The Fall of the Roman Umpire

by Ron Luciano

Pays tribute to the many unheralded heroes of major league baseball

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Humor, Nonfiction, Biography, Comedy

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Ronald Michael Luciano was an American Major League Baseball umpire from 1969 to 1979 in the American League. He was known for his flamboyant style, clever aphorisms, and a series of published collections of anecdotes from his colorful career. (wikipedia entry)

Reviews

[Terry Cornell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first part of this book I rate a three, the second part I rate a four. I don't read many sports books, but since politics and Covid have ruined professional sports for me this year I found this unread book in my collection. This is the third book written by former MLB umpire Ron Luciano, who stood out for his flamboyant on field antics--most notably "shooting out" players. After retiring from umpiring he worked for NBC as a color commentator covering their game of the week, as well as writing collections of humorous stories and anecdotes from his career. This book came out after NBC didn't renew his contract, and the first part are his reflections on moving from his two previous baseball careers to becoming a fan. Entertaining descriptions of the various major league stadiums, parking, food offerings at each park and some history of the game in general are the gist of this.

Luciano states that this wasn't really enough to fill up a whole book, so for the second part he picked some of his favorite journeymen players to tell their own stories. These aren't the stars of the game, but the utility men, relief pitchers, bench sitters that have played years in minor league ball before hitting the majors. Some names you may remember, some not. Greg Minton, Julio Cruz and Steve Nicosia are some of the names I do remember. Some of my favorite stories revolve around Tommy Lasorda back when he was coaching in the minor leagues. Nice trip back in time when baseball was baseball.

Sadly Luciano died at the age of 57 due to suicide. Like many comedians, and humorists he had been suffering depression for several years. He made his mark on baseball, and more of his sense of humor is needed today.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the funniest baseball books I've read. This guy had a great sense of humor.

Sadly he committed suicide and we lost a good man.

[Michael Lortz · Rating 3 out of 5]

$4 dollar pickup from a used bookstore. It was worth $4.
1980s baseball book by an umpire who had a sense of humor. Most of the humor is self-depreciating which gets old quick. Or the jokes are old and out of date. Baseball - the game and the experience - has changed so much in 40 years.
I did like the second half of the book better than the first - the stories from players, coaches, etc. Julio Cruz and Thad Bosley had very interesting takes on baseball with their backgrounds. Some of the players tried to mimic Luciano's humor, which came out ok, but nothing special. The ballplayers who wrote from the heart and didn't try to force humor were the best.

[Estevan Alvarado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luciano tells some story about his life after umpiring and broadcasting. Luciano theory is that he is not acknowledge or known as well also he is out of stories to tell for a third book. So Luciano chooses 15 journeyman ball players who spent many years in baseball, both minors and major league to tell their stories. Players are Greg Minton, Darrell Evans, Mike Easler, Milt Wilcox, Charlie Hough, Tom Paciorek, Phil Garner, Marc Hill, Steve Nicosia, Ray Miller, Thad Bosely Jr, John Wathan, MIke Squires, Julio Cruz, and Rocky Bridges.

[Trisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, really really laugh out loud funny. I will make it a point to read The Umpire Strikes Back and Strike Two.

[Ben Hiatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Because of this book I purchased all of his others.

[Ronald · Rating 5 out of 5]

read SOME TIME in 1999