Ump didn’t balk at request
Local man asked to officiate LLWS playoff games
PAWTUCKET – Gil Tavares hadn’t traveled that far west on Route 6 back on the morning of Saturday, Aug. 3, when he began to feel some anxiety creeping into his mind and upper body.
Actually, the stress was perfectly normal. Back in February, the 50-year-old employee of the city’s Public Works Department had been selected as one of six umpires around New England to officiate the Little League Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament in Bristol, Conn., and this was the time to report.
“I remember driving and thinking, ‘Wow, it’s finally here! It came sooner than I thought,’” he stated. “It was a long wait, and I felt a fear of the unknown – ‘Where do I stand or sit? Who am I going to be umping with? What if I screw up?’ There was a lot to consider.
“Once I got there to meet with the umpire-in-chief and his assistant – that was at 1 o’clock – I talked to a couple of other guys who admitted they had been a little nervous, too,” he added. “That made me feel better, like, ‘OK, I’m not the only one.’”
In the end, Tavares spent nine days in Bristol and officiated 11 games in all. He called his first foray into umping the Major Division 11-12s at a regional event “magical,” and something “I’ll never forget.”
What some say is true – some umpires don’t feel anything, are robots, only do it to be seen or recognized, show off.
Call Tavares the complete opposite end of the spectrum.
“I have to say I learned a lot of things, too, like my timing. That is, when a pitch comes in, you don’t react (with a call) right away. I’ve learned to process what I saw better.”
— Pawtucket’s Gil Tavares
“It was awesome, awesome, completely awesome,” he grinned minutes after returning home from work early Thursday afternoon. “The people I met, the guys I umped with, we all got along great. The atmosphere was phenomenal, like a carnival. When I did the championship game, it was really loud. I never heard anything like it, except maybe McCoy or Fenway.
“When you got on the field for the first time, you could feel the pressure, the anxiety, all over the park,” he added. “I think it’s because the kids there could feel how close they were to Williamsport; so could the parents and fans and coaches.
“Geez, even we could. All we wanted to be was fair and honest. I mean, it’s all about the kids having fun.”
Tavares had gotten a feel for the A. Bartlett Giamatti Little League Leadership Training Center and Breen Field back in May, when all umpires – six each from the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions – had to report to an orientation. At that time, all were informed he and the other New Englanders would officiate the Mid-Atlantic contests, and vice-versa.
The reason: To avoid any possible contflicts of interest.
In May, they stayed overnight in the on-campus dormitories. For the tourney, they’d be put up in a hotel in nearby Farmington.
During the event, as required, Tavares umpired at all six positions on the diamond, including once behind first base, three times at second, twice at third, two more in left, once in right and twice behind the plate.
He recalls each adventure in detail (though needs help from his cellphone for assistance). t Between Aug. 4-6, he umped six preliminary games, two each day at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. In the Sunday opener, he was at first when Pennsylvania edged New Jersey, 1-0; dand the “nightcap,” he took the right-field post for New York’s 9-2 pasting of Maryland.
On Monday, he saw from the top of the diamond Washington, D.C.’s thrilling 8-7 walk-off win over New Jersey, but then had to ready himself to go behind the dish for the second tilt between New York and Delaware (one captured by the Empire State, 9-6).
The first and fourth contests will be forever in his memory banks.
“I had been pretty stressed, but the leadoff batter (of the very first) had a check swing, and the guy behind the plate pointed down to me for the call,” Tavares laughed. “I gave the ‘out’ sign for the third strike. I knew he had swung, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t rethinking it for a few seconds!
“When I was behind the plate for New York-Delaware, I had been kind of nervous all day, but especially when I got to the field,” he noted. “ESPN+ was there, and it had all the home-plate umps mic’d up. It was the weirdest thing, when the game started, I had a feeling that my feet weren’t on the ground. I actually felt like I was floating.
“It felt like the dirt wasn’t level, but of course it was,” he added. “That lasted for a couple of outs, then it wore off. I just thought, ‘Man, it’s just another game!’”
**
Tavares served another twinbill the next day, Wednesday. At 1 p.m., he took the role of second-base ump for New Jersey’s 4-0 blanking of Pennsylvania, but he then discovered one of his crew members had fallen ill, so was reassigned to a4 p.m. New England regional contest between Maine and Connecticut.
“I was chosen because a Rhode Island team wasn’t in the mix,” he stated. “On Thursday, ESPN got there, and you could tell everything was amped up. They were putting up extra lights, they tightened security, there was a lot more people around the field. That increased the nerve flow, too.”
That same night, at 7 p.m., he took his second stint down the left-field stripe for Washington-New York (a 15-4 N.Y. blowout).
“Before Friday’s games, we as individuals were called before the five chief instructors, and that was intense,” Tavares stated. “The first thing one of them said to me was, ‘You ever do softball?’ I was surprised but answered ‘No,’ then he said, ‘You should. We’re really short good umpires for softball.
“Of course, I took it the wrong way, like he was saying, ‘You stink!’” he added. “He must have been worried because he saw the look on my face, then immediately said, ‘That’s not what I meant. I meant, ‘We need more good softball umpires.’ That made me feel better about my performance.”
As for Friday evening, he watched New Jersey sail past the District of Columbia, 5-0, from behind third in a winners’ bracket semifinal, but then received some stunning news.
“I was told to be the home-plate umpire for (Saturday’s) championship game between New Jersey and New York,” Tavares said. “I couldn’t believe it!”
Offered daughter Ashley: “I was at the field that night talking to him when it happened. Dad was do proud, he was beaming. He actually teared up a little.”
Tavares admitted that leading his umpiring crew onto the field and on national TV “blew my mind, but – again – you have to think about doing your job.”
In retrospect, Tavares will recall many memories about his first business trio to Bristol – how his wife, Jo-Ann and numerous other family members attended for moral support. They included Ashley, husband Dan Dwyer and eight-month-old son Myles); son Bryan, his wife Alisha and their young daughter Emmy; and nephew Paul (P.J.) Tavares, wife Nikole and three children, Lucas, Evan and Noah.
“Ashley, Dan and Myles spent the whole week down there; they made a vacation out of it, and I can’t thank them enough,” Tavares said. “You know what else was cool? The Barrington kids (who eventually won their regional title) showed up to some of my games to cheer me on. They weren’t playing, so they didn’t have to do that. They sat in the front row and waved to me.
“Then again, I think the kids were surprised I was there because I knew they were,” he continued. “I have to say I learned a lot of things, too, like my timing. That is, when a pitch comes in, you don’t react (with a call) right away. I’ve learned to process what I saw better.
“If anything threw me off, it was umping down the first- and third-base lines; we never do that in district or state tournament games. If you’re doing the bases, you’re in foul territory; if you’re down a line, you’re in fair. That was interesting.”
Perhaps the best part, because he has now officiated in two regional competitions – last summer, he umpired in the New England Minor Division 9-10 Tournament at the Cranston Western complex – he now is eligible to apply to do the same in Williamsport.
“Now I qualify,” he grinned, kissing grandson Myles. “That’s incredible!”