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Bruce Neal Froemming (; born September 28, 1939 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is Major League Baseball Special Assistant to the Vice President on Umpiring, after having served as an umpire in Major League Baseball. He is the longest-tenured umpire in major league history in terms of the number of full seasons umpired, finishing his 37th season in 2007. He first umpired in the National League in 1971, and from 2000 to 2007 worked throughout both major leagues. Early in the 2007 season, Froemming tied Bill Klem for the most seasons umpired (Klem's final season, 1941, included only 11 games as a substitute).〔 Previously, on August 16, 2006, Froemming umpired his 5,000th game between the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, making him the second umpire to reach that milestone; Klem retired after 5,374 games. On April 20, 2007, he umpired at first base in the Cleveland Indians-Tampa Bay Devil Rays game, passing Klem to become – at age 67 years 204 days – the man then believed to be the oldest umpire in major league history; Hank O'Day holds the record, retiring at 68 years, 2 months. He worked his final regular-season game at age 68 years 2 days on September 30, 2007, when Froemming received a standing ovation before umpiring his last regular-season game, manning the third base position as the Milwaukee Brewers hosted the San Diego Padres at Miller Park in his native Milwaukee, with much of his family in attendance.〔(JS Online: Hall expects to be back on the center stage )〕 Because Froemming is over age 65, he became eligible for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010 instead of having to wait the customary five years. ==Career== After a brief semi-pro playing career, Froemming became the youngest umpire in professional baseball in 1958 at age 18, working his way up through the minor leagues to the Pacific Coast League before joining the NL staff in April 1971. While in the minor leagues, his work had caught the attention of skilled observers such as Hall of Famer Jocko Conlan. Froemming became one of the NL's six crew chiefs in 1988. He also refereed high school basketball games, and was recommended for the NBA by Al McGuire, but declined the opportunity when NL umpire Al Barlick helped him in his advancement to the major leagues. In Froemming's first season, he was on Barlick's crew. In Barlick's first season, 1941, he worked three games with Klem.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1941/IUklemb9010361941.htm )〕 Froemming worked in 5 World Series: 1976, 1984, 1988, 1990 (Games 3–4) and 1995. He umpired in the League Championship Series in 1973, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997 and 2000, all in the NL. With his tenth appearance in the LCS in 2000, he broke the record he had previously shared with Doug Harvey; Jerry Crawford tied the record in 2003, and broke it with his 11th LCS in 2005. (Froemming and Crawford share the record of 10 NLCS, as two of Crawford's 12 were in the American League.) Froemming also officiated in a record 9 Division Series: 1981 (East Division), 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2007 (all but the last in the NL). He was the home plate umpire for the playoff games to determine the NL wild-card team in both 1998 and 1999. He also umpired in the All-Star Game in 1975 (played at County Stadium in his hometown of Milwaukee), 1986, and 2007, calling balls and strikes for the last two contests. In the 2003 NLDS, Froemming surpassed Klem's record of working in 103 career postseason games (all Klem's games were in the World Series), ending the series with 107 games; Jerry Crawford passed him with 108 games upon working in the 2006 ALCS, but Froemming regained the record in the 2007 ALDS. He ended his career having officiated in 22 World Series games, 52 NLCS games and 37 Division Series games, a total of 111 postseason games. In Game 1 of the 2012 World Series, Gerry Davis (umpire) surpassed Froemming's record when he worked his 112th postseason game. So far, Davis has 122 postseason games worked. Froemming was known for his extremely loud and enthusiastic strike call. He wore uniform number 6 beginning in the late 1970s, and kept the number when the umpiring staffs of the AL and NL were merged in 2000. ''Los Angeles Times'' sports editor Bill Dwyre described him as "one of the game's true characters and legends," also calling him the prototypical umpire: "If Hollywood did a movie, they'd send 27 yuppies to study him.〔 Often regarded as stern and stubborn, Froemming nonetheless occasionally displayed a sense of humor; when Fox Sports wired umpires with microphones for broadcasts of Saturday games in 2007, Froemming looked toward the huge baseball glove beyond AT&T Park's outfield wall and wondered aloud whether Fox analyst Eric Karros had ever hit a ball that far. For his final season, Froemming's crew included Brian Runge, the son of Paul Runge, who served on the NL staff from 1973 to 1997; Froemming has recalled that he used to baby-sit for Brian.〔 Froemming was also associated with the Joe Brinkman umpire school in Cocoa, Florida, which was renamed the Brinkman/Froemming umpire school several years prior to its closing in 1998. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bruce Froemming」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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