Volume 4, Number 5 

Umpires are always decisive, and they are never wrong. Right? Mark and John Hirschbeck, major league baseball's only brother umpiring act . . . ever, made the right call recently to return home for a signing that benefitted the John Drew Hirschbeck Foundation. The charity was established following the death of John's 8 year old son from a rare disorder called ALD.

Hundreds of fans and friends, not necessarily autograph collectors, came to see these hometown men in blue. They visited the same Hirschbecks who as teens did such a good job calling Babe Ruth league games. Those Connecticut days and evenings motivated them to umpiring school. John graduated number two in his class and after paying his dues made it to the bigs. The recent autograph appearance by the brothers attracted a long line of home town folks and collectors alike. Patrons bought a photo taken before a spring training gather they had worked together. They also brought baseballs and even a commemorative Norman Rockwell plate, with the umpires catching raindrops in the palms of their hands, for the Hirschbecks' autographs. And yes, at least one dealer sent a dozen balls already signed by Roberto Alomar for Hirschbeck to sign. That's right, in case you forgot or just took a ship back from Jupiter, Hirschbeck was the umpire who called out Alomar last summer, then tossed him in the famous spitting incident. All is more or less forgiven, if not forgotten, and Alomar's reported $50,000 pledged to the Hirschbeck Foundation for ALD research has finally been paid after all these months.

The incident created national attention to the Hirschbeck's story, how he had lost one son and had another child who is threatened, and two others who carry the disorder but apparently are not in danger at this time. After John Drew's death in 1993, umpires rallied to support the Hirschbecks in their home of Poland, Ohio, and sent significant sums of money to help build the research fund. The incident planted a seed in show promoter Mike Riccio's head to have a benefit autograph show. Riccio figured having a show would create something positive out of something negative. It would likely create headlines, something acting Commissioner Bud Selig really didn't want to see. His office wanted to quash the event.

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