Doug Harvey Quotes
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I'd love to stay in baseball, but I won't beg. I'd love to work with young umpires. I think I could teach them, help them develop. I can spot flaws, help them get over the hump. You're striving for perfection every game, yet you never achieve it. If baseball wants me, I'm available.
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I always told my young umpires, 'Don't get mad. Whatever you do, don't show it. But no matter how long it takes, get even.'
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If you don't need umpires out there, and you can put robots out there, then why do we need ballplayers?
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Give me 10 high school pitchers, let me spend a week with them, and I'll show you 10 pitchers who won't balk. It's not that difficult, and they better learn it.
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I wrestled as a 90-pounder, and I wrestled in the 107-pound class in my first year. I had something inside of me. I could not stand not to compete. And I don't know why... I don't know what that's all about. But that's deep inside of Doug Harvey.
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I went into umpiring at age 16. I got into officiating because of the fact that I could not stand the referees that worked our basketball games.
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Officiating is trying to do your absolute best with what you've got.
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Instant replay ought to be thrown out. Period. It's a game of imperfections. Why is that so bad for the game? Really, I think they are trying to make the game perfect. I'll tell you what: It will never, ever be perfect.
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I know that there are no famous 'Doug Harvey plays.' And I'm proud of that.
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You can't know what it's like to be a major league umpire unless you were a major league umpire.
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The part of the game that fans will soon miss: the argument between manager and umpire! There was something special about watching a manger and umpire both convinced they were totally right, but knowing that one had to be wrong. As an ump, those moments made my job fun, and getting 'nose-to-nose' was part of my job description.
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I just umpire. That's what I've done. That's all I can do. I'm one of the fortunate ones on God's earth. I found what God meant for me to do. People ask if I like working home plate best. I just want to be between the white lines. That's where I belong, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
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My mom beat us until she started breaking clothes hangers. Wooden clothes hangers! Once we started laughing back at her, then your spankings were through. That's the way I was raised. So, I got to be about 13 years of age when finally she quit spanking on me. But I think that it was great way to be raised.
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When you're in between the white lines, the game face is on. I was only focused on the task at hand - out, safe, ball, strike - leaving little time to think about how special a player, moment or game happened to be.
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Balls and strikes are the basic tenet to everything in baseball. From the perspective of hitting, pitching, offense and defense, it's all about the strike zone and how the battle is waged there between the pitcher and hitter.
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Error is part of the game. I never, ever second-guessed myself on a call and don't believe good umpires ever should.
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I remember when replay first came to TV. I can't remember who it was now, but a manager came out to beef about a call, and I ran him. He said he was going back into the clubhouse and watch replay. I told him, 'Go ahead. I am the replay.'
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I always tell my wife, 'If you're ever looking for something to put on my gravestone, put down, 'He was an honest man, and he never held a grudge.'
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I was correct in every call I made, regardless of what managers, players or replay may have said. To me, that's the reason I'm in the Hall of Fame. If I didn't umpire with conviction, I wouldn't have made it for long.
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I set out to be the best umpire of my time. But I don't know what it takes to be great.
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I want you to know that I am one of the more fortunate people in life. There aren't too many of us that somebody selects and says, 'You know, that guy ought to be an umpire.' That's what happened to me.
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Willie Mays was the best baseball player I ever saw. He could do anything.
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Umpires are necessary evils. That's just the nature of the beast. For years, people have looked on umpiring as a job they could get any postman to do.
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When asked what he was fighting for, General Washington, in writing to General Thomas, said the object was 'neither glory nor extent of territory, but a defense of all that is dear and valuable in life.' He must have been an umpire. That's what umpiring is about.