Umpire Profile
Jerry Park
By Gary Reals
After some 40 years as a stand-out member of NVBUA, Jerry Park is preparing to transition to a new chapter in his life. Blues, it isn’t going to be easy. It’s not just that baseball and umpiring have been such huge parts of his career with all the teaching and training and coaching and umpiring but most of all it’s been FUN! “My whole career the thing I’ve loved the most is the camaraderie in my umpire world,” rejoices Jerry. NV-MAC President Dave Maher speaks of Jerry, “He’s a part of the DNA of this association. He’s always become a friend to anyone he’s ever worked with.”
West Springfield Produces
One particular love of Brother Park has been welcoming new guys to our ranks and especially helping to identify the really good ones. Like a 13-year-old in West Springfield Little League back in the late 1990’s. Some thirty years later, Chris Segal is entering his sixth spectacular season as a full-time Major League umpire. “He lived, breathed and died baseball,” recalls Chris of Jerry Park. Park recalls of Segal, “He was so good and so dependable he deserved all of our support.”
Four or five years later, still in West Springfield, there arose another future MLBer…young Brennan Miller. Once again, Jerry Park was one of those who spotted Brennan and encouraged him upward and onward. As he prepares to head out for his 4th full-time season in the Bigs, Miller says Jerry “encouraged me to really keep going with umpiring. He was always willing to help me out and help me improve.” With all that mentorship and training Brennan kept going and improving indeed! “It never ceases to amaze me,” Jerry waxes, “this association NV is one of the top umpire training grounds in the world.”
During the late ‘60’s and ‘70’s, Jerry played lots of youth baseball. He worked 2nd base and the outfield for TC Williams in Alexandria where he graduated in 1974. But, “I couldn’t play at the upper levels, so I turned to umpiring and coaching.” Most of those early years from the mid-70’s to the mid-80’s, Jerry coached and umped in West Springfield LL and Babe Ruth.
Welcome Aboard Jerry
Forty years ago, 1986, Park joined NVBUA which was then newly in the command of John Porter and Bob Gustin. He confesses, “I didn’t know a lot at the time. I was amazed at the level of training and what they taught me about umpiring.” Reached at his home in Florida, the great Bob Gustin remembers Jerry well, “He was a sponge, asking so many really good questions that many in a training class wouldn’t even have the mind to ask.” Further, Bob was impressed not only with Park’s questions but with his mindset: “The biggest thing about Jerry he came to EVERY training event he could…classes he didn’t even need to attend.” That attitude of dedication has stuck to Jerry not only for those early years, Blues, try 40 years: “It has ceased to amaze me…how NVBUA has become one of the top training grounds in the world.”
Longest & Most Contentious
With all that training and experience under his belt, Park blossomed into one of the top umpires in the association averaging about 6 state tournaments each year for the past two decades. One of his arousing memories came in 2017, when he worked the plate in a thrilling 5-A State Final along with Mitch Evans, John Epperson and Craig Alden. The match between Briarwoods and Halifax County went 14 innings! Mitch Evans calls it “the longest and one of the most contentious games I’ve ever worked.” The first run of the game was scored by Halifax in the top of the 14th inning. As Briarwoods was mounting a comeback in the bottom of the 14th, Mitch recalls “it got pretty ornery with outrageously loud yelling.” And then, when Briarwoods hit a two-run homer to win the championship game, police had to be summoned to quell the rapidly deteriorating scene at the Robinson HS baseball field.
That was not the only game of Jerry’s career in which he and his crew became grateful recipients of some police protection. Back in the 1990’s, at what was then Washington-Lee HS in Arlington, W-L hosted Falls Church in a District Final. Brother Park was at the plate in the top of the 7th inning when Falls Church scored the 1st run of the game. In the bottom of the 7th, W-L bounced right back. Bases loaded. One out. From home plate, Jerry Park watches an apparent game-winning home run soar out to left field where, at the time, there was no fence. The ball just kept rolling out. R-3 comes home… running right into a swarm of teammates mobbing him at the plate for winning the championship. So they thought!
Jerry remembers it oh so well: “to my horror, he went directly to the crowd of kids.” Blues, you know: R-3 never touched home plate. AND, in the ensuing pandemonium, R-2 never touched 3rd base. Jerry Park: “I scream time! Time! Time! Both coaches to the plate!” W-L Coach Dan Petrowski “knew what was going on.” Falls Church Coach Mark Richards also knew and made his appeal to Jerry…who proceeded to rule both R-3 and R-2 OUT. Game over! Falls Church Coach Richards told Jerry “I can’t believe you had the balls to make that call!” W-L Coach Petrowski warned the crew “It’s gonna get ugly! The crowd’s gonna be all over you.” Tis the second time in his life Jerry and crew had to be escorted away by the cops.
Let’s Have Fun!
As established earlier however, Jerry much prefers the fun times of umpiring. There have been many of those….no police escorts necessary thank you. Cape Cod for instance. Specifically, the Cape Cod Baseball League. Jerry travelled to the Cape for 13 consecutive summers usually with Jim Clayton, Al Straub and Michael Ewen to umpire the equivalent of Div-1 players in the increasingly popular and prestigious league. Park says it was a “great summertime break from DC for fishing and touring. The most fun was living day to day with the crew.” Jim Clayton recalls he and Park often drove up to the Cape together. “It was lots of fun. It was lots of good, insightful talk about baseball.” Clayton (not Jerry 😊) even gets a little Biblical about it all, citing Proverbs 27:17: “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Brothers, I’m guessing that may be the first Biblical citation you’ve ever come across here in The Blue Crew News. Some of those trips to the Cape were made even more special thanks to the accompaniment of the guys’ wives.
Tragedy
In more recent years, the mid-2010’s to mid-20’s….Jerry suffered terrible sadness in his life. In 2016, his beloved wife Maureen, mother of their four children passed away. In 2024, youngest son, 33-year-old Joseph lost his life due to kidney failure. Two other sons: Matthew and Bryan, live in Philadelphia and Jacksonville, Florida, respectively. Daughter Michelle, mother of granddaughter Bridget, lives locally in Bristow.
Happy Valley…Prepare!
But now there’s a new light shining in the life of Jerry Park. Her name is Pam McComb of Landover, MD. Pam lost her husband in 2016, right around the same time Jerry had lost his wife Maureen. Well, the widow and widower began dating in 2017. Apparently, it’s working out pretty good 😊 Both Pam and Jerry are selling their homes here in the DMV. They’re getting married and plan to follow one Norm Gordon up to Happy Valley, PA. Blues, that’s a crew made in Heaven, ya know it! Looking back, Jerry says “I had my heyday for 20 years or so,” but he’s certainly not planning to step away from baseball completely.
We are certainly going to miss Jerry here in Northern Virginia, such as those Friday night gatherings at Glory Days out in Centreville. Those get-togethers were the idea of Dave Maher who says Jerry happily embraced them, “He loved those Friday nights. He was our “go-to” who often reserved the tables for us.”
And all those baseball games and training events where he’s been a constant for a half-century will be a little emptier too. Mitch Evans says “I can’t say enough good things about Jerry. He’s an all-around great guy…always there to support you.” Dave Maher laments, “When he walks off the field later in the coming season, we are going to feel it seriously.”
Looking ahead to his life in Pennsylvania, Jerry says, “There’s still a lot of unknowns. I’ll do what I can, but I’ll still remain in the game one way or another.” Blues, you know he’ll be there not only in ONE way or another, rather in MANY ways or another. He’s been in touch with Norm Gordon and already established contact with some league officials up there to alert them to his forthcoming arrival at a new home plate later in the year. Good luck, Brother Park. You deserve it! And do be in touch with some Pennsylvania police too… .