Springville man in Baseball Hall of Fame

The election of a Springville man to the prestigious National Baseball Hall of Fame was announced Monday.

Doug Harvey, a five-time World Series umpire, was the last umpire hired in the big leagues who did not attend umpire school. He worked 4,670 games during his 31 years in the big leagues, including nine National League Championship Series, five World Series and six All-Star Games. In 1974, he was ranked as the best umpire in the National League by the Major League Player’ Association.

Also elected was Whitey Herzog, a six-time division winner and manager of the 1982 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals. The pair were elected by the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee for Managers and Umpires and will be enshrined on July 25, 2010, as part of the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony to be held in Cooperstown, NY. The two newest members of the Baseball Hall of Fame will be joined by any electees who emerge from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voting, with results to be announced January 6.

Efforts to reach Harvey on Monday were unsuccessful. But plenty of friends were buzzing about the news.

Monte Moore, public information officer at Porterville College and retired baseball announcer, said he introduced Harvey to the Porterville area.

“I got him to come up for our golf tournaments [to raise funds for local school athletics] and he liked the area so he ended up moving here,” Moore said.

Harvey and his wife Joy make their home at River Island and have a mountain cabin at Sequoia Crest.

Friend Jeri Roberts learned of the news from the Internet Monday morning.

“I was so excited,” she said. “We have Truman and now we have Doug Harvey [recognized for their accomplishments in baseball].” Former major leaguer Truman Clevenger also lives in Springville.

In a CBS SportsLine story published in February 2007, Senior Writer Scott Miller noted that Harvey has been the favorite of many — but fallen just short of election — in several previous rounds of selection for the Hall of Fame.

Harvey was prominent as an umpire at Major League Baseball games in the 1970s and 1980s.

The terms “the Lord” and “God” were used to describe his stature on the diamond.

“You always respected him because he came out to his job and (did it) with a lot of class,” said Dodgers manager Joe Torre, who – in Harvey’s rookie season of 1962 – became the first player ejected by Harvey. “He was very consistent, and that’s the highest compliment you can pay anybody.”

Born March 13, 1930, in South Gate, Harvey did not umpire a game until he was 16 years old. But three years later, Harvey was asked by his father – an alternate umpire in the Class C Sunset League – if he wanted to work a series of games in Mexico. Thirteen years later, Harvey began a 31-year career in the National League when he worked third base in the Reds’ 6-3 win over Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium.