BusinessTN

Speaking to the Senate Judiciary Committee during his September 2005 confirmation hearings, then Supreme Court Justice candidate John G. Roberts Jr. stated his belief that “judges are like umpires. Umpires don’t make the rules; they apply them.”

For 27 years as a major league umpire, Jonesborough, Tenn., native Dale Ford applied the rules. Now an elected member of the Tennessee General Assembly, he’s busy making them, instead. A Republican, albeit one with a fierce independent streak, Ford was elected in late 2006 to represent the 6th House district of upper East Tennessee (Washington County and parts of Hawkins County) in the state legislature.

So how does his political career compare to life behind the plate?

“This legislative job here is a lot harder than umpiring the big leagues,” Ford says. “You walk on the field, and you are the boss. Down here, you are not. You just have to work hard at it. But the best part is you have a chance to help people. That’s a great thing.”

PLAZA POWER
Ford made it to Capitol Hill after former 6th District Rep David Davis decided to run for Congress. With the field wide open, the Republican says he began thinking again about how he could potentially make a difference in his community.

“We have people 15 minutes from Johnson City and Kingsport who don’t have access to utility water,” Ford says. “In this day and time, that’s ridiculous. There’s no excuse for that.”

These days, the freshman lawmaker is prime sponsor of one important bill now pending before the legislature that could have sweeping ramifications for the statewide business community.

“We have all kinds of programs and incentives for businesses of 25 employees and over in Tennessee,” Ford complains. “But we don’t have anything to offer people who employ less than 25.”

HB0898, which is up for discussion in the powerful House Finance Committee today, April 4, would create a 12-member special joint legislative committee to study the manner in which opportunities for capital funding and infrastructure development and job assistance training programs can be created to develop and retain small business, the primary creators of most Tennessee jobs.

The fiscal note on the bill is around $10,000 for meeting expenses. Frankly, I don’t think we can afford not to do it,” Ford says. “It’s time we stop losing small businesses just because we don’t have incentives.” Other nearby states like South Carolina already have incentives programs in place for small business recruitment and retention.

FAVORITE PAST TIMES
One of 13 siblings, Ford says he got serious about umpiring at age 24. Stuck in a dead-end job, he opted to attend umpiring school in Florida. Soon after, he started working Appalachian League minor league games. A short four years later, he broke into the major league ranks.

Among the many highlights of Ford’s long career in the game was his presence on the field during game six of the 1986 World Series between the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox. Ford was the umpire visible along the first base line with Red Sox catcher Rich Gedman when the ground ball off the bat of Mets outfielder Mookie Wilson trickled through the legs of Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner. That historic blunder allowed the Mets to win the game, force a Game Seven, and eventually prolong the famed “Curse of the Bambino” for another 19 years. Because it was one of the seminal moments in baseball history, Ford says he still (on a weekly basis) gets mailed photographs of that play with self-addressed stamped envelopes alongside requests for his signature.

Though Ford is focused on defending the merits of his important bill on Capitol Hill, it didn’t require much arm-twisting to engage him in talk of the recent Opening Day in major league baseball, or in recalling stories from his long career in the game.

Here are some highlights from a recent interview:

On dealing with angry ball players
Believe me it is not brain surgery. Most of those guys have about a 25-word vocabulary, and 24 of them are four-letter. So it’s no problem dealing with those guys, staying one step ahead of them.”

On the degradation of having managers kick dirt on him
“I never had that problem. All you have to do is stand over in the grass when they come out. They can’t kick dirt on you if you’re over in the grass.

On his professional reputation as someone not to lock horns with
“When you first go to the big leagues they want you to be hot headed a little bit because they can calm you down. If you’re passive when you go the big leagues it is almost impossible to build a fire under somebody. Down here [on Capitol Hill] it’s pretty much the same thing.

On former Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver (and their strained relationship)
The only record I have in 27 years in the Big Leagues is that I ran Earl Weaver out of a game one night during the national anthem. That’s a record.”

On former New York Yankees manager Billy Martin (and their strained relationship—Ford even sued Martin once)
“He had little man’s syndrome. He didn’t like authority. He wanted to run your game, and I’m just a rock head. I ran him out of the game every time I saw him. It was as simple as that.”

On Martin’s death
When he got killed that Christmas Eve, I got a call from a New York sports writer that Christmas Day. He said, ‘Dale, are you going to Billy Martin’s funeral?’ And I said, 'You bet I am.’ And he said, ‘Why, you all hated each other.’ And I said “I wanna make sure it’s him.

On his rapport with catchers, particularly Yankees catcher Thurman Munson
He called me hillbilly, and I called him everything under the sun. We got along. But he had a piece of leather on his mitt tied in knots. And when a guy would check swing that thing would flip back in his glove and make a tick sound. He’d get up and say’ didn’t you hear that foul tip?’ So Yogi Berra is managing one night and that happened. And Yogi’s back up the runway smoking a cigarette. Somebody yells ‘Yogi, Yogi, we have an argument.’ So he comes running out on the field, smoke still coming out of his mouth and nose. He stops and looks at Munson and says, ‘What happened, what happened?’ Munson replies, “Check swing, he foul-tipped the ball, you could hear it.’ And Yogi turns to me and says, ‘Jesus Christ, Dale! A blind man could have heard that.

On the steroid scandals racking major league baseball
“I think it was more than 80%. When Mark McGwire came into the major leagues, I was already there. He was so skinny that when he turned sideways to take his signs he looked like a zipper. And when he retired, his arms were bigger than my legs. Sammy Sosa, when he came up with the White Sox, I was there. He was just a little kid, I mean maybe 160 pounds—a skinny-looking kid. Now he’s a fire hydrant. You know that’s not natural. Like I said, baseball’s not brain surgery, but you can figure some things out.”

PAYING THE FREIGHT
There is actually one last direct connection Ford makes between his long tenure in the major leagues and his current service on Tennessee’s Capitol Hill. Ford was among the 23 striking major league umpires not retained by the league back in 1999. He eventually was granted a severance of $400,000, as well as his retirement in 2001.

“I was quitting that year anyway,” Ford says. “But if it wasn’t for my baseball pension, I sure couldn’t afford to come down here to [Legislative Plaza] and work for this type of money.”