View Single Post
Old 09-19-2015, 11:15 PM   #665
Merkle923
Hall Of Famer
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 2,189
Derryl Cousins 1979

Not an umpiring picture per se, but rather a rare image of an umpire's brief career as a minor league catcher.

Before his 34 years in the majors, Cousins was a light-hitting catcher in the Detroit and Cleveland farm systems between 1966 and 1970. And he was captured in this classic wire service (AP) photo of an instructor at the Tigers' camp in 1968 using a "pop fly bazooka." Cousins is shown in profile at the farthest right among the four receivers (who include Paul Jata - who would make the Tigers in '72 - and two other career minor leaguers named Dave Bike and George DeVito).

While a look at Cousins' playing career quickly reveals why he went into umpiring, he did draw 74 walks in just 156 games to producer an OBP 114 points higher than his batting average, suggestive of a good eye:

Derryl Cousins Minor Leagues Statistics & History | Baseball-Reference.com
Attached Images
Image 
Merkle923 is offline   Reply With Quote