The Press Democrat from Santa Rosa, California • 27

CO cev, cjefb pactd1 iMOCMT, SUNDAY, MARCH 1 1 What baseball people are saying about It wasn't a treat for Dutch, either Pam Postema mm). jLmJ. By LARRY STONE Staff Writer W- 'J With his flamboyant motions and bellowing voice, Dutch Rennert is im-O I Possible to miss fji uihpn hp'e nm. when he um 1 I 1 1 piring a game. It's a judgment call, of course, but if Rennert is not the most theatrical of the Rennert ASSOCIATED PRESS Pant Postema has earned the respect of a lot of oeonle in baseball, including her sunervhnrs.

hut she tj i i vow times it0 doubt will be tested again and again (below). men in blue, then he's within a whiskbroom's bristle of the top. It wasn't any of Rennert's antics, however, that made him the center of attention with the Giants last August. It was his now-infamous trap call on Chili Davis's catch in the Houston Astrodome, a moment that culminated the darkest period of the season for the Giants and almost certainly paved the way for the brightest. To all those who cursed him, Rennert has a message: He blew it, and he knows it.

"I missed the play," he said. "Instant replay tells us we're 98 percent right. That was one of the two percent." To set the scene: The Giants, already having lost six of eight games on a critical road trip, were leading Houston 5-3 in "(The Giants) know I'm a better ump than that, and I'll get By LARRY STONE Smff Writer PTihe men in blue have some II company this spring a woman in blue. After 11 seasons in the minor leagues, Pam Postema is being given a tryout by the National League during spring training with a very real possibility of earning a spot in the pool of umpires who fill in during vacation and illness. To find out how they feel about this Jacqueline Robinson of the profession, the Press Democrat contacted umpires, administrators, managers and players for a sampling of opinion about "the umpress" and her prospects.

ED VARGO, SUPERVISOR OF NATIONAL LEAGUE UMPIRES: "We're not looking at Pam because she's a woman. We're looking at her because she's an umpire. She did an excellent job at Cooperstown (in the Hall of Fame game). She did surprise me, for a woman. "We're going to give her a good look.

It's not a shoo-in thing. She paid her dues with 11 years in the minors. She's earned her shot and we're giving her her shot. We have 28 umpires under contract and five on option. She's not on that list.

We'll see how she does in the spring. "In no way, shape or form do I expect any problems. She's been through it before. She's been accepted by minor leaguers, and she'll be accepted by major leaguers. We're umpires, class guys and professional people, and she'll be treated as such." HARRY WENDELSTEDT, NL UMPIRE: "She did real well in my school (the Harry Wendelstedt School for Umpires, from which Postema finished 17th out of a class of 130 in 1977).

I had high hopes for her. She's really shown me something. When she first came out of our school, she was very young. She had a lot to learn. She's really shown me something with the way she's stuck in.

She has paid her dues and learned the profession. "Every official I know has a hard time. I'm one of those people who can't knock someone's effort. One thing I want, and her, too, is let's not give her the job because she's a woman; let's give her the job because she can umpire. "You won't find umps being openly antagonistic to her.

We're dealing with professionals here. All we care about is working with a partner who can do the job. I'm a professional umpire. I'll work with whomever they assign me with and do my best. Whether I like the person or not has nothing to do with it." DAVE PHILLIPS, AL UMPIRE: "I don't have any problems with it.

By and large, there are a number of quality athletes in the country that are women, and they're doing a heck of a job. There's a lot of unbelievably qualified athletes who are women. There's no doubt in my mind, whether it's Pam who's the one, I fully believe at some point in time a woman will be a major-league umpire. I have no quarrel if they're good enough to do the job. I think out there someplace someone can do the job from the female gender.

"It's a difficult lifestyle. It's a very hard job, but a girl could certainly respond to the challenge. It has to be a special girl. A number of people would be against it. She's certainly put in her time.

If she's qualified, she deserves the opportunity. "I would think George Steinbrenner or any baseball team would hire a woman shortstop if she could put 35 balls out of the park and hit .350 and drive in 120. It's the same thing with umps. It's a very subjective business. The trouble with our job is that there's not many openings." DURWOOD MERRILL, AL UMPIRE: "That's a tough issue.

It's hard for me to judge Pam, because I've never worked a game with her. If Pam Postema can go out there and day in and day out hold up to the stress, the physical demands and work every base plus the plate, and if she's better than the people she's going against, she probably should get a shot. If we're talking about a novelty because she's a lady, then we're on the wrong track. "Just mentally running through the people I know in both leagues and I know them all yes, there would be some guys who would have problems with it. Let's be honest.

She's already run up against it in the minors. Guys flat-out didn't want any part of her. Partly because she was a woman, she'll get media attention they wouldn't get." DALE FORD, AL UMPIRE: "I'd rather not (work with her) to be honest. No. 1, I've never seen her work and I don't know her.

Everyone thinks baseball is chauvinistic, but I don't know many ladies who qualify, because all you hear is four-letter words. Maybe it's my Southern mentality. More power to her, but I would rather not work with her. "Guys I have talked to are not real high on working with her. I'm hired out to work, and I'll work.

If I'm on her crew, I'll work with her, but it won't be my favorite thing. It won't be the highlight of my career." TERRY COONEY, AL UMPIRE: "Anyone, man or woman, if they've been working for 1 1 years, they should be given a shot. I think that's a good idea." KEITH LIEPPMAN, FORMER MANAGER, TACOMA (AAA): "I thought she did a real good job behind the plate. She was fairly consistent, and when you're managing in this league, you want someone consistent with their calls. I thought she needed more work on certain plays, spur of the moment things on the field she wasn't accustomed to calling.

On the bases, she could be better, but who can't? With anyone, you have problems. "I was with her three years in the league. I found at the very beginning, and the whole time she was there, she was very aggressive. She didn't allow anyone to put her down. She was very quick to eject.

She didn't put up with anyone downgrading her or what she was doing. You had to be very careful. "I think she has a rough road ahead even though she's a good ump. Baseball is still old-school. You can't imagine some of the intimidation she'll face from big-league managers.

It will be a tough road. But she had some struggles in the past. She had to be tough to deal with it. Either she's a glutton for punishment or she really wants to make it to the bigs." MIKE GALLEGO, A'S INFIELDER: "For all the abuse she took, she did a great job. She was one of the best umps in the league.

I didn't mind the least bit when she was behind the dish. I knew she would work hard. Some of the guys get kind of lazy back there, but she didn't. She made mistakes, but so did we. "As far as her ability and her work habits and her calls, she has major-league potential.

But the guys can be a lot meaner up here. There's a lot more at stake. She gives a quick hook, but she got better on that, too. You can't blame her; she has to protect herself." my share right. DUTCH "Tf A jX l' the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the bases loaded.

Kevin Bass sent a sinking line drive to center that Davis charged and gloved. The replay showed that the ball was well above the ground when he caught it, but Rennert ruled trap. The tying run scored, and the Astros went on to win 6-5 in 11 innings. "I would have sworn, if I called it the way I saw it at the time, that Chili trapped it," Rennert said. "The instant replay showed that he did catch the ball.

That's baseball. I missed it. Nine of 10, 1 get right. I called it the way I saw it, and I saw trap. To me, it looked like a real tough play, but no one else thought so." Rennert stopped and sighed.

"No one said the game is easy." Rennert found out just how difficult it can be when he picked up the paper the next morning and read what the Giants were saying about him. Manager Roger Craig said he would never forget it. Team president Al Rosen told reporters, "If you talk to him, tell him he ought to retire." It is Rosen's comment that still rankles Rennert. "That was the only thing I didn't appreciate," he said. "I don't think a man of Al's stature should be making statements like that.

He has to be a little above that. I'm just a poor ump on the field doing my job. I don't think Al meant what he said. I respect Al. I hope he respects me more than that I should quit the game after one play." Rosen said he couldn't recall making the statement but that whatever he said was in the heat of the moment.

"The ballgame's over and we win, and all of a sudden we wind up losing," he said. "If the call is in the fifth inning, it's a different story. I thought he called it too soon. But I have no problem with Dutch Rennert. When the reports go in, I always speak highly of Dutch." Rennert was less concerned with Craig's reaction.

"Roger's a fair guy," he said. "I ArAs him oc manaoor In fnft NEW YORK TIMES Denkinger still gets obscene calls from St. Louis fans By LARRY STONE Sttff Writer It was arguably the. most vilified call in baseball history and the operative word here is arguable. For when Don Denkinger called Kansas City's Jorge Orta safe at first base in the bottom of the ninth inning of the sixth game of the 1985 World Series, he started the ultimate umpire's ar- Denkinger and it always will.

It went on like that for all that winter." Even now, an occasional nasty call will be placed to Denkinger, who steadfastly has refused to have his number unlisted. "I don't know who they are and I don't care," he said. "I take them (the calls) until I find out what they are, and then I hang up." The irony is that Denkinger is one of the most respected umpires in the game, a crew chief who has worked three World Series, five. playoffs and three Ail-Star games. Still, he knows his legacy is destined to be the Orta call.

"It was a very difficult situation for any umpire to go through, and he handled it better than any other umpire could have done," said fellow American League umpire Dave Phillips. "He's a very mature person and a quality umpire. "A lot of fans don't know this, but as aggravated as the fans around the country might have been, no one feels worse than the guy who makes the call. It's hard for people to understand or even care. Don handled it and has put it behind him.

As the old adage goes, you can't play yesterday's game today. You can't bring it back." day is a new day. Life goes on. One should not look back and reflect. If you try to rekindle something, you're in trouble." Though he freely admits he blew the call he originally told Herzog that Worrell had missed the bag but then changed his mind after seeing the replay Denkinger remains almost defiant in his claim that his accountability ended at the moment his arms were outstretched in the "safe" signal.

"I take no blame whatsoever for doing my job," he said. "If someone wants to blame me for doing my job, that's their prerogative. My only objection is that it ended up involving my family. There's no place or time when a person's family should be involved in his occupation, no matter whether I was right or wrong." Denkinger is referring to the ugly aftermath of the incident, when he returned to his home in Waterloo, Iowa. A St.

Louis radio station had broadcast his phone number over the air, and Denkinger, his wife and three teen-aged daughters were subjected to hate mail, obscene phone calls and even a death threat "I thought it was unjust, and I will always believe that to have my daughters have to go through that" he said. "It bothered me then the championship, fell to pieces. A dropped popup, a single, a passed ball, a walk and a bases-loaded single by Dane Iorg won the game for the Royals, 2-1. The next night, with Denkinger umpiring behind the plate, the Royals broke loose for an 11-0 victory and the World Series title. Denkinger had still more trouble in that game.

Frustrated beyond control, the Cardinals kept up a constant harassment of Denkinger. Finally, in the fifth inning, he ejected both manager Whitey Herzog and a thoroughly crazed Joaquin Andujar, the first time in 50 years both a manager and a player had been thumbed from a World Series game. It was an umpire's nightmare, his worst fears come to life. In a profession where the ultimate compliment is anonymity, Denkinger found himself the subject of both wrath and ridicule across the nation. More than two years have gone by, and Denkinger's life has, more or less, returned to normal.

This season he begins his 20th year in the American League, tying him with Larry Bamett for seniority. The incident, he insists, is behind him. "Time is a great healer," he said. "At the time, I was not remorseful, and I'm still not. I called it to the best of my ability.

The next he wasn't bad at all during the argument. He was probably in the worst position of anyone to see it. I'll take him anytime. I like all those ex-Dodgers. I had the Giants after that, and Roger didn't say anything.

"They know I'm a better ump than that, and I'll get my share right. I've always felt that as long as I was hustling, I'm going to make the play. What more can I do?" There are those who say that Rennert should have been voted a playoff share by the Giants. "They claim the play turned them around," Rennert said. "It sure got them fired up.

I understand that the next night at Candlestick, there was a sign that said 'Dutch Treat' I'll tell you one thing: Thank the Lord I didn't have to go into Candlestick that night" gument him against the world. They say the ump always has the last word, but this time Denkinger didn't have a prayer. One hundred million people saw the play from a dozen different camera angles, and each time it revealed a result in variance from the one that Denkinger alone had seen. The toss from first baseman Jack Clark to pitcher Todd Worrell clearly beat Orta, who had started the whole mess by hitting a nubber to the first-base side of the pitcher's mound. We all know what happened next The Cardinals, who began the inning with a 1-0 lead and needing only three outs to wrap up.