The Umpire Is Out

Dale Scotts career as a professional baseball umpire spanned nearly forty years, including thirty-three in the Major Leagues, from 1985 to 2017. He worked exactly a thousand games behind the plate, calling balls and strikes at the pinnacle of his profession, working in every Major League Baseball stadium, and interacting with dozens of other top-flight umpires, colorful managers, and hundreds of players, from future Hall of Famers to one-game wonders. Scott has enough stories about his career on the field to fill a dozen books, and there are plenty of those stories here. Hes not interested in settling scores, but throughout the book hes honest about managers and players, some of whom werent always perfect gentlemen. But what makes Scotts book truly different is his unique perspective as the only umpire in the history of professional baseball to come out as gay during his career. Granted, that was after decades of remaining in the closet, and Scott writes vividly and movingly about having to play the game: maintaining a facade of straightness while privately becoming his true self and building a lasting relationship with his future husband. He navigated this obstacle course at a time when his MLB career was just taking offand when North America was consumed by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Scotts story isnt only about his leading a sort of double life, then opening himself up to the world and discovering a new generosity of spirit. Its also a baseball story, filled with insights and memorable anecdotes that come so naturally from someone who spent decades among the worlds greatest baseball players, managers, and games. Scotts story is fascinating both for his umpiring career and for his being a pioneer for LGBTQ people within baseball and across sports.