A Hall note: The time Joe Torre orchestrated being ejected by umpire Doug Harvey

Joe Torre was not dejected over umpire Doug Harvey being enshrined into baseball's Hall of Fame on Sunday, but might have felt a tad ejected.

For old time's sake.

Turns out, the first person Harvey ever ejected from a major league game was Torre. Works out, he was his last, too.

In 1962, Torre was a catcher with the Milwaukee Braves when Harvey made him the first player he threw out of a game. He remembered it, too.

So much so that 31 years later -- knowing it was his last as an umpire -- Harvey had a message for Torre, then the St. Louis Cardinals manager.

"He said you were the first one, and I'd like you to be the last one," Torre said. "And I said, 'OK, we'll figure it out.'"

About a month later, the Cardinals were at Shea Stadium playing the Mets in late September.

"We're winning by four or five runs, so about the seventh inning, I yell out about a pitch," Torre said. "I figure I may not get a better shot at this. He came over to me and I had to explain what I was doing. It wasn't foremost on his mind.

"I started arguing with him, and I say, 'This is it.' And he says, 'What do you mean this is it?'"

"And I said, 'Remember, you wanted me to be the last guy you threw out.' And he started smiling and said, 'Get out of here.'"

And tossed him. Orchestrated or not, some nice symmetry to a Hall of Fame career.

-- Steve Dilbeck

Photo: Doug Harvey speaks during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony Sunday in Cooperstown. Jim McIsaac / Getty Images

Comments

[Art Uvaas]

Anyone who watches-or is associated with- the "games
people play" usually view umpires and/or game officials
as the "necessary evil" of organized sports.

At Cooperstown, only a handful of umpires have been inducted
into Major League Baseball's historic HALL-OF-FAME.

I was delighted to see that the national past-time has
put the spot-light on a great umpire: Mr. Doug Harvey.

Doug was an excellent ball-strike umpire, and he excelled
as a crew chief for many seasons.

There were many fine umpires during Doug's tenure,
including: Chris Pelekoudas; Jim Evans; Dave Phillips;
Ed Vargo; John Stevens; Bill Deegan; Steve Palermo;
Marty Springstead; Hank Soar; Jim McKean; Rich Garcia;
John Shulock; Billy Williams; Gerry Crawford; Ed Sudol,
and Paul Runge, just to name a few-

Nevertheless, it was Doug Harvey who garnered the respect
and admiration of the players and management ,(year in-and-
year out).

I'm sure Mr. Harvey's pre-maturely gray hair helped
solidify his image amongst the players as the
splitting image of THE ALMIGHTY HIMSELF.

In reality, Doug Harvey competently officiated a game
where out-sized egos and wallets, [along with the athletes'
ever-burgeoning sense of entitlement], never fazed him.

As mentioned, some referred to him as "God," (in deference
to his authoritative mien).An apt moniker, perhaps...

DOUG HARVEY:HALL-OF-FAMER...that'll do just fine for me.

Art Uvaas
Ontario, California