Dave Phillips | |
|---|---|
| Born | David Robert Phillips (1943-10-08)October 8, 1943 (age 82) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Occupation | MLBumpire |
| Years active | 1971–2002 |
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) |
David Robert Phillips (born October 8, 1943) is an American retiredumpire, first with theAmerican League from 1971 to 1999, then with both leagues from 2001 to 2002.[1] Phillips wore uniform number 7 when the American League adopted uniform numbers for its umpires in 1980, and retained the number when the staffs merged in 2000.
Phillips umpired in threeAmerican League Division Series (1981,1997, and1998), sixAmerican League Championship Series (1974,1978,1983,1985—crew chief,1989—crew chief, and1995—crew chief), fourWorld Series (1976,1982,1987—crew chief, and1993—crew chief) and twoAll-Star Games (1977 and1990).
In 1975, Phillips became one of the first three American League umpires to switch to the inside chest protector along withDon Denkinger andMerle Anthony
Phillips served during six no-hitters (Nolan Ryan's second no-hitter (July 15, 1973, first base),Jim Bibby (July 30, 1973, first base), the combined no-hitter ofVida Blue,Glenn Abbott,Paul Lindblad andRollie Fingers (September 28, 1975, first base),Randy Johnson (June 2, 1990, second base),Bret Saberhagen (August 26, 1991, second base), andScott Erickson (April 27, 1994, first base)).
He was the crew chief during the 1979Disco Demolition Night atComiskey Park, in which theChicago White Sox were ordered to forfeit the second game of a scheduled doubleheader to the visitingDetroit Tigers.
In August1982, Phillips ejectedSeattle Mariners pitcherGaylord Perry for throwing an illegal pitch, the first such ejection of Perry's career.[2]
On August 18,1983, Phillips was one of the umpires who worked the continuation of a game between theNew York Yankees and theKansas City Royals which originally ended whenGeorge Brett was called out forexcessive pine tar on his bat. Following a successful protest by the Royals, the game was resumed to the point of Brett's home run. Phillips provided an affidavit to Yankee managerBilly Martin stating that the runners who scored on that home run touched all the bases.[3]
In the leadup to the1993 World Series, the umpires for the series, as crew chiefed by Phillips "expressed concern" of the idea to use the home-plate overhead camera for their coverage of the series. CBS did not cave in and used the camera for the whole series to look at close calls at the plate.[4]
On July 15,1994, Phillips was the plate umpire when he decided to takeAlbert Belle's bat and have it placed in the umpire's locker room, afterChicago White Sox managerGene Lamont alleged that the bat was corked. As the Indians were aware that Belle's bat was corked, Cleveland pitcherJason Grimsley managed to get into the umpire's locker room and put a different bat in place of Belle's. However, the trick did not work as the new bat hadPaul Sorrento's name on it, and Belle received a seven-game suspension.[5]
In 2004, Phillips wrote a book withRob Rains titledCenter Field on Fire (after Disco Demolition Night), which chronicled his over thirty-year career in major and minor league baseball.[6]
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