THERE’S NO TICKET BETTER THAN A FRONT ROW SEAT
When Sam Holbrook suited up for Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, he didn’t do so as a player. There were 50 men who could make that claim. He didn’t put on a coach’s uniform, joining a dozen others. And he wasn’t, like many fans, dressed in his Cubs or Indians jersey, preparing to root his team to victory.
Instead, only six men that night wore the uniform of Major League umpires, and just one clad himself in the gear of the man who would stand behind the plate and call balls and strikes. That one was Sam Holbrook, giving him the best “seat” in the house for maybe the greatest game the sport has ever seen.
Since losing his wife to cancer before the 2014 season, Holbrook has found himself supported not only by his son and daughter, and the 75 other men who make up the collegial ranks of MLB umpires. Holbrook’s support network has also included the Baseball Chapel team of chapel leaders and his Links Fellowship back home at Keene Trace Golf Club in Lexington, Kentucky. For every way that Sam Holbrook was alone behind the plate that night in Cleveland, he has friends and colleagues standing by him in the bigger game of life.
In this interview with Links Players, Holbrook talks baseball, golf, faith, and family.
You didn’t know that Game 7 was going to turn out like it did, but you must have been pretty excited going into it.
You know, I was very excited but also very nervous. I mean that was the biggest game of my life and probably the biggest game I will ever have in my life. Anytime a playoff game comes with a lot of nerves, you just want to go out there and do the very best job that you can and hopefully everything goes smooth and you are blessed with some good judgment. The whole Series had been exciting and when I knew we were going into Game 7, I just knew it was going to be something special.
Pitchers say they get settled in after a few pitches and the nerves go away. Was it the same for you?
I was very nervous during the day and the night before, with all the hype and publicity and what Game 7 means at any time, but especially with the two teams that were involved. But when I got to the locker room, there was a calmness that came over me. I thought that the anxiety would kick back in when I walked up those steps and stepped out into the field, but it just didn’t. It wasn’t like any other game, but I was going through the same routine and I just felt a calmness walking out there.
Just like players, umpires can have good and bad games. How did the game go for you that night?
You know, I was feeling good. I felt like I was seeing the ball well. Things were moving in the right direction the whole game.
How about the game itself? Were you able to appreciate how exceptional it was?
When it went into extra innings, it was fitting for that Series and for those two teams. In the top of the tenth, Rizzo was at bat for the Cubs and the catcher went up to the mound, so it was just myself and Anthony standing there. He looks around at me and goes, “You know, Sam, this is kinda fitting with this Series and this game that we’re going into extra innings with it.” And I said, “You know what, you’re right and there’s no way that this game should end any other way or this Series should end any other way than going extra innings.” It was a tremendous Series and an epic game. It was exactly what everybody had hoped for with all the hype leading up to it; it was just awesome to be a part of that.
Does an umpire do anything different to get ready for a game like this?
Of course, the playoffs have a different atmosphere. But it’s business as usual for us. For umpires, it’s a little bit different than what it is for ballplayers. I know that they study film and study tendencies and numbers and stuff like that. As an umpire, all that stuff really doesn’t matter to us because when it comes down to it, you’ve just got to be able to see the pitch, or the plate, and take your time with it, and call it like you normally would. That’s where our training, background, and our fundamentals—a lot of people don’t know that umpires have fundamentals as well—that’s where it comes down to. It’s very easy, with the nerves and you getting caught up in the flow of game and so forth, to get a little bit fast. When you do that as an umpire, that’s when you start making mistakes. You try to go out there and take your time and let your brain catch up with what your eyes just saw and that’s what makes you more consistent. That’s what we do.
Tell me about some of these fundamentals. What are they?
Well, behind the plate, one of the biggest ones is just putting your eyes into a position where they can see. You need to work through the catcher, because the catcher is your biggest obstacle. Then, you have batters that hang over the plate a little bit as well, so you have to make sure you don’t get blocked out from seeing the pitch and its entire flight to the catcher. Then, you have to be very still in order to watch that pitch come in because if you’re moving… I kind of generalize it to a picture where the photographer is moving. What’s that do to the picture? It makes it blurry. If you can put a camera on a tripod, then you’re going to get the best picture. So you have to be very still so that the background that you are viewing the pitch through doesn’t move because your head is moving. And then you just gotta track the pitch with your eyes and watch it all the way into the mitt and then let your brain catch up with what you just saw before you make a call. If you get too fast with it, you’re going to make mistakes because you are not giving yourself that extra split second to let your brain actually process what you saw.
There’s this idea that an umpire does his best work when nobody notices him. Do you think this is always true, or are there times when it’s OK to be noticed?
No, I think it’s always true. I don’t think there are any umpires at all that want to go out there and have their names plastered all over social media and everything because that means maybe they didn’t have the greatest game. But just because a player takes exception to something that is called, that is going to stir up controversy and that is going to give the announcers and the media something to talk about and write about. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the umpire did a bad job or he missed a particular pitch or whatever. You go out there and hope to just do your job and have a nice quiet night and be able to leave the ballpark knowing you did the very best job that you could and feel good about the performance that you had.
Let’s talk about the umpire’s life as you guys live it. For one, every game is a road game. How do you deal with all that time away from home?
Yeah, you know it kind of depends on the crew and stuff like that. Some guys, the four of them will travel every flight together and travel in the car together and get dinner together and stuff like that. Then you get other crews where guys do their own thing and there’s no problem with that. The people on the crew understand that and if somebody says, “Hey we’re going to dinner. You want to join us?” and they say, “No, I got other plans,” then everybody is good with that because we’re all grown-ups and make our own decisions and there’s nothing that says we have to hang out together. But I say for the most part, most of the guys will hang with the other guys on the crew and enjoy their friendship, because it’s kind of like you against the world out there.
How about golf? I know you enjoy the game. Who else likes the game?
Joe West is very good. He is a big golfer. Rob Drake is a big golfer and he, Joe, and I worked together for a couple years in a row and we played three or four times a week and that made the season go by real quick. It was just something for us to do and something to look forward to for the next day. Once the game was over with, you knew you were getting up and playing a nice course in the morning and looking forward to that. A lot of our guys are ex-athletes, so it’s one of the things we can do is play golf and enjoy the sport no matter how old you get.
Tell me about your own game. How would you describe yourself as a golfer?
(chuckles) Well, one of my strengths is that I’m always optimistic and I always think I’m going to do good, even though I usually don’t. I’ve been to some of the instructors around Lexington and they look at my swing and ask, “What do you shoot?” and I say, “Well, you know I do my best to try and break 90 and don’t always do that.” And they say, “You’re kidding me. With that swing you should be breaking 80!” And I go, “Well, that hasn’t happened yet.”
I don’t get to practice enough, and that’s what I’ll blame it on, along with my short game and I have trouble off the tee—I have no idea where the ball is going off the tee. So, if I could keep the ball on the fairway and make a few putts and not chili dip some shots here and there, then I’ll score fairly decent for myself. But, it’s more about the enjoyment of getting out there. I always think I’m going to have my best game ever when I go out there and play. If I’m three over after two holes on the front nine, it doesn’t ruin my day, I still enjoy it, but you always wish you can do better.
You’ve probably played a lot of different places. What are some courses you really enjoy?
One of my favorite courses that we play is Half Moon Bay, outside San Francisco. I love playing there. Atlanta National is a really nice course. They take good care of us down there. I’ve played Cog Hill before. That was really nice. There’s a lot of people out there that took good care of us. That wasn’t really anything to do with me. That was more Joe West and Rob Drake having the contacts in the cities that we went to and they get a game set up. We like to get out and play, being the first ones in the morning, and we would play quick. We would be done by eleven o’clock and be able to grab a little bite to eat and catch a nap before the game.
When you’re home, it’s more than golf at the golf course, isn’t it? You have the Links Fellowship that you attend.
Yeah, those guys are very important to me and I’m glad that I found it. Back in 1999 when I lost my job, I ran into Doug Flynn. He was a baseball player that lived here in town. He said, “Hey, we got a good group of guys. We meet, have some coffee and breakfast on Tuesdays. Why don’t you stop by?” I stopped by and it was a prayer breakfast. I just really enjoyed that and it was like a small group setting. They kind of disbanded and went their separate ways and didn’t have their meetings anymore.
When I was a member at Keene Trace, they kept talking about how Judge (Tim) Philpot has a little Bible study here on Thursday mornings. So I was like, “Well, maybe I’ll stop by.” A buddy of mine, Steve Geisler, was a golf teacher here in town and he would give a little golf lesson before we started and the guys would do a little Bible study. That was really good for me and I was so glad that I found those guys, because I really missed that from the group that I was with before. One of the best parts about being home in the offseason is being able to reconnect with those guys and look forward to that every Thursday morning.
When did your faith in Christ come into the picture for you?
I grew up in Morehead, Kentucky, and in the Methodist church there. My grandfather and grandmother were very involved with that. When I was a little guy going to Sunday service, I liked going to Sunday school because I was with my friends and stuff. It was something that I didn’t have to do, but it was frowned upon if I didn’t. So I grew up in the church.
I wouldn’t call myself any type of expert. I can’t quote Scripture and I fall short as prayer goes and getting into the Word, just as everybody does. But being able to connect with people who have the same type of interests with us and being able to look forward to seeing them, that means a whole lot to me. I do my best to get to church every Sunday when I can when I’m home.
One of the good things about baseball, or one of the organizations that I look forward to every week, is called Baseball Chapel. They have some preachers or ex-ballplayers or just good Christian men, and they will stop by on Sundays because the ballplayers and even us are so busy because Sunday is getaway day. You’re packing up and leaving the hotel, you gotta work the game, and it’s usually an afternoon game that starts at one o’clock, so it’s hard to get to church. So this organization stops by. They’ll bring in a handout with a Bible lesson on it and some quotes and different things like that. Then, they will sit and pray with us over anything that we need. They were very supportive with me when I lost my wife. It’s just a tremendous organization and I can’t speak enough good things about Baseball Chapel because it kind of brings church to us.
When you lost your wife, you probably had the support of some friends you would expect but also some unexpected people.
You’re right, both. I still hear from people today. Baseball Chapel was very supportive when she first got diagnosed. We were trying to live normal lives, continue on, and do the jobs and so forth that we had when she was fighting cancer. Everybody at Baseball Chapel knew what we were going through and they always kept us in their prayers and still do as a matter of fact. That means an awful lot because they are like an extended baseball family. They are part of the baseball community that a lot of people don’t even know about. They were there for me along with a tremendous amount of people back at home and throughout the country, as a matter of fact.
When you go through something like that, it’s amazing the amount of people you realize care about you and your family, and it’s a tremendous blessing that’s for sure.
Photo credit: WKYT