Cal League First to Honor Its Umpire of the Year
September 2, 2010 - California League (CalL1) News Release
Port Hueneme, CA - The California League became the first and only league in Minor League Baseball to honor an umpire. The "Doug Harvey ward-Â, named after the recent Hall of Fame inductee and nearby resident of Visalia, has been instituted as an annual award given to the Cal League Umpire of the Year.
In a ceremony in Visalia on September 1, Doug Harvey and Cal League President, Charlie Blaney, presented the first Doug Harvey Award to umpire Blake Davis. Davis, a Littleton Colorado native, is in his third season as a Minor League umpire. The 24-year old umpire has been promoted each year since he started in 2008.
"Congratulations to Blake Davis for being the first recipient of the Doug Harvey ward."Â Blaney stated. "Blake has a bright future as an umpire and continues to impress day in and day out with his hard work and natural talent. The Cal League sincerely thanks Doug Harvey for lending his name to this prestigious award."
Doug Harvey was a Major League umpire for 30 years and umpired in 5 World Series, 6 All-Star games, and 9 National League Championship Series. He was nicknamed "God-Â by the players because of his strict focus on the rules of the game. Harvey was ranked as the second greatest umpire in history, according to the Society for American Baseball Research, behind only Bill Klem. In 2007, Referee magazine selected him as one of the 52 most influential figures in the history of sports officiating. He began his professional umpiring career in the Cal League in 1958 and umpired in the League for the 1959 and 1960 seasons before moving up to Triple-A.
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