Alabama Florida League 1951 Strike

 
The  1951 Umpire Strike
In July of 1951, the league had just survived its biggest tragedy and crisis: The
beaning death of Ottis Johnson.  The Johnson tragedy almost brought an end
to the league, but barely a month and a half later, another crisis threatened
to topple to already fragile league once and for all.

On July 21st,
1951, the Ozark Eagles were in Headland to play a night game against the rival
Dixie Runners.  Umpiring behind home plate was an inexperienced arbiter
named Bob DeHaney. Many of the league’s umpires were poorly paid, and the meager
wages did not attract the most skilled men to the position.  In DeHaney’s
case, he had virtually no experience at the professional level and was still
new to the job.  A fly ball hit deep into the poorly lighted left field alley
of Peanut Stadium sparked the trouble. 

A view of Headland’s Peanut Stadium looking from the former home plate area to the
left field wall where the phantom home run landed. 
Bill Farrar, Ozark’s left fielder, chased the hard-hit ball into deep left field
but could not reach it on the fly.  There was a bit of an embankment in the
outfield, and the fly ball had landed on it.  Farrar stopped chasing the
ball well before reaching the wall, apparently losing the ball in the uneven lighting.
Farrar�s aborted pursuit of the ball signaled to some that the ball had
left the park. Umpire DeHaney was evidently convinced that this is what happened. 
The Dixie Runners had two men on base, and they trotted home while Umpire
DeHaney made the circling motion with his hand that indicated a home run. 
Farrar was evidently still unsure where the ball had gone because he didn�t
make a move to retrieve it. Chase Riddle, Ozark’s star player-manager, watched
the flight of the ball from the dugout and was quite sure of where it had landed.
He ran out of the dugout to protest Dehaney�s call and to prove that the ball was still in the field of play. As Riddle
revealed 50 years later,   » I said to him, ‘The ball didn’t go out of the
ballpark, it’s out there on the bank’. I was protesting to the umpire and I
said, ‘Get some help. See if the infield ump can help you’. »  Riddle called
for Farrar to retrieve the ball from the spot where Riddle had seen it drop and
Farrar found the ball and brought it in to the infield to show to DeHaney. 
The Eagles, lead by manager Riddle got in DeHaney�s face, angrily demanding
a reversal of the home run call, but the umpire would have none of it. DeHaney
told  Riddle,  « I don’t care where you got that ball (from), when I
saw the ball, it went out of the park and it’s a home run ».  Riddle, a life-long
baseball man who had dealt with blown calls many times in the past, evidently
decided this was one was too much to handle, he hauled off and cold-cocked
DeHaney.
Fights were not uncommon in the AFL, both in the stands and on the field, but attacking
an umpire was another story altogether.  Riddle was restrained by his
teammates, and removed from the field.  The call, of course, stood as a
home run.

Riddle knew he made a mistake and that there would be a
price to pay.  He regretted losing his temper and conceded that the umpire
wasn�t totally at fault, he was just inexperienced and not prepared to handle
the pressure of the calling a professional game.  What he didn�t expect though,
was that this event would light the fuse on already volatile situation. The
DeHaney incident had not been the only umpire « attack » of that July:  A
couple days later, Dothan catcher, Bob Odenheimer, frustrated with the umpiring
in a game, threw his mask in the direction of the plate umpire on at least two
occasions.  The arbiter wasn�t hit, but the incident was indicative of the
escalating aggressiveness of outbursts directed towards the men in blue. Umpires
in the AFL had to be tough, confident men, or at least be imposing enough
the control the game.  The attacks to their authority had to be quelled quickly
before a real serious assault occurred, so the league�s umpires decided on
a course of action.  On July 25th, Odell « Dolly » Lambert, a former player-manager
for Ozark and now Umpire-In-Chief for the league, headed to the Dothan
office of league president, George « Dink » Halstead.

Lambert arrived
at the league offices accompanied by fellow umpires John Carbo, Oscar Mellborn,
and Tom Simon.  Lambert�s tone was direct:  He demanded the immediate
suspension of both Riddle and Odenheimer.  Further, Lambert made it clear
to Halstead that enough was enough, and if action was taken right away, the
umpires were prepared to walk off the field at that evening�s games. Halstead,
not fond of being pressured and already weary from a month�s worth of crisis management
keeping the barely solvent league above water, refused to allow the umpires
to dictate policy to him. Halstead told Lambert to go ahead and strike. 
He stated flatly that Lambert�s umpires were « meddling in something that
is the league president�s business and not theirs ».  He added that he would
not be forced into action « by any such high pressure tactics ».   Halstead
told the crew that he had already ruled on the matters, but he refused to
say what action would be taken, except that he sent his report to minor league
czar, George Troutman.  The umpires left empty-handed and angry, and Halstead
went into attack mode. 
Halstead�s first volley was fired with the help of the Dothan press, to which he
reported that he had already signed four new umpires to replace the ones who had
made the strike threat, further, he claimed to have two more umpires ready to
sign on which would mean a complete revamping of the league�s umpiring crew. He
also had consulted George Trautman, who evidently gave Halstead the go-ahead
to handle the situation as Halstead saw fit.

Lambert�s crew found out about their threatened dismissal, and counter-attacked by
handing in their resignations, effective dated August 1st.  Halstead, for
some strange reason, decided that the best course of action at this point was
to leave for a week�s vacation and assigned the task of resolving the issue to  
League Vice-President Rip Hewes.  Evidently, this was a surprise
to Hewes, for he told Lambert and the umpires that knew nothing of what had
transpired and he would not take any action in Halstead�s absence.  

Meanwhile, George Trautman, sensing a major debacle in the making, called
on the Minor League Representative for the region, Stuart X. Stephenson, to get
involved in the situation.  Stephenson, who was general manager of the
Montgomery Grays at the time, was very familiar with the AFL and it�s problems: 
Only three weeks earlier, Trautman had sent Stephenson to save the league
from destroying itself over the Ottis Johnson beaning.  Stephenson, a former
journalist for the Montgomery Advertiser, arrived in Dothan to preside over
a hearing with the umpires, Riddle, and Odenheimer.  He quickly found out
that the strike and suspensions weren�t the only critical issues affecting the
league: The Enterprise Boll Weevils, missing payroll and out of money, couldn�t
bear the financial threat of a lost gate due to a strike and announced to Stephenson
that they were folding, effective immediately.  While Halstead hid
from the mountain of problems plaguing the league, Hewes and Stephenson did their
best to deal with the strike, suspensions, and the very real possibility that
the other league owners may decide to throw in the towel also, rather than
continue as a five-team circuit.  Stephenson admitted to the press that all
six of the league�s teams were financially unstable, and the possibility of a
permanent suspension of play was very real.  As daunting as the financial
problems were, Stephenson first had to resolve the umpiring issue.  He quickly
released five of the league�s six umpires, retaining only Earl Upton. He
then fined Odenheimer $30, even though there was no real evidence that Odenheimer
had thrown his mask with intent to hit the umpire.  No suspension was levied
against Odenheimer, but Riddle, who admitted that he struck DeHaney, would
not be let off as easily:  Stephenson recommended to Commissioner Trautman
that Riddle be suspended indefinitely, which turned out to be the rest of the
season.  Warren Jones was selected to replace Riddle as manager of the Eagles. 
With those issues resolved and Halstead back from his vacation, the
business of keeping the six team league afloat was resolved by an agreement between
the league and the Enterprise ownership to keep the team going by moving
all their remaining home games to Eufaula.  The team�s name went unchanged
with the hope that they might resolve their problems and return to Enterprise
for the next season.   As the league stumbled to the end of it�s season,
rumors started to circulate that a new Class B league might be forming, and
Tallahassee, Pensacola, Panama City, Dothan, and a team or two from the recently
defunct Southeastern League would participate.  Given that the AFL barely
survived and the more prominent Southeastern League had already failed two
years prior, the suggestion that more money be poured into baseball in this region
was pure folly.   Halstead, aware of the rumors and himself pushing
for a reorganized AFL with fewer veterans and lower salaries, finally realized
that it was time to « pursue other interests » and resigned. 
The league
had a new umpire-in-chief:  Taking over for Dolly Lambert was none other
than Clarence « Shovel » Hodge.  Hodge added yet another feather to his
baseball cap, having played, managed, and umpired for almost 50 years.  It
would be a very short tenure in this new position though, because Hodge was given
the job of League President before the next season started.  It was a
position he would hold for the next three years. 
Chase Riddle
Bob Odenheimer
George « Dink » Halstead
Stuart Stephenson
George Trautman –
Minor League Commissioner