Colorful Umpire Bruce Froemming Remembered

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Dateline: Goodyear, Arizona

Colorful Umpire Remembered.

Bruce Froemming, who umpired in the Major Leagues for 37 years, died at the age of 86 on Wednesday. He was a Milwaukee, Wisconsin native. 

Froemming was a little big around the waist and had a caustic wit. He sometimes would be referred to by his nickname "Spanky"

On his trips to Cincinnati, he could be found at a now defunct bar called Blaser's next to Covington Catholic High School where he was known to sing karaoke.

With a thick Wisconsin accent he drew affectionate laughs from the patrons, bouncing up and down as he sang, Elvira by the Oak Ridge Boys as a musical tribute to a character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark on Los Angeles local television that showed creepy movies.

One evening at the show, a lady asked the umpire how the game went. Froemming's response was, "It was alright for awhile, then everybody got pissy."

On another occasion Froemming called a writer over to him near the elevators at Riverfront Stadium. He was upset about commentary about a call he made the night before on 700WLW. He asked the writer who it was. It was former Reds' player, Tracy Jones.

"There was some character assassination on the air last night," Froemming bellowed.

Reds manager Terry Francona added an anecdote.

"I got along with Bruce really well," Francona said. "The funniest was Cleveland's video coordinator Mike Barnett. He would always wear these sansabelt's (slacks with a with a wide elastic band in the waist. I would always write Froemming on the inside of his baseball pants, he would get so pissed at me. Bruce was a little bigger. I got along well with Bruce. Those are the personalities that baseball used to have."

Froemming served as an MLB ump for 37 consecutive seasons, from 1971 to 2007. He called 5,163 games, including a record 11 no-hitters; worked five World Series (1976, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1995); and umpired a record 10 National League Championship

Froemming was the home-plate umpire for Nolan Ryan’s record fifth no-no in 1981 and at first base for Dennis Martinez’s perfect game in 1991. He was also behind the plate in 1972 when Milt Pappas retired the first 26 hitters before issuing a walk, with Froemming making a couple of calls that received scrutiny with Pappas’ potential perfect game turning into a no-hitter.