Perspectives: Umpire’s death recalls case law in Minnesota

The Major League Baseball season is well into the second half of the season following last week’s mundane All-Star Game in Philadelphia, won 4-0 by the American League, its 11th win in the past 13 games. Two Twins were on the winning roster for the second consecutive year, the injured center fielder Byron Buxton, who bypassed the game, and pitcher Joe Ryan.

Upon resuming regular season play, the Twins remain on the edge of post-season eligibility despite a losing record.

But the national pastime is still mourning the death of veteran major league umpire Bruce Froemming, who died on the eve of the current season.

His death attracted more than the usual amount of attention because of his long, colorful and controversial career at calling balls and strikes behind the plate and plays there, and out on the bases. He did so for some 37 years at the major league level, one of the longest tenures in history, before his retirement in 2007.

The 86 year-old arbiter also cut quite a swath, including his share of run-ins with players, coaches, and others. Naturally, he umped a number of games of the Minnesota Twins at the Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington and the Metrodome in Minneapolis as well as on the road.

But it was his impact in Duluth that was his main nexus to Minnesota, which occurred while he was lingering in the low minor league Northern League, which existed from 1902 in the Upper Midwest and into Canada for various periods through its demise in 1971.

“No body ever went to a baseball game to see the umpire.”
Chief Justice John Roberts, Sept. 29, 2005

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“The best umpired game is the game in which the fans cannot recall the umpires who worked it.”
Legendary Umpire Bill Klem (1874-1951)

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“I never questioned the integrity of an umpire. Their eyesight, yes.”
Feisty Manager Leo Durocher (1905-1991)

Trigger tossing

Known to have a quick trigger in tossing out ballplayers and managers who griped about his calls, he was one of the league leaders in ejections. He exhibited that temperament in a game early in his career at Wade Stadium in Duluth.

In what might be unprecedented in the annals of the national pastime, Froemming ejected four sports reporters who were heckling him. It was one, but not the only, controversy in his career.

More controversially, he kicked out a young Northern League rookie catcher that same year for six games for disputing balls and strikes calls. That catcher was Joe Torre, later a National League batting champ, Most Valuable Player, four-time world series championship manager, and Hall of Famer before his current management position in the Major League Baseball hierarchy.

The late ump got into hot water late in his career in the Big Leagues when he muttered an antisemitic, misogynistic comment on a voice mail message about Cathy Davis, the woman overseeing Major League umpires, during a scrap about his traveling to Japan to umpire a season opening series there. That earned him a 10-day, unpaid suspension — and no trip to the Orient.

The ump’s passing and resumption of play following the brief All-Star break provides an opportune occasion to review some of the law and jurisprudence in Minnesota of umpiring, a craft that U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts famously equated with adjudication in his confirmation hearing in 2005, referring to his professional role as impartially “calling balls and strikes” with no stake in the outcome.

Painful profession

Umpires generally do not sustain physical harm while carrying out their duties. But injuries are, to some extent, an occupational hazard for them.

In Rostad v. On-Deck Inc., 372 N.W.2d 717 (Minn. 1985), a softball umpire was struck in the head by a donut-shaped metal device used as a bat weight that flew off the end of a bat as a player was warming up on deck. The ump’s suit against the New Jersey manufacturer of the device was dismissed by the Hennepin County District Court on grounds of lack of personal jurisdiction, and the Supreme Court affirmed.

The manufacturer was subject to suit in Minnesota under the state long-arm statute, Minn. Stat. § 543.19, subd. 1(d), which extends state jurisdiction over a party that commits “any act outside Minnesota causing injury or property damage” in this state. The nationwide distribution contracts and marketing efforts by the manufacturer of the device met the five-pronged standard for assertion of personal jurisdiction in Minnesota, consisting of the quantity of its contacts with the state, the quality of those contacts, the source of those contacts, the state’s interest in the case, and the convenience of the parties.

Because of the manufacturer’s “purposeful availment … of the benefits and corresponding responsibilities of doing business in Minnesota,” it should be required to “defend this lawsuit in Minnesota.” This is preferable to requiring the injured umpire to be “limited to suit” in New Jersey.

A softball umpire who twice claimed knee injuries was denied payment of carrier in Kolosky v. Nationwide Life Insurance Co., 2010 WL 1412214 (D. Minn. 2010). The case started in Dakota County Conciliation Court and wound its way through the Dakota County District Court system, with a jury trial resulting in a directed verdict in favor of the insurer on grounds that the claim was not filed within a 90-day period under the policy limitations.

The umpire then took the case to the U.S. District Court, where he also struck out. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boyan recommended to Judge Patrick Schiltz that the claim be dismissed on grounds of res judicata because the earlier claim involved the same set of factual circumstances, the same parties, resulted in the final judgment of the merits, and the umpire had a “full and fair opportunity to litigate the matter” in state court. The prior case, therefore, was “a bar to the present federal litigation.” Judge Schiltz adopted the recommendation on grounds that the erstwhile umpire “cannot litigate his claim a second time,” and the dismissal summarily was affirmed as “proper” six months later by the 8th U.S. Circuit per curiam, throwing the umpire out of court just as that year’s baseball season was drawing to a close.

Inflicting injuries

Umpires and other sports officials also find themselves in court because of injuries they inflict upon others.

A challenge by an inmate at a federal prison that he was improperly disciplined for engaging in a fight with another prisoner while the claimant was serving as a referee at a prison softball game was rejected in Sweesy v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2009 WL 1244047 (D. Minn. 2009). The prisoner claimed that his due process rights were violated by the disallowance of 27 days of good conduct time and imposition of three days of prison segregation after he struck another inmate when a dispute arose about a call the claimant made while umpiring a game. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Keys recommended that the prisoner’s claim be denied, and U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson agreed.

The five elements of Due Process for a prisoner’s claims, as set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court in Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539 (1974) were satisfied. The prisoner received written notice of the charge of misconduct at least 24 hours before a hearing, an impartial hearing was held, the prisoner had an opportunity to present witnesses and to document evidence, assistance was available to him if legal assistance was necessary for him, and written statements or evidence relief upon and reasons for sanctions were issued.

There also was “sufficient evidence” to sustain the disciplinary action against the inmate umpire. Therefore, his challenge to the disciplinary action was properly rejected.

In Ulrich v. Minneapolis Boxing and Wrestling Club, Inc., 268 Minn. 328, 129 N.W.2d 288 (Minn. 1964), a 77-year-old spectator at a professional wrestling match sued the promoter and a referee after the referee accidentally struck him while on the way to the dressing room after a match. A Freeborn County District Court jury awarded the fan $25,000 for a broken leg he suffered, but the Supreme Court reversed.

The claim was not actionable against the promoter because it did not fail to provide adequate crowd supervision. The claimed lapse in crowd supervision was not a proximate cause of the injury. Because the referee twisting around after the spectator touched his arm was not reasonably foreseeable, the promoter was not liable as a matter of law.

Nor was the promoter reckless in employment of the referee. There was no evidence indicating that the promoter knew, or should have known, that the referee’s response to being jostled by the spectator would be as abrupt and unusual as it was. Nor was there any evidence that the referee was acting within the course of his employment after the match had ended.

Because there was no finding whether there was an employer-employee relationship, the verdict could not be sustained on that ground either. Therefore, the case was remanded to determine the issue of vicarious liability of the promoter. The issue of damages had to be relitigated, as well, to determine the amount of pain and suffering that could be properly awarded to the elderly claimant.

Criminal cases

Disputes involving sports officials occasionally lead to criminal cases. In State v. McCarthy, 659 N.W.2d 808 (Minn. App. 2003), the father of a football player was convicted in Ramsey County District Court for disorderly conduct after a disturbance at a football game following a dispute with the referee.

The appellate court affirmed the conviction, holding that the conduct “arose alarm, anger or resentment” in others present at the game.

By placing his hands on the referee, refusing to leave when asked and causing disruption of the game, the father’s conduct was sufficient to support a conviction of disorderly conduct.

Convictions on two counts of attempted second-degree murder and felonious assault, stemming from a shooting following a disagreement over a referee’s call in a basketball game at a St. Paul recreational facility were affirmed in State v. Lindsay, 1991 WL 102960 (Minn. App. 1991).

The Ramsey County District Court imposed the shooter’s conviction for the incident, and the appellate court affirmed. Hearsay testimony was allowable because it “corroborated” testimony of the victim, which constituted “sufficient guarantees of trustworthiness.”

These varied cases show that umpires play key roles in the field and in the courts in Minnesota.

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PERSPECTIVES POINTERS

Longest tenured Major League umpires

Joe West, 43 seasons: 5,460 games

Bill Klem, 37 seasons: 5,373 games

Bruce Froemming, 37 seasons: 5,163 games

Gerry Davis, 40 seasons: 4,849 games

Tommy Connolly, 35 seasons: 4,769 games

Doug Harvey, 31 seasons: 4,673 games

Marshall H. Tanick is an attorney with the Twin Cities law firm of Meyer, Njus, Tanick, Linder & Robbins, PA.