| Rich Garcia
• Fan interference in New York |
| “I felt better in Baltimore hearing the people screaming at me than I did in New York when they were clapping when they saw me.” |
| Referee: You were involved in the controversial fan interference play in last year’s American League Championship Series, Baltimore at New York. Tell us what happened on the play. Garcia: I was working right field. Being aggressive, when the ball was hit, I took off. Some people say I got too close to the play. Some people say I was too close to the fence. But who’s to say? I really don’t know. I thought I was in pretty good position. ___After seeing the flight of the ball, I picked up the fielder, which is routinely what we do. I saw (Baltimore outfielder Tony Tarasco’s) glove up against the wall. I’ve seen it a hundred times on replay. I’ve seen it a hundred times in my dreams. I’m waiting for the ball to hit his glove or go over the wall or do whatever and, all of a sudden, (Tarasco) jumped up and there’s no ball anywhere. I never saw the kid reach out and hit the ball. My first instinct was that the ball had to be above his glove and it had to be above the fence, so it had to be a home run. There was no doubt in my mind. ___We had an argument and eventually I ejected (Baltimore manager) Davey Johnson. That was after I asked my partners what they saw. They told me they could not tell if the guy interfered with the ball above the fence or not. ___I really didn’t see it. That bothered me. That bothers me today. If I would have seen it, I don’t think I would have made a mistake, but I didn’t see it. I had to make a decision. ___I think the biggest argument today is whether he would have caught that ball or not. Honestly, I don’t think (Tarasco) would have caught the ball. I don’t think the ball would have gone over the fence, either. Referee: When was the first time you thought there was a major problem? Garcia: When it happened, I really didn’t feel the impact of the situation. There was a play that happened, there was an argument, there was a run scored. ___During the playoffs, the league officials have box seats next to the dugout. I knew where they were. (AL president) Gene Budig was there with (AL executive director of umpiring) Marty Springstead and other dignitaries. About two innings after the play, I went down to first base umpire Dale Scott and said, “Look over at the AL box.” He said, “Where is the box?” I said, “Right over there where there’s nobody sitting now. You think I screwed up that play?” They were looking at the replay and probably planning for things to come. That’s when I realized that I missed the play. Referee: What happened after the game? Garcia: When the game was over, I walked in to the lockerroom and (Springstead) was standing there. Marty had his head down and, as soon as I walked in, I knew. I said to him, “Did somebody interfere with the ball?” He said, “Yeah.” ___League officials asked me if I would go to the press conference. They told me I didn’t have to go if I didn’t want to. I said that I would go, but that I would at least like to see the play once on replay before I answered questions. So I looked at the replay. Referee: When you saw the kid interfere for the first time, what did you say? Garcia: I said, “Where did he come from?” I didn’t see him standing there. I never saw that. I felt bad about it. ___I went to the press conference and I didn’t know what to expect. We don’t have these kind of things happen to us every day. Referee: Did you go yourself? Garcia: Marty Springstead went with me. I really appreciate the fact that he was there with me and backed me up. He took the shots and he was right there with me. I had a lot of support. ___The writers handled it professionally. They showed a lot of respect and empathy for me. They knew it was a tough situation. They were about as fair as you can be. That night I told myself that, because of the way they treated me, I would honor any interview they wanted the next day. I got to the ballpark early because I knew I would be interviewed. I answered every question for them. I answered the same thing 100 times. Referee: What happened the next game? Garcia: My family came into Baltimore. Referee: Was that planned? Garcia: Yes. They came in and things were hectic. Referee: Was it tough on the family? Garcia: Yeah. Referee: What happened? Garcia: As soon as they came in the room I just started crying … just like I’m doing now. Referee: So it was weighing on you? Garcia: Oh, yeah. They felt bad. My wife encouraged me. My daughter was crying. It was just very emotional seeing the reaction. After that, the rest of the day was a little bit better. ___I had security take me to the ballpark so I wouldn’t have to go through the people. There were signs all over the place saying everything you could think of. One I remember said, “Beat the Yanks, Beat the Umps, Spank the Kids” on a T shirt. They had two security people standing by my wife and my daughter and then they had two other security people standing by my other daughter and her husband. When I walked out on the field, it was unbelievable. Referee: Describe it. Garcia: Well, it’s hard to describe … the boos, the yelling and the screaming. But honestly I felt better in Baltimore hearing the people screaming at me and yelling at me than I did in New York when they were clapping when they saw me. That’s not good. I really felt a little bit better when they booed me. I didn’t like it when they clapped for me because it sounded like they thought I was on their side and I was cheating for them. That’s a terrible feeling to have. I found out later that my daughter started crying sitting there. She saw the signs and stuff. People make comments, but hey. … Referee: There was no getting away from it. Garcia: On Saturday, we went to eat at South Point, which is a little area on the other side of Little Italy. We were sitting in an outside cafe having lunch and nobody was saying anything. We thought nobody knew who we were or what we were doing. We were just sitting there eating and we were talking about a lot of different things. I had tears in my eyes over the whole thing. There was a couple sitting right across from us; they were just sitting there talking. No problem. We sat there for about an hour, just passing the day. It was a beautiful day. I started getting up and the guy across from me said, “Hey, you guys have a tough job.” I’m thinking, “I didn’t know this guy knew who the hell I was!” The waiter comes over and says, “Mr. Garcia, can we have your autograph?” I’m thinking, “Oh my God! All these people have been watching me.” I was kind of embarrassed because I didn’t think anybody knew. We had another person come over and ask for an autograph. Another lady come over with her husband. They wanted to take a picture, so I took a picture with them. I thought I was incognito there. ___When we get ready to leave, some guy in the back yelled, “You still missed that play!” I just kept walking. It was hard. The second day was better and the third day was much better. The fans in Baltimore are great fans. They just reacted the way that any fan would react. You can’t blame them. Referee: And you moved on from there. Garcia: Those were the last games I worked. I’m looking forward to starting the season and getting all this behind me. Rich Garcia |
| BIO:
AGE, HOMETOWN, FAMILY: Born May 22, 1942, in Key West, Fla.; has lived in Clearwater, Fla., since 1978. Married to Sheryl since 1977. Richie has four children: Richard, 29; Dina, 27; Lisa, 25; and Stephanie, 17. |