The enigmatic saga begins long before Gera ever thought of becoming an umpire, in the days when a woman’s place was in the home, certainly not a reference to the home plate, which was to play a major role in her life.
Origins and Athletic Ability
“I started out playing baseball, but I think it was due to a broken family. My mother and my father left when I was only two. They left five children, all of whom went their separate ways. I stayed with whoever would keep me, shuffling from home to home.
I think basically that’s where it came in, the love of baseball, because there you joined in with kids, you belonged,” she recounted.
Promotion was more than just another of Webster’s three-syllable words to the Jackson Heights, NY resident. Using the athletic abilities she had nurtured since the age of eight in her hometown of Indiana, Pennsylvania, it is documented that in 1961 she competed against Roger Maris in a home run hitting contest. During those same turbulent sixties Bernice displayed her batting ability on TV numerous times and also won over 350 prizes at various carnivals, the proceeds of which she donated to charitable organizations for children.
She had a promotional flair indeed, but felt it was wasted as she grew older and more dissatisfied with her secretarial job. She wanted more than anything else in the world to be a part of baseball, but no one took her seriously. Promises were made, then broken. Finally Bernice had suffered enough frustration. In 1966, at the age of 35, she made the decision to strap on the shin guards, at first a joke which became more and more serious with each passing moment. Little did she know, or let on, what a fight she would have to become that “First Lady Umpire.”
The Road to Graduation
She wrote to the Al Somers Umpires’ School, and was accepted under the misunderstanding that her name was “Bernie” Gera. As soon as Mr. Somers realized the he was a she, the acceptance became an angry rejection. Gera indicated that Somers told her she’d only come to the school “Over my dead body!”
Bernice made more contacts, finally hitching up with the Jim Finley School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She became a class of one, graduated and, with diploma in hand, went out into the world to do her thing – umpire professional baseball games. Two years after Bernice said her farewells to Finley, the school folded, a dismal financial failure.
When not pursuing pro baseball, Mrs. Gera could often be found on the playgrounds, teaching the national pastime to the children of the streets. She would take kids to see the major leaguers, and pay their way plus a hot dog or two. “I found that baseball was the way to reach kids. I’d save up enough money and take 20-30 boys to a game at my own expense. I’ve done that all my life.”
Claiming all along that it was the kids who gave her the inspiration, and armed with the Finley sheepskin, she would undoubtedly take baseball by storm. Wrong. Baseball did not want Bernice Gera, which was hard for her to accept.
The Courtroom and the Contract
She contacted all the leagues, all the organizations, all the bosses on executive row … all for naught. On top of that, Finley had said that a contract awaited her upon graduation, which turned out to be another empty promise. What would she do now, a baseball orphan nobody would adopt? She was unwanted, just like the days in Indiana, PA.
She worked games locally and made a rare appearance or two in such events as the National Baseball Congress tourney in Kansas, in which she handled the chores at third base. Time was working against her and finally she executed what many believed to be the kiss of death – filing the first in a series of legal suits against baseball in the hopes that the legal system would ally forces and propel her into the pro limelight. The years passed as her suits were tried and retried, appealed and reappealed. Bernice Gera was no closer to a job in baseball than she had been at the age of eight. Nevertheless, her determination shifted into fifth gear.
Finally, on July 25, 1969, she was asked to report to the New York-Penn League for duty to commence on August 1st in Auburn, NY. She was happy, but it was to be short-lived. On the day of her supposed debut, she received a telegram from Phillip Piton of the National Association of Pro Baseball Leagues. Mr. Piton abruptly disapproved her contract and Bernice Gera did not pass go.
The lawsuits continued, one of her major claims against baseball being its height/ weight requirements (minimum of 5’10”, 170 lbs.), which she felt could be met by only a handful of women. Further legal proceedings indicated more clearly that Gera felt she was being denied a job simply because of her sex. In March of 1971 she said so, to the tune of a $25 million dollar “hello” to Commissioner Bowie Kuhn and friends. That case kicked around the court dockets until January of 1972, when the New York Court of Appeals ultimately ruled in her favor, by a 5-2 margin, that she had been discriminated against because of her sex. It appeared that baseball had no choice, hire Bernice Gera or forfeit some heavy cash. On April 12, 1972 she signed a contract to work in the New York – Penn league, a Class A operation which would be off and running on June 23rd. Her contract called for $400 per month plus expenses.
The Night at Shuron Park
Gera’s scheduled debut in that Eastern circuit, a doubleheader between Geneva, NY and Auburn, NY at Shuron Park in Geneva was delayed a day by rain. The next morning it was still raining, and the start of the twin bill was put off until that night. The events of game day and the several days leading up to it are jumbled, a confusing web of fact and opinion.
“I borrowed a thousand or fifteen-hundred dollars just to get up there. I stayed up there I don’t know how many days before. I went to banquets and on radio and did everything that the league had expected me to do to promote this.”
That is one of the facts. Another is that the night before the games several men, well past the point of mild intoxication, were arrested for smashing the lights outside Gera’s room and shouting obscenities. That incident was enough to scare away Mrs. Gera’s brother and his wife and children who had come to Geneva to watch her perform.
“We had this meeting which took place for five hours. Now within that five-hour period, I knew exactly where I stood, as far as baseball went and as far as the umpires went.”
The umpires’ meeting the afternoon of June 24th was attended by Mrs. Gera, all of the other league umpires (about six or seven men), and Barney Deary, new Administrator of the Umpire Development Program.
The meeting lasted five or six hours. According to Bernice, her partner for the games, Doug Hartmayer, withheld information from her at the meeting and on the drive to the ball park. She remembers him saying, “I have no comment, I have nothing to discuss,” when she tried to communicate with him on signals to be used, etc. The gathering adjourned late in the afternoon, without Mrs. Gera knowing about the special rules which applied in the league.
“I would say baseball had all this prearranged, preplanned this whole set-up in Geneva. It was just a set-up and nothing else. They were determined to get me out of baseball.”
One Bad Call and Resignation
Apparently it worked. Between that meeting and the first game at Shuron Park, after learning of her partner’s attitude and seeing how she would be treated, Mrs. Gera decided to quit. She went back to her room and packed. An overflow crowd of 3,000 people, plus a national TV audience, waited to see how the woman umpire would do in her initial game. It didn’t take long to find out. After making a “safe” call at second base, she changed the call to “out” when she realized a force play was in effect. The ensuing argument led to the ejection of Auburn manager Nolan Campbell.
“I made one bad call. And I have to admit, and I admitted it to the world, I made a bad call, and nowhere does it say that you can’t reverse it if you are wrong”
I openly admitted it to the manager, and he came running out and had every right to be mad. I have to say this because I wouldn’t lie about it; he never cursed. The only thing I said to him was that I had made a mistake, and he said, ‘You made two mistakes – putting on a uniform and coming out here on the field,’ or something like that. ‘And your second mistake, you should never have left the kitchen, you should be home peeling potatoes,’ or something like that. That’s when he left the game.
“My partner put his arm around Campbell’s shoulder, as if to console him …”
Opinions are widely varied on her performance that night and on her sudden resignation. Barney Deary said Gera was, “Not equipped, she appeared over her head. If a woman can do the job, baseball would welcome her. She had a definite lack of training. She seemed so confused. She was out of position on almost every call. I just don’t think she’s competent. She doesn’t have the physical stamina or the mental makeup to become an umpire. I think she took a cheap shot at us.” Deary also stated that Mrs. Gera had no questions at the umpires’ meeting preceding the game. As expected, Mrs. Gera and Barney Deary are at odds.
“I never liked his attitude towards myself and women in general. He’s one of those guys who is strictly a chauvinist. He feels that men dominate this game, and it’s no place for a woman.”
The Departure from Shuron Park
Mrs. Gera had already made up her mind that she was going to quit, of course. She had left the park and went directly to her car after the completion of the first game, on the verge of tears. Before leaving, she approached Joe McDonough, General Manager of the Geneva franchise, and said, “I’ve just resigned from baseball. I’m sorry, Joe.” Then, with her husband waiting in an idling car and all her bags packed and motel bills paid, Bernice Gera fled Shuron Park.
Notable quotes from after the game came from several sources.
McDonough said, “You don’t have to be a genius to see she planned the whole thing.” R. Thomas Stapleton, Vice-President of the New York – Penn League, had this to say: “I’ve found Bernice a pretty and charming gal. But we knew it would come to this sooner or later. We had hoped she would last until she had made a personal appearance at all eight ball parks.”
Bernice insisted that the “cool resentment” by the baseball establishment and “threats” influenced her to quit, not the ejection of Nolan Campbell. She disclosed that she had received anonymous threats over the phone. “I wasn’t scared off. I was just disgusted. I was fed up with it . . . I could win in the courts, but how could I force them to make the umpires work with me?”
Impact and Reflection
Through it all, Bernice Gera’s attitude has seemingly stayed strong. She is very proud of the fact that she helped break down some sturdy barriers, that laws in Washington were changed in part because of her, paving the way for the likes of Chris Wren, Pam Postema, and others who will undoubtedly follow. Sometimes she may question the worth of it all, but that self-doubt is soon overcome by looking at the other fields that have since opened up for women both in and out of sports. But the regrets do linger, because the stress got to her physically and mentally, perhaps because she did not want people to say a woman?, could not take it.
The question arises of who promoted whom? Did Bernice Gera put herself in a position to be promoted by baseball? Is her primary concern promoting Bernice Gera under the guise of “doing it for the kids?”
“You can not tell me I have promoted myself strictly for Bernice Gera, because if I did, I’d be a rich person today. Instead of going out on a speaking engagement and taking a $500 check, I’d take that check and buy equipment for kids. Now how many officials do you know who do that?”
Bernice floundered for awhile after leaving the umpiring ranks, but soon found a comfortable place in which to rest. In March of 1975 she joined the New York Mets organization in a promotional position. Three, four, and even five times a week, she went on speaking engagements and was also in charge of the Lady Met Club, a PR vehicle used by the Mets that seemed to fit her to a tee.
But the lure of more glamorous and exciting adventures was irresistible, and soon the bug again bit Bernice Gera. In September of 1978, she left the Mets with blueprints in hand for the Bernice Gera Sports Complex, which was to be built in Florida. Just as she was excitedly preparing to move to the Sunshine State, the ill-conceived complex deal fell through, leaving her without a job.
Shortly thereafter, she was able to gain “temporary” employment as the Director of Group Sales for Radio City Music Hall in New York. Perfect for one with such a flair for promotion. The only problem is that, as of this writing, the Hall is scheduled for permanent demise on April 25th. So, once again, Bernice, now fast approaching her 48th birthday, will be out in the damp, spring air without a job … without baseball.
“I should have come here (Radio City) 30 years ago and kicked up my heels. I guess it’s just a little too late now.”
