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 Rippley to return NL ump will be in Cincinnati for Reds-Marlins series
Posted: Thursday September 09, 1999 08:54 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- National League umpire Steve Rippley said Thursday he has decided against retirement and will resume work this weekend at Cincinnati, where the Reds play the Florida Marlins. Rippley has not worked in more than a week, unsure of his future after 22 of his colleagues were let go by baseball on Sept. 2. Also Thursday, a company controlled by Richie Phillips, the head of the umpires' union, disclosed it has been receiving about $350,000 annually from the American and National leagues. Pilot Air Freight Inc. has moved 2,000 tons of baseball equipment among 30 cities for more than 13 years, according to Richard Morris, the company's chief operating officer. The company also has worked with baseball-related charities, such as the Jackie Robinson Foundation, Morris said. Morris denied an allegation by Davey Phillips, a dissident umpire who is not related to the union leader, that it has several umpires on its payroll. Davey Phillips said last month the payments created a conflict of interest. "Pilot has engaged umpires for public relations purposes for nearly 15 years and currently has only two umpires who perform services for Pilot Air Freight," Morris said, adding that Davey Phillips "had indicated a desire to join the Pilot staff in an ongoing capacity." Davey Phillips, who along with Joe Brinkman and John Hirschbeck has been organizing opponents to the union leadership, did not immediately return a message left on his telephone answering machine. Richie Phillips is the chief executive officer of Pilot. Morris said its baseball-related revenue was less than 0.25 percent of the company's annual total. As for Rippley, he had called the NL office last week, saying he wanted to retire because he was angry that he would have to work with many of the newly hired umpires, whom he said were too inexperienced to work in the major leagues. NL officials told him to take the weekend off and think about his decision before making it final. He then went to North Carolina for the funeral of the wife of AL umpire Drew Coble and informed the NL office on Wednesday that he would stay on. Rippley, 45, is a 16-year veteran and a crew chief. Gary Darling and Larry Poncino, who had been on Rippley's crew, were among the 22 umpires whose resignations were accepted. Rippley's new crew includes Wally Bell, Jerry Meals and Hunter Wendelstedt. Bell, who is in his seventh season, was one of three NL umpires who broke with the union leadership. Meals is in his third NL season and Wendelstedt is among the 25 newly hired umpires. Rippley said he did not want to speak publicly about his reasons for changing his mind. Meanwhile, the selection of an arbitrator who will determine whether the 22 umps were legally let go was postponed until next week, union lawyer Pat Campbell and management lawyer Howard Gans decided during a telephone call. As part of an agreement forged last week at federal court in Philadelphia, the sides agreed the umpires could file a grievance claiming the 22 should have been allowed to withdraw their resignations. The American Arbitration Association's Philadelphia office provided a list of 15 arbitrators. The sides will take turns striking names until one remains, and he will be the arbitrator. Owners intend to argue the arbitrator shouldn't hear the case, claiming the collective bargaining agreement leaves decisions on terminating umpires to the sole discretion of league presidents. Umpires submitted their mass resignations in July, all effective Sept. 2, hoping to spur an early start to bargaining for a labor contract to replace the one that expires Dec. 31. The strategy backfired when about two dozen umpires refused to go along, and baseball then hired 25 replacements and accepted the 22 resignations.
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