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Ron Luciano




Luciano was born in Endicott, New York . Before getting into baseball, he was a standout Lineman for the Syracuse University Football team.

In his career, Luciano umpired in the 1974 World Series , the 1973 All-Star Game , and the 1971 , 1975 and 1978 American League Championship Series.

He would frequently render an out call by pumping his arm several times or with a mock shooting gesture with his right hand.

Luciano had more than a few encounters with managers, but more than any other, the Baltimore Orioles ' Earl Weaver gave him trouble. At one time, he ejected Weaver from both ends of a Doubleheader . The anger between the two was so great that the AL decided to take Luciano off Baltimore games.

Briefly after his retirement, he was a sports commentator with NBC . But mostly, Luciano spent time writing 4 books, including ''The Umpire Strikes Back'' and ''The Fall of the Roman Umpire''. His material was considered as clever and witty as his titles and the books did pretty well. The books contained mostly stories and jokes about his umpiring days. He was found dead at age 57 in his garage at his home in Endicott; it was later determined to be a Suicide via Carbon Monoxide poisoning.


QUOTES

  • ''"Any umpire who claims he has never missed a play is . . . well, an umpire."'' - from his book "The Umpire Strikes Back."

  • ''"When I started, the game was played by nine tough competitors on grass, in graceful ball parks. But while I was trying to answer the daily quiz Quiz-O-Gram on the exploding scoreboard, a revolution was taking place around me. By the time I finished, there were ten men on each side, the game was played indoors on plastic, and I had to spend half my time watching out for a man dressed in a Chicken Suit who kept trying to kiss me."'' - after retiring

  • ''"I never called a Balk in my life. I didn't understand the rule."'' - regarding the sometimes controversial balk rule



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