Vito Henry "Vic" Voltaggio (born March 17, 1941) is a former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

who worked in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

from 1977 to 1996. Voltaggio umpired 2,118 major league games in his 20-year career. He umpired in a

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

, an

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or div ...

, and three

American League Championship Series The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the two winners of the American ...

. He was one of the last umpires to join the American League using the outside chest protector, which he used in 1977 and 1978. He wore uniform number 26 when the league adopted uniform numbers in 1980.

Notable games

He umpired in the

1989 World Series The 1989 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1989 season. The 86th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Oakland Athletics and the Nat ...

, the

1987 Major League Baseball All-Star Game The 1987 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 58th playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 1 ...

, and the

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

and

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

. Voltaggio was the home plate umpire for the 20-strikeout performance of

Roger Clemens William Roger Clemens (born August 4, 1962), nicknamed "Rocket", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Boston Red Sox. Clemens was one of the most dominant pi ...

against the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

on April 29, 1986. He was also behind the plate when the 1989 World Series, known as the

Bay Bridge Series The Bay Bridge Series, or the Battle of the Bay, is a series of baseball games played between—and the rivalry of—Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics of the American League and San Francisco Giants of the National League. The series t ...

, was struck by an earthquake at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Voltaggio also called balls and strikes for

Chris Bosio Christopher Louis Bosio (born April 3, 1963) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and pitching coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers and Seattle Mariners from 1986 to 1996. He was listed at and ...

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

on April 22, 1993.

Personal life

Voltaggio is a graduate of

Vineland High School Vineland High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Vineland, in Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as part of the Vineland Public Schools. The now reunifie ...

and

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university, public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a Normal school, teacher training school, East ...

. He served in the United States Marine Corps and was deployed to Okinawa, the Philippines and Vietnam in the 1950s and 1960s.

References

External links

The Sporting News umpire card
1941 births Living people Baseball people from New Jersey East Carolina University alumni Major League Baseball umpires People from Vineland, New Jersey Sportspeople from Cumberland County, New Jersey Vineland High School alumni United States Marine Corps personnel of the Vietnam War {{US-baseball-umpire-stub

Notable games

Personal life

See also

References

External links