Who were the umpires that resigned in 1999 and which ones got their job back?

Question

Recall back in 1999 a bunch of umpires submitted their resignation to MLB. Why exactly did they do that? Who were the umpires and which ones got their job back?

Answer 1

On July 14, the calm of the All-Star break was shattered by astonishing news from the Major League Umpires' Association. After a meeting of the MLUA, union head Richie Phillips announced the resignation of 57 of the 66 major league umpires, effective September 2. Phillips explained that MLB had hurt his the umps' feelings. His men "want to continue working as umpires," insisted Phillips, "but they want to feel good about themselves and would rather not continue as umpires if they have to continue under present circumstances. They feel in the past seven months or so, they have been humiliated and denigrated."  This "humiliation" and "denigration" took several forms. Many umps were outraged when umpire Tom Hallion was suspended for bumping a player -- though not as outraged as they'd be if a player wasn't suspended for bumping an ump. When MLB redefined the rulebook strike zone to reflect the umpires' collective refusal to call the high strike, Phillips insisted that MLB had no right to do so without MLUA approval. Before the season, the MLUA blocked MLB's proposal to move control of the umpires from the league offices to the Commissioner's Office by claiming that the move would constitute a change of employer, entitling the umpires to millions in severance pay.

MLB announced the hiring of 25 minor-league umpires to major league positions, effective September 2. Ironically, all the new umpires had major-league experience -- experience obtained when they filled in for umps taking the midseason vacations Phillips had won for them. MLB indicated its willingness to take back those umpires who rescinded their resignations, while warning that this offer would not remain open indefinitely.

Despite the weakness of his position, Phillips remained on the attack. On July 26, the MLUA sued MLB in federal court in Philadelphia, demanding that MLB give the umpires until September 2 to withdraw their resignations. The action was assigned to the same judge who, in 1996, had enjoined the MLUA from striking over the Roberto Alomar spitting incident -- a bad omen, That same day, AL president Gene Budig announced that the nine AL umpires who had not rescinded their resignations would lose their jobs on September 2.

On July 27 these nine, along with the remaining 33 NL umpires, withdrew their resignations. The NL office announced that it had only 20 openings for the 33 returnees. The next day a group of 14 dissident umpires, led by John Hirschbeck and Joe Brinkman, released a statement lamenting, "major league umpires have been seriously harmed because union leadership adopted a flawed strategy that was doomed to fail from the beginning. The advice to quit jobs in order to keep them made no sense at all, especially under a collective bargaining contract that not only ruled out strikes, but also ruled out 'other concerted work stoppage.'"

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