Making the call
Guy Cipriano

UNIVERSITY PARK — The public portion of State College Area High School graduate Garrett Corl’s work day begins 10 minutes before the first pitch.

Corl stands on one side of home plate. His partner, Rob Calvert, stands opposite him.

A five-time all-star who played for the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians and a 56-year-old man join Corl and Calvert, a pair of aspiring umpires, during their most recent lineup card exchange Friday at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

From this moment until the final out, Corl and Calvert understand what looms.

“You have to earn respect, whether that be in a confrontation, whether it’s having a great game or having a bad game and owning up to it,” Calvert said. “It’s one of the hardest things to get respect from a bunch of guys you have never met before.”

Corl, who lives in Stormstown, and Calvert are tested nightly.

Fans boo. Players argue with their decisions. Inches sometimes separate them from men older than their fathers.

Few can relate to what Corl and Calvert experience when they walk into New York-Penn League ballparks.

“It’s as hard, if not harder, than trying to play,” said Spikes manager Gary Robinson, a former Double- A umpire who spent 10 years supervising Triple-A umpires for the commissioner’s office. “When you go on the field, it’s you and your partner against 60 other people and the crowd. You are very isolated. You have to develop a really, really thick skin to be able to be effective as an umpire.”

This summer is helping Corl, 22, and Calvert, 21, develop the mentality needed to survive in an unforgiving profession.

Corl, a Stormstown resident, received a three-week NY-PL preview last summer. Calvert, who lives on Long Island, never umpired a Class A game until the duo opened this season on June 19 at Oneonta’s Damaschke Field.

Corl and Calvert, who met at the Harry Wendlestedt School of Umpires, have worked in eight different ballparks this summer.

Both umpires’ immediate families live within the league’s borders. But on most nights, they are stuck together in unfamiliar places such as Niles, Ohio; Fishkill, N.Y.; and Burlington, Vt.

“We are like two brothers that go out there every night and protect each other’s backs,” Corl said. “I trust him as much as he trusts me.”

Trust is imperative in their business.

Umpiring duos don’t turn into trios until Double-A. Instead of living in dorms, apartments or fraternity houses, like others their age, they share rooms in budget hotels. Umpires spend most days at the hotel, although Corl and Calvert visited the Little League Baseball Museum on a trip to Williamsport.

The timing of some trips is better than others. The duo spent July 3 on Coney Island, umpiring a game between the Brooklyn Cyclones and Tri- City ValleyCats. After the game, they witnessed one of the country’s best fireworks displays. Corl’s mother, Jackie, visited Brooklyn to watch the fireworks with her son.

What umpires endure, especially in Brooklyn, make many mothers cringe.

The fireworks night in Brooklyn was attended by 8,428 raucous fans. The Cyclones rallied to win, increasing the mayhem.

"It was one those games you were glad to get out of there without bruises on your face,” Corl said.