maly, too: Kenny Oliver Would Appreciate This Story

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Kenny Oliver Would Appreciate This Story

By RON MALY

Tim McClelland of West Des Moines made the national news again this week.

Tim McCelland [in background, looking to the right] as a Valley assistant coach

McClelland is a longtime major league umpire. Indeed, he's been labeled the best in the game.

The big guy's only drawback is that he takes forever to raise his arms when calling balls and strikes, thereby causing confusion among fans and [mostly] radio and TV broadcasters.

I'm sure the batter, the pitcher and the catcher know immediately if it's a ball or strike because McClelland undoubtedly says loudly if the pitch is one or the other.

The last time I saw McClelland in person was when was helping coach the Valley High School girls' basketball team inside the Bill Coldiron Fieldhouse in West Des Moines.

I went to as many Valley games as I could during the 2012-2013 season, and McClelland was on the scene for the girls' game every time.

Indeed, he was still working deep into February as an assistant basketball coach, and I was wondering if he'd retired from his professional baseball umpiring job.

Evidently not.

He's back on the big league scene, calling preseason games in Arizona.

But it was the day before yesterday when he did something that hardly ever happens in baseball these days.

McClelland umpiring a game behind the mound. Photo courtesy of AP.

McClelland called balls and strikes from behind the mound in the Milwaukee-Los Angeles Angels game in Phoenix after another umpire was injured.

I didn't see the game on TV and didn't see any videotape of it later, but I certainly recall days when umpires called balls and strikes behind the mound.

When I played in what was known as the Kids' League in my hometown of Cedar Rapids, the umpire always worked behind the mound.

Probably because no one could afford to pay for the chest protector, the mask and all of the other gear that umpires use when they work behind the catcher.

We were 9, 10, 11 and maybe 12 years of age.

Obviously, we knew all there was to know.

The games were usually played at Riverside Park on the southwest side of town, or Daniels Park on tn the northeast side.

The funniest episode involving an umpire-working-behind-the-mound I ever witnessed was on a warm afternoon at Daniels Park.

A friend of mine named Kenny Oliver was pitching for our team.

The umpire was calling balls and strikes while standing behind Kenny on the mound.

The umpire suddenly tried to get friendly with Kenny and said, "I should get a boy to bring me a cup of water."

Kenny snapped back, "You should get a boy to do the umpiring, too!"

Obviously, we had a tough team, and obviously Kenny didn't care much for the umpires' calls.

As far as know, Kenny didn't get ejected from the game.

*

[Photo of Tim McClelland as an assistant coach at a Valley High School girls' basketball game by Ron Maly; photo of McCelland umpiring behind the mound in a major league baseball preseason game courtesy of the Associated Press].

JOLTIN' JOE GOT IT STARTED

When Ron Maly was a kid in Cedar Rapids, he wanted to enter an essay contest, and he did. He wrote about Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees being his favorite baseball player. For finishing second in the contest, Ron won a Louisville Slugger baseball bat autographed by DiMaggio. Ron later wanted to be the first person in his family to attend college, and he was. He earned a degree in political science from the University of Iowa, and did what all political science majors do. He became a sportswriter. He had, after all, covered high school football, basketball and baseball games for the Cedar Rapids Gazette while he worked parttime during his university days. Ron wanted to sit in the press box and write about an Iowa-Minnesota football game, and he did. It happened while he was the sports editor at the Albert Lea [Minn.] Tribune, and the game was at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. Ron wanted to cover a World Series, and he did. Also when he was working for the Albert Lea newspaper. Ron wanted to cover Rose Bowls, Sugar Bowls, Orange Bowls, Cotton Bowls, Holiday Bowls, a Freedom Bowl, a Sun Bowl, a Super Bowl and NCAA basketball tournaments, and he did those things after he moved to Des Moines. Ron was a four-time sportswriter of the Year in the state of Iowa [the years were 1977, 1978, 1994 and 1996]. In 2006, he was named a charter member of the University of Iowa's media Wall of Fame in the Kinnick Stadium press box. A photo of the plaque that's displayed in the press box is displayed above this story. Following Ron's retirement from the newspaper business, a publisher asked him if he wanted to write a book about the rich football tradition at the University of Iowa, and he did. The hardback version of "Tales from the Iowa Sidelines" was a best-seller, and so was the revised, softback version. Now he's been asked by his publisher to update the book for a second time. He's in the process of doing that at the present time. Ron considers being asked to update a best-selling book for the second time to be the supreme compliment, considering the Hawkeyes won just four games in the 2012 season. When Ron isn't working on books, he's busy traveling and spending time with his family. Indeed, he attends the athletic, theatrical and musical [both vocal and instrumental] events in which his six grandchildren participate. He also writes about anything that interests him for his many websites. Every chance he gets, Ron proudly wears his America Needs Farmers T-shirt.

The Hawkeyes' Rich Football Tradition, Revisited

I mentioned a while back that I was in the process of updating my Tales from the Iowa Sidelines book. Updating it for the second time. The original hardback edition of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines [pictured at the right] was published in 2003, during the 10-3 season, when coach Kirk Ferentz and his Iowa football team had a 10-3 record that included a 37-17 victory over 15th-ranked Florida in the Outback Bowl and after the Hawkeyes went 11-2 in 2002. That book was a best-seller, so the publishers came to me again in 2005, a season that finished with a breathtaking 30-25 victory over No. 11 Louisiana State in the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day, 2005. Because buyers had cleaned out the the shelves in the bookstores, the publishers wanted to know if I'd do an updated version of the book. I agreed, The revised, soft-cover edition [pictured at the left] was published in 2005. Warren Holloway, who teamed with quarterback Drew Tate on a miraculous 56-yard touchdown pass to win the Capital One Bowl, was featured on the cover. That book, too, turned into a best-seller, So I had reason to feel very good about my years as a published author. It's not every day that a the original version is a best-seller, and so is the updated version. Then, imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail from a senior editor at the publishing company last fall, wanting wanted to know if I was interested in doing a second updated version of the book. It came at a time when things weren't going well for the Hawkeyes in the 2012 season. They lost their last six games and finished with a 4-8 record. Frankly, the thought of doing a revised edition of the book during a 4-8 season seemed to be a stretch. "Maybe producing a revised edition in a year or two would be a better idea," I told the publishers. "We'd like to do it now," I was told. "Let me think about it," I said. After a few days of thought, I accepted the idea. I talked myself into the idea that this was the supreme compliment--being asked to do a second book update during a 4-8 season showed strong confidence by the publishers in me and in the Hawkeyes' football program. So I got back into the business of interviewing players and coaches again, going to postgame press conferences, weekly press conferences and a scrimmage in West Des Moines. After a press conference in Iowa City, I did a one-on-one interview with coach Kirk Ferentz, and mentioned to him that I was in the process of doing a revised edition of my two best-selling books. I congratulated him on the excellent things he had done for Iowa's football program--all of which contributed to the success of my books. "I think Coach Fry had more to do with it," he told me, bringing up the name of Hayden Fry, his one-time boss at Iowa and a man who brought Iowa's football program back from the dead in the 20th century. That's modest Kirk Ferentz for you. Even though the 2012 season wasn't something Hawkeye coaches, players and fans will recall with any special feeling, Ferentz has a 14-year record of 100-74 at Iowa that includes two 11-victory seasons [2002 smd 2009], two 10-victory seasons [2003 and 2004], plus he's been the Big Ten coach of year in 2002, 2004 and 2009, and national coach of the year in 2002. Indeed, Ferentz has done some wonderful things at Iowa City, and I fully expect his success to continue. I've concluded my writing for the second update of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines, and the senior editor has furnished me with an early look at the book. Not only are the Kirk Ferentz years included in the updated version, but so is the stuff I previously wrote about Howard Jones, Dr. Eddie Anderson, Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick and the 1939 Hawkeye Ironmen, Ronald Reagan, Ozzie Simmons, Ossie Solem, Randy Duncan, Alex Karras and lots of other legends from Iowa's rich football history. I expect the book to be in stores soon. I hope you like it.