One of my favorite people in baseball has died. Former MLB umpire Eric Gregg known for his big personality, big strike zone, and big size died of a massive stroke at age 55. Gregg was among 22 umpires who lost their jobs in 1999 when their labor plan of a mass resignation backfired.
I remember going to see the Cubs with a loud mouth friend of mine nicknamed the Madman. It was a hot day and the secondbase umpire needed to retire to the dugout. Madman yells out to Gregg who was umping 3rd, “Eric, what’d you do with the 2nd base umpire, eat him?” Eric Gregg doubled over laughing.
A couple of years ago we met the clubhouse man in Pittsburgh. He started telling us what Eric Gregg would eat, a tremendous amount of food. This guy said Gregg’s appetite for the ladies matched his zest for life.
He lived life large and I know he’ll be missed.
i thought you were being alliterative with the big strike zone thing but I dug up this article from 1997 about Maddux complaining about Gregg’s wide strike zone.
http://www.canoe.ca/MLB97ATLFLA/oct12_ln.html