same Day of Sterling, Virginia, and Crane Cartage Freight Services of Houston, are responsible for ensuring that before the first pitch is thrown, the umpires’ 90-pound equipment trunks are delivered to the next stadium , it doesn’t matter when the last match ended and when the next one begins.
Referee Larry Vanover prepares his equipment after a game. (Dan Ronan/Transportation Topics)
In just 18 hours, Vanover, Rackley and Guccione will be in a new city and different stadium when the Cardinals take on the Cleveland Indians in St. Louis. Another referee, Hunter Wendelstedt, will join them after a few days at home. Wegner is on his way to San Francisco to reunite with his regular team for a series with the Colorado Giants and Rockies.
During one stretch in 2016, Vanover’s team officiated six games in six days at four different stadiums. Although it’s rare to travel coast to coast in a single day, it does happen. One Sunday evening, Vanover’s team was at Yankee Stadium in New York, and the next evening their game was at AT&T Park in San Francisco. While teams fly charter flights, referees fly commercial flights. When Vanover was selected for the 2017 World Baseball Classic tournament, a DHL truck came to his house before his trip to Japan. When he and the other members of his international team arrived at Tokyo Dome, all their equipment was unloaded and ready to go.
“If MLB has a need at 2 o’clock on a Sunday morning, we’ll jump on it,” said Pat Mulroney, DHL Same Day project service manager. DHL Same Day has been shipping all referee equipment since 2005. This spring, Crane got part of the business and is transporting equipment for two of the 19 four-man teams. Last season, DHL shipped referee equipment 1,681 times, with one missed connection; 99.94% of the time everything went well. So far in 2018, 651 jobs have been successfully completed. And Crane said there haven’t been any problems either.
American Expediting drivers will transport the referees’ equipment to BWI Marshall Airport for transportation to the next destination. (Dan Ronan/Transportation Topics)
“When I walk into the ballpark, my equipment box is there, unpacked. The uniforms are clean, the shoes are shined, everything is hung in my locker, ready to go. I don’t have to worry about it,” Vanover told Transport Topics. “We know that when we get to the next stage, it will be there.”
Dan Wallin, Nationals equipment manager and umpire room attendant, said, “More than anything, it takes a lot of work and coordination to get this done. They give us schedules (which indicate) exactly when things are supposed to happen.
On a travel day, Vanover and his team will spend 15 minutes before the game meticulously packing their protective gear, multiple uniforms, multiple pairs of shoes, weather gear and other items. They will leave out only the uniform and equipment they need for that night’s game.
When it’s over, the referees head to their hotel to get some sleep before their morning flight. Now it’s up to Wallin and two drivers from DHL subcontractor American Expediting — Glen Van Scyoc and Huen Watson — to take the loaded trunks out of the stadium and transport them to BWI Marshall Airport, 36 miles away, where American Airlines had flights as early as 5 a.m. : 9:00 p.m. in Saint-Louis.
“He’ll leave here tonight, then he’ll take the first flight tomorrow morning and he’ll be here at noon,” Wallin said.
“As a fan of the game and proud of his work, of course I’m going to feel good about the responsibility of handling this,” said Van Scyoc, who has visited stadiums in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and other cities , collecting and delivering referee equipment for eight years. “That’s something I’m proud of, that anything I’ve been involved in, there hasn’t been a mistake, where a crew’s equipment didn’t arrive on time or in the right place.”
Each MLB stadium has several additional uniforms and protective equipment in case of emergency, but this additional equipment is rarely necessary.
“It’s so rare that I really have to try to remember when it happened. I was in Toronto, maybe 15 years ago,” Vanover said.
DHL and Crane have designated teams for freight that must be shipped at odd times and must always arrive on time, but there have sometimes been problems. This was the case earlier this season, when snow and cold disrupted the schedule.
Referee Mark Wegner packs up and moves on to the next game. (Dan Ronan/Transportation Topics)
“We had an incident in Minneapolis when flights were canceled for two days because of snow. We were trying to get trunks to Yankee Stadium, and we finally got a flight on game day. I think he landed at LaGuardia at 3:30 p.m. The match was at 7 a.m. and we delivered the trunks at a quarter to six.
“You always have to anticipate a problem. Because again, those trunks have to be there and they have to be on time without fail,” Crane President Ron Talley said. “There are many things we need to do every day to ensure these changes happen. It’s not just a matter of picking them up, taking them to the airline and dropping them off. »
Once the trunks arrive in the next city, in this case for Vanover’s crew in St. Louis and in San Francisco for Wegner, two drivers wait at the airport to take the equipment to the ballpark and the stadium. referees, where it will be cleaned and carefully prepared for the next match.
“I don’t touch it, I don’t move it, and I don’t worry about it. They’re so good,” Vanover said.
And when the referees take the field, a handful of people who have made this happen all season long will enjoy the moment, then continue planning the next expedition, all the way to the next stadium.
