Umpire

HE was the down-to-earth Yorkshireman with one of the most famous gestures in sport.

The way cricket’s most famous umpire Dickie Bird gave batsmen their marching orders — lifting his arm, oh so slowly, index finger outstretched — became his trademark.

7

7

Miner’s son Dickie, who has died at the age of 92, was as much a part of British summers as, well, the sound of bat on ball.

He will be remembered as the man whose popularity broke down the divide between the game’s officials and players — also winning him a huge army of fans way beyond the boundary rope.

Generation after generation watched as Dickie, real name Harold Dennis Bird, umpired 66 tests and 69 one-day internationals, including three World Cup finals, with fairness and humour while reining in the most cantankerous of players.

Dickie, who never married, is expected to leave his multi-million- pound fortune — most of it made when he published his autobiography in 1997 — to children’s hospitals which he often visited.

After his death was announced by Yorkshire County Cricket Club, tributes flooded in for the lord of LBW — when umpire adjudges ball to have hit leg before wicket.

A club statement read: “Dickie Bird enjoyed an illustrious career as an international umpire, writing his name into history as the most famous and popular official in the game’s history.

“He is synonymous with Yorkshire cricket, where he has been one of the most loyal supporters.”

The club named the former Yorkshire batsman as its president in 2014 and said it was a role he held with “pride and distinction” as the club won two country championships during his tenure.

It added that Dickie, awarded an MBE in 1986 and OBE in 2012, had become known “not only for his umpiring excellence but also his eccentricities and warmth”.

Leading the tributes was Yorkshire and England cricket great Sir Geoffrey Boycott.

‘Never officious’

The legendary opening batsman said of the umpiring great: “Dickie was a character, always fun. He was respected, admired and loved. A cricket icon.

“He was brilliant because he made a lot of good decisions but also he had humour and a firmness. He could handle players.

“You could talk to him. He would listen. But chatting him up did not change his mind. No chance. He would laugh with you instead.

“He would never be officious. He just had a way of defusing situations. That was his strength, why he was rated all over the world as the best.”

Boycott first met Dickie in 1955, when they played for Barnsley Cricket Club — and the pair were also friends there with another Yorkshireman who later found fame, the late TV host Sir Michael Parkinson. The three would remain pals for life.

He added of Dickie’s cricket: “I was slightly in awe, nearly every time he went out to bat he would score a 50.

“I was shocked when he would come up to me and say, ‘Put my gloves on for me, Gerald’. I would say, ‘My name’s not Gerald, it’s Geoffrey’. It made no difference because he would say, ‘OK, put the gloves on for me Gerald’. He called me Gerald for years.

Former England captain and opening bat Graham Gooch also has fond memories of Dickie — a­nd the time one of his shots struck him during a match against Australia at Old Trafford in 1985.

7

7

7

Gooch told talkSPORT: “He tried to get out of the way of the straight drive but it hit him on the ankle. He wasn’t averse to making a bit of a song and dance about things — and he had to go off for treatment.”

Dickie was also in the middle when Gooch played his most famous innings — scoring 333 against India at Lord’s in 1990.

But Gooch added: “Things always happened to Dickie in the field. At Headingley, once they had a leaking pipe, right where he was standing, coming up like a sprinkler. It could only happen to him.”

BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew said of Dickie: “He was a terrific umpire, the players loved him.”

Others taking to social media to pay respects ranged from ex-Prime Minister David Cameron to former Liverpool and Nottingham Forest striker Stan Collymore.

Dickie was born in Barnsley — where he still lived before his death, although he swapped a two-up, two-down terrace with outside toilet for a luxury 16th-century four-bedroom cottage on the edge of the Pennines.

His dad Harold worked in the coal mines from the age of 13 until 65, but wanted better for his son.

Dickie was a character, always fun. He was respected, admired and loved. A cricket icon.

Sir Geoffrey Boycott

Dickie said: “My father would not let me go down the mine. ‘No way!’ he said. He instilled in me that I would play sport for a living.

“He would get up at four each day and go to the pit and when he came home in the afternoon, although tired, would spend hours with me playing cricket and football.”

Dickie’s teenage years at Barnsley Cricket Club were happy ones, as were the friendships he made with Boycott and Parkinson.

He wept as he recalled his final conversation with Parky, the day before his friend’s death in August 2023, aged 88.

Dickie said: “We cracked a few jokes together, we had a few tears in our eyes and we said goodbye, goodbye to each other at the end of the phone call as if we had this feeling that we wouldn’t see each other again and we said goodbye and that was it.

“It was so sad when I heard the news [of his death]. I slumped in my chair and shed tears.”

Another childhood pal was Tommy Taylor, the England and Manchester United centre forward, who died in the Munich air crash of 1958.

Two years earlier, Dickie had made his first-class debut for Yorkshire as a right-hand batsman.

Fervent royalist

He left the club after three years, and spent three more years with Leicestershire before a knee injury forced him to hang up his bat and he switched to umpiring.

He became the first umpire to attract queues of autograph hunters and was so popular with the females that women hung pairs of pants on his statue in his home town.

So popular was he in Barnsley that a local car dealership gave him a motor emblazoned with his name, urging drivers to follow him to their showroom. On the driver’s side they painted him sat at the wheel in his umpiring whites.

Dickie was a fervent royalist who met Queen Elizabeth II 29 times and remembered the time he had lunch with her in 1990.

He also told how he was so nervous about lunch that he turned up at the gates of Buckingham Palace more than four hours early.

He said: “The Queen laughed when I told her and said, ‘You better have a drink’.

“Prince Edward joined us, we had a magnificent lunch, and then it was just the Queen and I in the lounge all afternoon.

7

7

“She had a lovely sense of humour. We talked about cricket and horse racing. She said, ‘We think the world of you and we think you do a good job’. That were the best day of my life.”

The pair then kept in touch. “I had a letter from her a fortnight before she died,” Dickie said after her death in September 2022, aged 96.

“She asked about my health, ‘How are you keeping?’, I used to write back and say, ‘You need to keep going, Ma’am. You’ve got to get there — 100 if you can.

“She was the rock of this country. Magnificent.”

It was just the Queen and I in the lounge all afternoon. We talked about cricket and horse racing. She said ‘We think the world of you and we think you do a good job’. That were the best day
of my life.

Dickie Bird

Dickie was an ambassador for the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund at Leeds General Infirmary and is expected to leave his money to kids’ hospitals after being reduced to tears during visits across the UK.

It is not known how big his estate is but humble Dickie — who counted a £5 glass of wine at his local restaurant as a treat — donated £35,000 to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital, £70,000 to Barnsley Hospital and £30,000 to the children’s fund at Leeds General.

He said: “When I visit these hospitals and see sick little babies needing surgery, or cut from their groin to their neck after heart operations, I break down in tears. I am not ashamed to admit it.”

His money-spinning, self-titled autobiography sold more than a book about Princess Diana, after her death the same year.

But ever-modest Dickie said: “Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would go to the bestsellers’ list, and beat even Diana’s book.”

His devotion to cricket left little time for much else, and he admitted he regretted never marrying and having children.

He said during the Covid lockdown: “If I miss having something in life, it’s having a family. I’ve had girlfriends. I nearly married twice. But I never married because in cricket you are never at home. I thought it would never work.

“It would have been wonderful to have a lad and watch him play. I missed that. But you can’t have everything. I gave myself to cricket, and it has given me a real good life.”

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone questioned the legality of a bat used by Houston Astros outfielder Taylor Trammell during Thursday’s series finale.

Down by five runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Houston mounted a comeback by starting off the inning with a single by catcher Victor Caratini and a double off the wall by Trammell. After the at-bat, Boone asked the umpires to check the bat used by the 27-year-old because of its “discoloration.”

Rule 3.02(c) by Major League Baseball bans the usage of a “colored bat in a professional game” unless approved by the league.

The crew chief, Adrian Johnson, took the bat and called a review to verify the legality of the discoloration on barrel.

After the review, the bat was confiscated by the umpires, authenticated and sent to the league office to be inspected, according to Astros manager Joe Espada.

“The bat was worn down a little bit,” Espada said. “He uses that bat all the time and I guess they thought it was an illegal bat.

“I thought it was … whatever,” he added.

Boone said they noticed the color of the bat earlier in the series and brought it up to the league officials on Thursday.

“You’re not allowed to do anything to your bat,” Boone said after the game. “I’m not saying he was … we noticed it and the league thought it maybe it was illegal too.”

After the game, the outfielder remained confused.

“I feel kind of defensive right now, more so a test of my character, like I’m going to willingly do that,” Trammell said. “Just kind of lost on that thing, and if anyone knows me, knows I’m never going to cheat or anything like that.”

Trammell, who played a couple of games for the Yankees last season, stayed on second base. The Astros later scored a run on a single by designated hitter Yordan Alvarez but the Yankees held on to win the game 8-4.

NEW YORK — Daniil Medvedev’s match was delayed more than six minutes between points Sunday night, after a photographer entered the court on match point and the 2021 U.S. Open champion became enraged by the chair umpire’s decision to award his opponent a first serve.

The latest Medvedev meltdown on Louis Armstrong Stadium led to a wild change in the match. The No. 13 seed was a point away from being eliminated, then won the next two sets to force a deciding fifth before Benjamin Bonzi eliminated him from a second straight major with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 0-6, 6-4 victory that ended early Monday.

“I tried to stay calm in the match but it was not easy,” Bonzi said.

Daniil Medvedev, right, reacts next to chair umpire Greg Allensworth after a photographer ran onto the court during his match against Benjamin Bonzi in the first round of the U.S. Open on Sunday night.

(Adam Hunger / Associated Press)

Bonzi had just hit his first serve leading 5-4 in the third set. After he missed it, a photographer left his position before the Frenchman could hit his second.

Chair umpire Greg Allensworth told the photographer to get off the court, then announced that Bonzi would get another first serve because of the delay — which is common in tennis. Medvedev then approached the chair to complain about the decision.

“He wants to go home, guys. He doesn’t like to be here. He gets paid by the match, not by the hour,” Medvedev shouted into the microphones behind the chair.

Medvedev kept encouraging the loud boos on Armstrong, which eventually lasted so long that he then tried to get fans to quiet down so Bonzi could serve. When Bonzi finally did, he missed the first serve and then lost the point, and Medvedev won the game and later the set in a tiebreaker to prolong the match.

“I never experienced something like that,” said Bonzi, who had fans chanting his name at times.

It was reminiscent of Medvedev’s 2019 match on the same court, when fans booed him for his antics and he later taunted the crowd in his post-match interview, saying the jeers gave him energy. Medvedev had snatched the towel from a ballperson during the match and was given a code violation by umpire Damien Dumusois. Medvedev then threw his racket in the direction of Dumusois, barked something at him and later flashed his middle finger next to his forehead as he walked past the umpire’s chair, actions that led to him being fined $9,000 for that match.

Medvedev reached the final that year, then won the title two years later. But he went just 1-4 in Grand Slam tournaments this year and was also upset by Bonzi in the first round at Wimbledon.

Medvedev sat in his chair for a few minutes after the match and repeatedly smashed his racket before eventually departing.

A U.S. Tennis Association spokesman said the photographer was escorted from the court by U.S. Open security and his credential was revoked.

ATLANTA — Jen Pawol breezed through Sunday’s Marlins-Braves game as if breaking a gender barrier was just another day on the job.

Considering Pawol became the first female umpire to work behind the plate in the majors, making unprecedented history appear to be routine was especially impressive.

“I think Jen did a really nice job,” Miami manager Clayton McCullough said after Atlanta’s 7-1 win over the Marlins.

“I think she’s very composed back there. She handled and managed the game very well. And big day for her. Big day for Major League Baseball. I congratulated her again on that because it’s quite the accomplishment.”

It was an impressive cap to a memorable weekend for Pawol. She made history in Saturday’s doubleheader as the first female umpire to work a regular-season game in the majors. She called the bases in the doubleheader before moving behind the plate on Sunday, placing her in the brightest spotlight for an umpire.

Pawol never showed any indication of being affected by the attention, even while knowing every call would be closely watched.

“Congrats to Jen, obviously,” said Braves left-hander Joey Wentz, who earned the win by allowing only one run in 5 1/3 innings.

Asked about Pawol’s calls, Wentz said, “I try not to focus on the zone, to be honest with you. … I thought it was good though.”

Umpire Jen Pawol stands at third base during a game between the Marlins and Braves on Saturday.

(Brett Davis / Getty Images)

There were few opportunities for disputes as Wentz and Miami starting pitcher Cal Quantrill combined for only three strikeouts. The first called third strike came in the fifth inning, when Pawol used a fist pump when calling out Miami’s Kyle Stowers on a pitch that was close to the edge of the plate.

McCullough was seen in the Marlins dugout with his palms held up as if asking about the pitch call. He said after the game it’s not unusual to question a close called strike.

“Over the course of the game, there are a number of times that you just are going to be asking for clarity on one, if you aren’t sure,” McCullough said. “So it could have been that.”

The 48-year-old Pawol was called up as a rover umpire, so her next assignment in the majors has not been announced.

“I wish her the best moving forward as she continues to, I’m sure, hopefully one day be up full time, you know, a permanent big league umpire,” McCullough said.

Pawol also received positive reviews from Braves manager Brian Snitker, who on Saturday said, “You can tell she knows what she does.”

Pawol’s work in the minor leagues began in 2016 when she was assigned to the Gulf Coast League. She worked in the Triple-A championship game in 2023 and in spring training games in 2024 and again this year.

“We certainly didn’t call her up from A ball, right?” Quantrll said. “So yeah, I’m sure she was well prepared. And like I said I think, you know, part of the game moving forward is that if this is normal then we’re going to treat it normal, too. So, you know, I thought it was fine. I think she did she did a quality job. … And yeah, I think she’d be very proud of herself. And, you know, it’s kind of a cool little thing to be part of.”

Pawol spoke to reporters on Saturday when she said, “The dream actually came true today. I’m still living in it. I’m so grateful to my family and Major League Baseball for creating such an incredible work environment. … I’m just so thankful.”

Pawol received cheers from fans on both days. On Sunday, some held up “Way to go Jen!” signs.

Odum writes for the Associated Press.

A woman will umpire a major league game for the first time Saturday when Jen Pawol works the bases during Saturday’s doubleheader between the Atlanta Braves and visiting Miami Marlins at Truist Park.

For Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, that announcement Wednesday brought one response: It’s about time.

“That’s great. I’ll be watching,” he said of Pawol, who will work behind the plate Sunday. “It’s good for the game. It’s fantastic.”

The NHL is the only major U.S. professional sport that hasn’t used female officials. The NBA was the first league to break the gender barrier, with Violet Palmer and Dee Kantner calling games in 1997. MLS followed a year later with Sandra Hunter and Nancy Lay-McCormick refereeing separate games on the same day.

The NFL’s first woman official was line judge Shannon Eastin, who made her debut in 2012.

Pawol, 48, was an all-state soccer and softball player in high school in New Jersey. She went on to play Division I softball at Hofstra, then played for the women’s national baseball team. She began umpiring NCAA softball games in 2010 and five years later enrolled in the minor league umpire training academy in Vero Beach, Fla., the first step toward a career in professional baseball.

That earned her a job in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League. By 2023, she had worked her way up to triple A, the highest rung on the minor league ladder. Last year she became the third woman, after Pam Postema, in 1988, and Ria Cortesio, in 2007, to umpire major league spring training games.

The careers of both women were later blocked by senior male umpires who, according to colleagues, colluded against them. Postema later filed a federal discrimination suit against the National and American leagues, triple A clubs and the office of umpire development, claiming sexual harassment and gender discrimination. The suit was settled out of court.

Pawol, conversely, said she has received nothing but support, saying the coaches and players have gone out of their way to acknowledge her example as a trailblazer for their daughters.

On Wednesday, Roberts added his name to that list.

“Congratulations to her,” he said. “Baseball has done a great job of being completely inclusive. “

The MLB All-Star Game has served disparate purposes over the years. It always has been a showcase for baseball’s top talent. Once upon a time, the outcome determined home field advantage in the World Series. In recent years, it has been a fashion runway for ridiculous uniforms.

This year, it will be an incubator.

The Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System will take its next measured step toward regular-season implementation when it is used in the All-Star Game on Tuesday in Atlanta.

Just as ABS was conducted during spring training, each team will get two challenges that can be made only by the pitcher, catcher or batter. Successful challenges are retained.

The player making a challenge taps his cap or helmet to let the plate umpire know that his ball or strike call will be reviewed. The ubiquitous Hawk-Eye system tracks the trajectory and location of the pitch and and a graphic of the pitch is displayed on the scoreboard while the call is being reviewed.

In the minor leagues, ABS has been tested since 2021 and the ABS challenge was implemented in 2022. Major leaguers got their first taste during spring training.

Result? Not much difference from the calls made by human umpires. Strikeouts were reduced slightly and walks increased a tick.

“We have made a lot of progress in the way the system works,” MLB vice president of on-field strategy Joe Martinez said at a media-demonstration session during spring training, “and also the way we weave the system into the game play. And we’re at a point in triple-A where we have a system that the players like, the coaches like, the umpires like and the fans like.”

The shape of a major league strike zone as called by umpires isn’t the precise cube seen on television but takes a rounded form that bulges wider in the middle of the zone and tightens at the top and bottom.

Human umpires continue to improve, in no small part because pitch tracking puts every call under a microscope. MLB umpires have improved their accuracy in calling balls and strikes every year since pitch tracking technology was introduced in 2008, according to FanGraphs. Accuracy has spiked from 81.3% to 92.4%. Expressed another way, incorrect calls have been reduced by nearly 60% in 15 years.

Major League Baseball negotiated a change with the umpires association last offseason in how home-plate umpires are evaluated, effectively tightening the strike zone. The change decreased the margin of error for umpires in their evaluations, resulting in fewer called strikes off the edges of the plate.

Still, a handful of calls are missed in nearly every game, and the all-stars will have an opportunity to tap their caps and challenge at least two calls per team. Should the experiment be a hit with participants and fans, the next step will be for the 11-person MLB competition committee to consider implementing the challenge system for the 2026 regular season.

All-Star notes

— All-Stars will wear what they wear during regular-season games, meaning those unsightly uniforms that were uniformly panned by players and fans the last several years will remain in a closet somewhere. This will be the first year since 2019 that players wear the regular-season uniforms of their teams.

— Department of serendipity: The All-Star Game will take place on Tuesday (7/15) in Atlanta, the number and location of Hank Aaron’s historic home run in 1974 that vaulted him past Babe Ruth to become MLB’s all-time leader at the time. Hammerin’ Hank blasted No. 715 off the Dodgers’ Al Downing at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The tribute will re-create the moment through the use of projection mapping and custom pyrotechnics at the end of the sixth inning.

— MLB All-Star week begins Saturday with the Futures Game. The MLB draft will be held Sunday, the Home Run Derby is scheduled for Monday with the All-Star Game taking place Tuesday.

SONAY KARTAL bowed out of Wimbledon – amid more Centre Court line-calling controversy.

Kartal, the last British player in the women’s singles and making her Centre Court bow under a roof closed for daylight play for the first time this Championships gave her all in a topsy-turvy roller-coaster of a match against Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

3

3

Despite earning a set point in the opener, the 23-year-old Kartal was eventually out-hit as she lost 7-6 6-3 in a two hours and two minutes.

But the BIG talking point was the latest malfunction of the new automatic line-judging system in operation in SW19 for the first time this year.

Just two days after Emma Raducanu publicly called out the AI judging on the All England Club’s showpiece venue, the last British woman left standing was involved in another bizarre incident.

Kartal’s forehand at game point to Pavluchenkova in the ninth game of the opener was clearly out but there was no call from the electronic officials.

With both players perplexed, German umpire Nico Helwerth halted play for three minutes as TV replays showed the non-call was totally wrong.

Eventually, Helwerth announced: “The electronic system was unable to track the last point”, ordering a replay, which saw Pavlyluchenkova volley wildly and eventually lose serve again.

It was a bizarre moment in a strange match, which saw neither player able to dominate on their serve.

Getting her third break – in those circumstances – could have been the springboard to a victory which would have seen her tournament earnings reach £400,000 – compared to her previous CAREER prize money of £333,000.

BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UK

But despite a set point, Kartal was unable to serve out before being swept aside in the tie break.

And while the Brighton star bounced back from losing her opening service game in the second set she was crucially broken once more at 2-2, a missed forehand starting to put the writing on the wall.

Kartal refused to give up, asking the ultimate question of her opponent as she made the Russian serve out for the victory.

But Pavlyuchenkova, who matched her 2016 feat of reaching the last eight here in SW19, did not fold. 

Kartal, though, can be proud of her run and she deserved the standing ovation that accompanied her exit.

Pavlyuchenkova, 34, apologised to the home fans after her victory ended Kartal’s dream run.

She said: “Sorry guys. I’d like to thank you for the great energy.

“I understand that she was local and that’s it. But it’s nice to play in a full stadium.”

The Russian added: “I was so impressed with her – but also myself, too.

“I was getting out of breath at one stage but to keep up with these young guys at this age and for me to play at this level is incredible.”

3

World number 33 Yulia Putintseva raised security concerns about a spectator during her first-round match at Wimbledon, asking for them to be ejected.

Early on in her match against Amanda Anisimova on court 15, the 30-year-old complained directly to the umpire about a spectator, whom she described as “crazy” and “dangerous”.

A club spokesperson said the matter was “dealt with”.

During a change of ends when trailing 3-0 in the opening set, Putintseva, from Kazakhstan, first voiced her concerns.

“Can you take him out, I am not going to continue playing until he leaves. These people are dangerous, they are crazy,” she said.

She was then seen pointing towards an area of the crowd and described the person as wearing green.

The chair umpire came down onto the court and spoke to three members of security staff.

When Putintseva was told play would resume, she was heard saying she did not want to do so until security had handled it.

“Take him out, because maybe he has a knife,” she said.

Putintseva was emotional later in the match and went on to lose 6-0 6-0 in 45 minutes.

She did not speak to the media afterwards.

A spokesperson for the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) told BBC Sport: “Following a complaint about the behaviour of a spectator at the match on court 15, the chair umpire informed security and the matter was dealt with.”

Anisimova, meanwhile, told the BBC she believed the spectator had been saying something “when [Putintseva] was about to serve” and added: “I am sure that we were protected”.

Earlier, AELTC chief executive Sally Bolton said on the subject of security: “We’re well-versed in the measures that need to be put in place so players can go about playing here in the confidence they’re being well looked after.”