Nine years ago today, the Cincinnati Reds, led by captain Barry Larkin, were poised to take on Shawn Green and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first of three-game series at Cincinnati’s Cinergy Field. The players had finished batting practice, the lineups had been written, the baselines painted, and the infield and pitcher’s mound had been prepared for the night.
The only problem? The umpires’ equipment was somewhere in New York, more than 550 miles away. While the umpires—CB Bucknor, Al Clark, Mike Vanvleet and Rick Reed—arrived safely in Cincinnati from Montreal earlier in the day, their equipment was shipped, unnoticed, to New York.
To save the day, Rick Stowe, the Reds' longtime clubhouse manager, and a member of his crew raced off to a local sporting goods store. It was closed. Undeterred, the dynamic duo drove around Cincinnati in search of an open store. Eventually, they found one on the west side of town, and secured about $600 worth of gear, pilling shin guards, chest protectors, cleats, and face masks into the car before racing back to Cinergy Field. On their way back across town, though, they got stuck in traffic, and had to call in for a police escort to get back to the stadium, where they handed the equipment off to the waiting umpires.
After only a 27-minute delay, starting pitcher Steve Parish finally delivered the first pitch, fittingly, a called strike, to Devon White, the Dodgers' center fielder and leadoff hitter. The Dodgers, behind four serviceable quality innings from rookie starting pitcher Eric Gagne, would go on to win the opener 9-2, and, two days later, sweep the series.
The umpires' equipment, meanwhile, presumably made its way to the Queen City before the start of the second game.
