Jeff Nelson (Transcript)
Robby Incmikoski: Nelly, interview number 60, brother. You’re the 60th out of about 130, 140 we’re gonna do for this book. It’s going to be a pretty cool project. Pretty excited about it. Hey, I want to talk to you about a few different things, but the first thing I’m very curious about with umpires is this: We always hear from players about what it was like, where they were when they got “the call” to go to the big leagues. Do umpires celebrate it the same way? Do you remember where you were when you found out you were going to the big leagues? Do you remember your major-league debut as an umpire?
Jeff Nelson: Absolutely. I was in the Hampton Inn in West Des Moines, Iowa.
Robby Incmikoski: Okay.
Jeff Nelson: ’97. It was in ’97. And I was actually with my parents, who didn’t get out to a lot of minor-league games because they were in Minnesota, and there’s no minor-league teams at the time.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Jeff Nelson: But I got a call to do my first game while I was there, and my parents were there watching a series in Des Moines. And it was to be a substitute at Dodger Stadium. And my first game was May 9, 1997, and you remember that very well—I worked third base. And it was really cool because the only other game I’d ever been to Dodger Stadium for was when I was in college and I went with one of my roommates and his dad, and the Dodgers played the Expos. And that game, my first game ever, the Dodgers were playing the Expos, and my roommate and his wife from Bethel were able to be there, so it was a really kind of cool circle.
My parents weren’t there because that was a long way to travel on just a short notice.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Jeff Nelson: But it was a really cool event. I just couldn’t get over how nice everything was, you know. And in the big leagues, one of the differences for umpires behind the scenes between the big leagues and the minor leagues when I went through is that the clubhouse guy can say yes. If you want an extra towel, in the big leagues they say, “How many?” and they give you nice towels with a high thread count. In the minor leagues, they say make up a hundred excuses why they can’t give you like another towel, like it’s the Great Depression or something.
Robby Incmikoski: That’s unbelievable. And what was that moment like for you? I’m looking up the box score of that game right now, and you were at first base that game.
Jeff Nelson: Third base. Should be third base.
Robby Incmikoski: Okay, let’s . . .
Jeff Nelson: May 9, 1997. Should be with Steve Rippley, Charlie Williams, Bruce Froemming.
Robby Incmikoski: I have May 9, 1997, so maybe—I have Charlie Williams behind the plate. It’s first base, Bruce Froemming second, and Steve Rippley third. Is that what you just said? Those four?
Jeff Nelson: You know what? That happened a lot at the time. I flipped with Steve Rippley because it was my first series. If the crew had stayed in rotation, I would have been in first base, but whoever made that box score assumed where I’d be based on the game before.
Robby Incmikoski: Okay.
Jeff Nelson: The crew adjusted for me so that I could work three base jobs in the three-game series.
Robby Incmikoski: A lot of people now, and I’m very curious to this now. So, you know, players, they might think, “All right, I want to swing at the first pitch. Maybe hit a homer. Get a hitter on the first pitch I ever see as a big leaguer,” right? What is that like for an umpire, watching the first couple pitches be thrown in a big-league game in your major-league debut?
Jeff Nelson: In your major-league debut?
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah.
Jeff Nelson: When I was on the bases or . . . ?
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah, just your first couple pitches ever in the big leagues. I know you’re at third base, so it’s a calm situation. You’re not calm, balls and strikes. I know that. Were there any nerves, Nelly?
Jeff Nelson: Oh heck, yeah. Normally, third base is more relaxed. It’s not a check out and go on vacation kind of existence, but it’s normally more relaxed when you’re comfortable in that environment, but when it’s your first game, you want to do everything right. So you’re concentrating so hard on every single thing that night, from first pitch to the last pitch, that every pitch is the biggest deal that you’ve ever seen. So that game flies by, and you rethink everything that you do that you’d taken for granted doing on a field since your first day in the minor leagues. And you make sure that you’re doing everything as perfectly as possible because you want to make a good impression on everybody—your partners, the teams, your boss, everybody.
Robby Incmikoski: One thing, and balls and strikes is the obvious answer to this, but one thing I’m curious about: Can you give fans a little bit of insight—and I’ve always wondered about this—these are one of the few things in baseball that are left that are judgment calls that you can’t review—and that is the check swing.
Jeff Nelson: Um-hmm.
Robby Incmikoski: When you’re down to base line, not specifically Jeff Nelson, but just an umpire in general on the first or third base line, what are you looking for when a player checks his swing to see whether he swung or whether he didn’t? Is there a general rule that you follow?
Jeff Nelson: When it comes down to brass tacks, it’s about whether you thought he attempted to hit the pitch. In practical terms, when you break it down past that, then it gets more granular. And what I mean by that is not every attempt to hit a pitch happens with the batter remaining on his feet, fully upright, and taking the normal cut. Like sometimes, the batter will get spun around because the pitch is up and in.
Robby Incmikoski: Okay.
Jeff Nelson: Sometimes a batter will start to swing, and then the pitch spins him because it’s up and in or just inside.
Robby Incmikoski: Okay.
Jeff Nelson: So those kind of change the dynamic of things, but a lot of times, it’ll come down to—especially in the television era—how far did the bat go? How far did that bat actually go? And was he attempting to swing at the pitch? In other words, we don’t call it a strike or a swing if the pitch is high and tight, and it just spins the batter around, and he never attempted to hit the ball.
Robby Incmikoski: Okay.
Jeff Nelson: But if the batter started to hit the ball, and the pitch ended up up and in, and it spun him around, and he started to swing, he may have stopped his whatever , but because the pitch spun him around, he started to swing and we’ll call that a swing because we’ll just say, “You know what? That’s completion of the swing. And that’s the expectation out there on the field. I know it’s been a big deal because of television and also because every part of the game has become so scrutinized.
Robby Incmikoski: Yes.
Jeff Nelson: Every single aspect of the game that everybody wants a black-and-white definition every time. But these examples are why I think , even though they’re going to probably try sometimes, this is why I think it’s problematic to just make it a super simple kind of formula. I know in college baseball, the rule is, Did the barrel of the bat cross the front edge of the plate? But that all depends on, that means that the length of the swing depended on where the guy was standing in the box. You’re standing in the front of the box, a shorter swing will cross the front edge of the plate. You’re standing in the back of the box . . .
Robby Incmikoski: Oh yeah.
Jeff Nelson: More slack there. There’s nothing exact about that, other than the finish line.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Jeff Nelson: So it just all depends on what you want out of the rule too.
Robby Incmikoski: That’s what I was wondering. I was curious about like how does an umpire see a check swing as opposed to the fan or broadcasters or you know what I mean, coaches and players? I was always curious about that.
Jeff Nelson: I’ll say this as an observation: I think, in my experience, that umpires of the previous generation called fewer no swings than they do today because television didn’t show as much. Now, if you see that bat go around, and you say no swing on it, regardless of what’s going on, you’re kind of going to get killed out there. So . .
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Jeff Nelson: Television sees everything, and they’ve got cameras everywhere.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Jeff Nelson: Fifty years ago, it was harder to show and prove from two cameras, high home and center field, that a guy went around.
Robby Incmikoski: Freakin’ technology, man. It’s crazy.
Jeff Nelson: Yeah.
Robby Incmikoski: The other thing—again I’m curious, and you can say as much or as little as you want, but I think the biggest thing for an umpire is for fans for nobody to know you were umpiring the game. That means you did a great job, right? If nobody said your name at all during the game?
Jeff Nelson: Those are nice games, but it’s not the absolute rule. What I like to use is, I like to use the police officer. A police officer loves a quiet night. That’s great. The citizens love a quiet night. The police officers love a quiet night. But when someone’s kicking down your door with a gun and you call 9-1-1, you want the police officer that’s going to run toward the guy with the gun.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Jeff Nelson: And take care of the situation. And in that point, you’re going to know who the police officer is. He’s going to be very visible in that situation, but you want him to do his job. You need him to do his job. And officiating in baseball is the same way. You’re not going to go looking for trouble, but when trouble is there, you have to handle it.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Jeff Nelson: And any situation [inaudible] there, you have to handle it. And so on certain nights, in order for things to be fair, you’re going to have to be visible, whether you want to be or not. That’s just what the job requires.
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah. Yeah, that’s interesting. And I’m always curious ’cause umpires, obviously very very crucial to the game, but so many carry themselves with class and last for so long. Nelly, you worked three World Series, two All-Star Games—pretty f***ing cool. Looking back now that your umpiring career has come to a close, how cool is it to have that body of work on your résumé?
Jeff Nelson: It is cool. It is very cool. I’m most proud of working the plate in 2014 for the final game of the World Series there. It’s not an assignment that you’re necessarily longing for because it’s a lot of pressure in it, but working in game seven behind the plate and getting through it and surviving it, in the rearview mirror is something you’re proud of.
Robby Incmikoski: That was where I was going to go with this. I’m glad you mentioned it ’cause I was going to ask about that series. So you’re standing, I’m going to say, forty-five, fifty feet from Pablo Sandoval as he catches the final out. Alex Gordon is standing on third base to end the game. Nelly, how does the home-plate umpire see the final out of a World Series playout? What do you remember about it? What can you tell us—again, as much or as little as you like? But what was that moment like from your eyes?
Jeff Nelson: The at bat before, where Alex Gordon—I don’t know if they scored it a double or a triple, but he ended up on third. When he hit the ball, Buster Posey was the catcher, and he ran to the mound to celebrate, thinking that it was over. And I wasn’t sure if it was over or not, but I thought, “Well, Posey might know better than I do.” And then the ball dropped in, and everybody started scrambling. And then it got past the leftfielder, and the next thing you know, the runner’s on third. And then the final batter of the game was Salvador Perez.
Robby Incmikoski: Perez, yeah.
Jeff Nelson: And he had won the Wild Card series on a game-winning hit in [inaudible] that year. So I think the time when [inaudible] was on third, I think he wanted to hit the ball. He didn’t want to go down looking. So Bumgarner kept kind of climbing the ladder and throwing high strikes—they weren’t strikes, but throwing high pitches for him to swing at because Perez was aggressive in that at bat. And then he finally just started fouling him off. And he asked me on one if the pitch was high, and I said, “Yeah, it’s high.” But at that point, you got a real kind of close pressure situation with the time running third and it’s coming down to it. Posey started to kind of stand up in a position that he’s normally not in. But he was trying to make sure that he caught the ball because they were going to throw it high to Perez. He wanted to make sure he caught it okay. Well that blocked me out a lot more, ’cause Buster’s not real small. I was just praying
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Jeff Nelson: And I was just praying that Bumgarner wasn’t going to accidentally throw one down near the knees, and I get blocked out and miss a possible strike three.
Robby Incmikoski: Okay.
Jeff Nelson: All of a sudden, the flood gates open, and all it takes is one pitch.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Jeff Nelson: But that’s not what happened. And he hit the ball in foul territory. Sandoval catches the ball. Perez ended up popping out to Sandoval, and the series is over. But you’re preparing yourself mentally. You’re steeling yourself mentally for the worst that could possibly happen, so when you’re walking off that field, your mind and y our body are still saying, “No, we got more games to play here,” because no matter how it turns out, you have to get up the next morning, the sun’s going to come up the next morning, and you have to live the rest of your life. So you’re not exactly celebrating. It doesn’t really hit you that it’s over that night until about four in the morning. Then your mind and your body just kind of let yourself relax, but until then, you’re just kind of in that “plate job mode,” and in that kind of situation, it’s hard to just snap out of it.
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah. Nelly, we’ve talked to players about playing in big games, playing in World Series, playing in playoff games, guys starting a big game, you know. We talked to Musgrove yesterday. Threw a no-hitter, right? Just as drama builds up during a game, I mean, that’s what makes baseball obviously such a great game ’cause you never know what the hell you’re going to see. Last night, I’ve never seen a fan pry a ball out of a player’s glove after a clear catch. Like it wasn’t even close. Like you never what the hell you’re going to see at a game. So my question is this: Was game seven, calling balls and strikes the World Series, was the intensity different for you? Did you prep differently or was it another game for you? Obviously, you’re elite at your job or you wouldn’t behind the plate for game seven of a World Series, so what was your preparation like as opposed to how a player approaches it?
Jeff Nelson: So, everything about a postseason game is different than the regular season. You get there at a different time, you’re having different meetings, there’s a different routine, you’re working with more people. The locker room is overstuffed, and in that case, it was Kansas City, which has a really small locker room. And there’s people running in and out. There’s people hooking up microphones to you, and in this particular case, there was a MLB Network crew that was doing a documentary on the umpires that series, for the World Series.
Robby Incmikoski: Okay.
Jeff Nelson: They wanted to talk to you and ask you about stuff for the most important game of your life. I wasn’t the greatest interview subject because what you’re trying to do, even though they did a great job, what you’re trying to do is take a very strange day, and we’re very very much creatures of habit and routine.
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah.
Jeff Nelson: We’re trying to make a strange day into the normal day by making it as much and as close to your normal routine as possible. And that’s really hard to do. That’s why I used to tell younger guys, I said, “If you’re going to have family come in, have them come in early in the series because when it’s your time to work the plate, you want to just have a normal day and not have any of the distractions, as nice as they are.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Jeff Nelson: You don’t need that. You need to be in your normal routine.
Robby Incmikoski: No question about it. There’s zero doubt about that. Going back, looking at some of these. The White Sox—you were at the White Sox-Astros World Series in ’05. Your first World Series. What do you remember about your first World Series you worked? Was that game in—no, that was in Houstin, if I remember correctly, right?
Jeff Nelson: It was in Chicago.
Robby Incmikoski: It was in White Sox, okay.
Jeff Nelson: [Inaudible.]
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah, so what was that experience like, Nelly? Just working that, like when you worked your first World Series, and the White Sox hadn’t been there a long time. So what was the vibe like around the ballpark that night? What memories do you have of that?
Jeff Nelson: My family was there for that one, and that was very cool. For most umpires, the first World Series they work is the first World Series they ever go to and attend. So it’s something you’re watched your entire life, but you’ve never experienced that, and so there’s a tremendous buzz in the ballpark. And the White Sox fans were kind of jacked up anyway. They’re crazy that their team is in the World Series for the time in a long time. So yeah, there was a lot of energy. Again, you’re trying to make sure that your end of things is taken care of. The two toughest assignments that you have, if you work the plate for game two, is game one at first base, and then you’re got the plate the next night. So your plate’s full in terms of being on the field. So you’re trying to make sure that, again, you put the distractions on the shelf and you’re ready to work. We always joke that getting the World Series is a great assignment, and it would be the ultimate assignment if you just didn’t have to work the games. If it was like the Academy Award and you came up and accepted your Oscar and said, “Thank you. I appreciate it,” and walked back, it’d be greatest. But now you actually have to work the games. And depending on how it goes, it can make the series a great memory or it can take some of the luster off the assignment.
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah, no question about it. But similar to when you get the call to go to the big leagues, do you remember where you were when you got the call to go to the World Series? What was that moment like for you?
Jeff Nelson: Yeah, I was at the house, and it’s kind of surreal. It’s not like music plays in the background, and a light shines on you.
Robby Incmikoski: Right, yeah.
Jeff Nelson: But yeah, you’re like, “Wow, this is really happening now.” And you’re like, “Am I ready for this?” You think about it, and you go, “Yeah. Okay, let’s do it.” And for your first one, yeah, you’re always wondering . Now your season’s not over. Now you’ve got your plate full bit time. But yeah, it’s exciting. You think back, and you think, “Wow, this is actually happening to me.”
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah.
Jeff Nelson: It’s a cool thing.
Robby Incmikoski: And you guys get rings, too, right?
Jeff Nelson: Yes. Our rings are like the players’ rings were in the ’60s or so.
Robby Incmikoski: Right, yeah.
Jeff Nelson: ’60s and ’70s. They’re a little more understated than the current rings.
Robby Incmikoski: Right. That’s all right.
Jeff Nelson: Yeah, you can lift your arm when you wear one.
Robby Incmikoski: I was just going to say that, yeah. I’m going to bother you at some point, if you don’t mind—do you have your rights at home, I would assume, right?
Jeff Nelson: Actually, they’re in the safe deposit box.
Robby Incmikoski: At some point, I’ll trouble either you or Tim to grab a photo of it just to kind of show what umpire World Series rings look like, if you don’t mind.
Jeff Nelson: Tim would love to show you his ring. Because he talks with his hands, and he’ll probably [inaudible.]
Robby Incmikoski: I would love it. I’ll ask him. All right, bouncing around a little bit. Speaking of—we’ll just stick on the theme of big moments—you were the home-plate umpire for the ’14 All-Star Game. Is that right?
Jeff Nelson: No, I was first base.
Robby Incmikoski: First base—you were home plate for the first game in Target Field.
Jeff Nelson: Yes.
Robby Incmikoski: That’s right. Okay. We’ll get to that in a moment. ’Cause obviously I was there too, and I’m going to tell my version of the story of the first game at Target Field, how special it is to have three Minnesotans of the four work that game. As far as that All-Star game goes, how special was that for you to umpire eleven miles away from where you grew up?
Jeff Nelson: Oh, it was neat ’cause first of all, I think Target Field is one of the nicest stadiums in baseball. You know, the two places you worked were phenomenal stadiums.
Robby Incmikoski: And both your All-Star Games too.
Jeff Nelson: That’s true. You’re right. I didn’t even—yeah, you’re right. They are phenomenal places and it was also a way for y our family to not have to travel to see you, and they could see you work a game where you grew up. It’s a beautiful park. And it was a really cool experience ’cause I grew up going to games at Metropolitan Stadium, and when I was a kid, they said the All-Star Game was there, but I never saw it, and then when I was in college, they had the one in ’85 at the Metrodome.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Jeff Nelson: So I never saw that except on TV. So to get a chance to work the one—you figure it wasn’t going to come to the Twin Cities every five years. It was going to be a long time in between games, so getting a chance to work it there was special. It was rally neat. I had a lot of people on the pass list.
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah, which is really nice, and how kind of neat—and clearly you have no interest in who wins or loses the game, but how neat is it to see Glen Perkins, who we interviewed for this book already, see a guy playing for the Twins, who also grew up in Minnesota, get to save that day? How cool of a life memory is that to kind of look back on? You umpired that game, and another Minnesota got the save?
Jeff Nelson: Oh, you know, I didn’t even realize that.
Robby Incmikoski: Okay.
Jeff Nelson: Yeah, you know, I’d love to say—that’s a great connection on your part. That’s why you’re good at your job.
Robby Incmikoski: Thank you.
Jeff Nelson: And that’s why you’re working that job, and I’m working mine.
Robby Incmikoski: Right. Exactly.
Jeff Nelson: I didn’t make that connection. I’m like, okay, you know what, let’s just finish this out and get out of here without any problems. But I didn’t really remember that.
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah. That’s no problem at all.
Jeff Nelson: One of the first plays in the game was a ground ball to Jeter. And it was his last All-Star Game.
Robby Incmikoski: Yep.
Jeff Nelson: And I had a once outer at first, and I called him safe. But the whole world—Jeter made a great play to get the ball. The whole world and all the fans of the movie The Natural wanted him to have the highlight play where he threw the guy out. And I called him safe. And it was the first year of expanded replay. So I’m at first base, and all I see is half the American League coaches just grabbing the rail and sprinting down the tunnel to look at the play whether to challenge it or not. ’Cause Fox had a camera in New York at the replay center, and everybody was itching to show off the replay center, the replay process, and everything. And I’m thinking, “We’re a handful of pitches into the game, and I’m getting flipped in replay in my home town. Then people will know I’m there.” So when I talk to people in home town, at least half of them lead with, “Oh, I remember that call you kicked.” So . . .
Robby Incmikoski: So you ruined Derek Jeter’s last All-Star Game. Real nice, Nelly.
Jeff Nelson: Yeah. It wasn’t in the script.
Robby Incmikoski: How special is that though to be one of the umpires and one of the great players in the game to be there in his final game? How cool a memory is that?
Jeff Nelson: I think I’m supposed to say yes. For me, as an umpire, it was more interesting—I think that’s more interesting for the fans and not as interesting for an umpire, just because you have a job to do.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Jeff Nelson: And you want to turn all your focus on doing your jobs. When you’re working the left- and right-field line, maybe third and second base, it’s probably a night where you can focus more on the whole event when you’re on the field and kind of take it all in.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Jeff Nelson: When you’re looking for a space at home plate, not so much.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Jeff Nelson: So that’s kind of the experience from an umpire’s perspective.
Robby Incmikoski: All right, Nelly. Let’s talk about that first series at Target Field that you worked. Timmy gave me a little intel that you guys can apply for that when guys are from a certain city or that kind of thing, you guys can do it. But still, you, Timmy, Mark Wagner—Kerwin was the fourth—but the three of you—you, Timmy, and Mark being Minnesota guys, being able to be there, and working the plate in the first ever game. Red Sox at Twins. What memories do you have from that day? Do you remember anything?
Jeff Nelson: Yeah, originally we kind of all thought that Tim was going to have the plate that day. But then he had really, really bad travel.
Robby Incmikoski: He told us he was on the red-eye. He was getting in late.
Jeff Nelson: Yeah, so it worked out better that he didn’t, ’cause you want to do a good job, and sometimes the travel just makes that impossible, almost, almost. He would have done great, but almost. Yeah, that was a cool day ’cause Tim and I had walked the field the previous fall to kind of work with the Twins people and establish some ground rules for the stadium.
Robby Incmikoski: Yep.
Jeff Nelson: When it was near completion.
Robby Incmikoski: He told us about that too. Left field, the wall, the . . .
Jeff Nelson: Exactly.
Robby Incmikoski: He told the limestone. He gave us the background of all—you know what though? That is great detail. Again, the purpose of this book is to give fans a peek behind the curtain a little bit, and Timmy did just that from a perspective that we’re not going to get, ’cause I’m only talking to him and you in terms of umpires. So he already gave us that background. [Inaudible] umpire room and all that, so . .
Jeff Nelson: As much as I know Tim, I’m pretty dialed in to what he’s going to give you detail about, so I hadn’t thought about that in a long time, and that’s what popped into my mind just now. But he was going to work the play, but then a couple weeks out, he said, “No, that’s not going to work.” So he said, “Work it,” so I was excited. You don’t normally get excited to work a regular-season plate job, but yeah, that one was exciting, and I was looking forward to it just because I thought the stadium was just fantastic. And I thought it was going to be kind of an historical moment in Minnesota sports.
Robby Incmikoski: Sure.
Jeff Nelson: And to be part of that, I thought, just is a really cool thing. The things that are cool to an umpire aren’t always obvious because we just have, as you know, we just have a different way of looking at the game ’cause we’re not fans, and we still have a job to do. But that is a really cool thing. I’m glad I was a part of it. It was a neat experience, and I think it was a really good day for Minnesota sports ’cause everybody was excited about a new facility, and it’s been top-notch, just like the one in Pittsburgh.
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah. I’ll remember that date—I remember Marco Scutaro leading off the game with a base hit and getting picked off by Carl Pavano. I remember everything. I remember everything. Jason Kubel hit the first homer. I mean I remember that day like it was yesterday, believe me. It was one of the coolest days in my entire career. Let’s finish up the Target Field thing. So you guys do the final walkthrough. What is that like between you guys going over it with either officials from the Twins and then you got Matt Hoy, who’s the ballpark guy, who can help oversee any changes that you guys want made in terms of ground rules. Can you just tell us a little bit about the communication? What is that like when you’re going over, even ground rules like before, we’ll do that in a minute, but what is that like just kind of going over that with the Twins officials for Target Field?
Jeff Nelson: Matt’s really good to work with, and the Twins organization’s really good to work with. The only thing that they had the pushback on was the stone in left field.
Robby Incmikoski: Left field, yeah.
Jeff Nelson: And otherwise, they were really open to making sure that everything was done according to the precedents that are around the league for ground rules. And that’s where Tim and I would come in is we’d be able to tell you, “Okay, this is how they play it in most of these places so that you’re consistent with it, and this is the most friendly for everybody on the field.” And they’re real good about working with us. Now, we didn’t set the ground rules, but we suggested things, and then the higher-ups finalized that stuff.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Jeff Nelson: But yeah, it was a smooth process, and being down there and actually seeing how the ballpark turned out, you knew it was going to be an exciting addition to the major leagues.
Robby Incmikoski: Nelly, can you give fans an idea when you guys first walk out, the first thing you do it—either the manager or coach, whoever—comes up and you exchange lineup cards. What happens at the lineup card exchange? What is the conversation, the chatter, the home-plate grabs a card from each manager? Can you just give us a little bit of a blow-by-blow detail of what happens during the lineup card exchange?
Jeff Nelson: It could be anything, but it depends on who’s coming to the plate from the teams. The first day, it’s usually more jovial. Fresh teams, fresh crew, haven’t seen each other. Professional baseball is supposed to be a brand-new day. And people are very good about maintaining that professionalism. But the first day is the most relaxed and kind of loose. And you’ll hear the two—usually the managers out the first day and not necessarily the rest of the time. But there’ll be some back-and-forth between the managers, who know each other usually. And then on the umpire crew, usually the crew chief will do most of the talking. The plate umpire might confirm the pitcher.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Jeff Nelson: With each club and the DH with each club. And there might be a little small talk or banter. Some of the guys sometimes used to tell a joke or something of that nature. One or two guys around the league—they have a joke of the year, and they just keep telling it until they beat it into the ground. And that’s kind of part of their stick. But it’s a kind of loose, relaxed thing. And then you bring up anything with the ground rules that’s not covered on the ground rules list or anything that might be trouble or anything special for that series or anything from the league office that they need to know.
Robby Incmikoski: Okay.
Jeff Nelson: And they usually, “Okay, whatever.” In the rulebook and traditionally, the umpire would turn around and announce the ground rules to both the manages. Now because the ground rules are set in writing and they don’t change, three-quarters of the league doesn’t do that anymore ’cause . . .
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Jeff Nelson: You can’t change it anyway, and everything’s very clearly laid out. So there’s no mystery there.
Robby Incmikoski: Right. Tarrik Brock, first-base coach for the Pirates.
Jeff Nelson: Oh yeah, yeah.
Robby Incmikoski: Does anything stand out with his jokes? ’Cause he told me some of the things he said to you guys [inaudible].
Jeff Nelson: I can’t remember the jokes. But he was always one of the good guys. Very friendly.
Robby Incmikoski: I ask because he always tries to get them with [inaudible] nuts jokes. He always tries to get the umpires.
Jeff Nelson: Oh. You know when I was on the field, nobody confused me with the professional comedian. I was dead serious. That was my personal, and that’s what I did.
Robby Incmikoski: Yep.
Jeff Nelson: And I know it. That’s okay. But yeah, so, I probably wouldn’t have heard his jokes.
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah.
Jeff Nelson: We would talk. Yeah, he’d be one of the—
Robby Incmikoski: Oh, he’s great.
Jeff Nelson: Yeah. Nice guy. I wish they were all like him.
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah, I know, right? I remember one time, Nelly, I remember one time seeing you. I hadn’t look at the umpire list, and I see you and I go, “Nelly, why don’t you shake hands?” “I can’t shake your hand on the field.” And that makes sense. You’re like, “Okay, I’ll shake your hand anywhere but here in front of everybody.” I’m like, “Hey, fair enough, man. I get it. I totally get it, man.”
Jeff Nelson: Yeah.
Robby Incmikoski: What do you remember, just real quick, the 2006 All-Star Game in Pittsburgh. Obviously a special moment for baseball in the city of Pittsburgh. But do you have any memories of working that game? I know Ryan Howard was in it, [inaudible], that kind of thing. We have pictures of the flyover that’s up there and all that. I mean, a lot of people consider that the best ballpark in baseball. How cool a memory is that working your first All-Star Game?
Jeff Nelson: I remember all the people that came there were just blown away on this, from my pass list and everything, were blown away by how nice the stadium was. And they couldn’t figure out why more stadiums couldn’t incorporate the skyline as well as Pittsburgh did and does. And so most of the people had never been to Pittsburgh, and so for them to see the skyline and experience that, they were very very impressed. The thing I remember about the game was we had a loaded crew from an umpire talent perspective.
Robby Incmikoski: Okay.
Jeff Nelson: But the game was also super fast. It was like over before you knew it. It wasn’t one of those endless marathons where people started out—like the home-run derby can be sometimes, where people start out all excited about it and then it just grinds them down. It was just a really fast game, and people were into it. And it was one that kind of left you wanting for more.
Robby Incmikoski: Right. No doubt.
Jeff Nelson: I’m as dry as they get.
Robby Incmikoski: No, you’re not dry. Believe me, Nelly. ’Cause this is great perspective, man.