PHOENIX — When Laz Diaz arrived at Tiger Stadium to make his major-league debut, Sparky Anderson was in the Detroit Tigers dugout, Phil Garner was managing the Milwaukee Brewers, and the lineups were littered with names like Lou Whitaker, Kirk Gibson, Cecil Fielder, David Wells, B.J. Surhoff and Daryl Hamilton.
The year was 1995.
Now, 31 years later, with Tiger Stadium long gone, Diaz will be back in Detroit, this time at Comerica Park, where he is scheduled to be the home-plate umpire Saturday, Sept. 26, when future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander makes his final appearance.
Diaz, who was also the home-plate umpire in Verlander’s first postseason game in 2006 at Yankee Stadium – a 4-3 victory in the AL Division Series – now is calling it a career,
too.
Diaz, 63, only the second Latino crew chief in MLB history and a former Marine Corps reserve, is umpiring his final regular-season game Sunday, Sept. 27. He and six other veteran umpires have taken the buyouts and will say good-bye to a game that has dramatically changed.
When Diaz arrived, there were no video reviews. No ABS system. No challenges. No pitch-coms. No mandatory checks for banned substances. No New York review center. No public umpire scorecards.
And no hot mics.
Being a major-league umpire is not only one the most demanding jobs in all of baseball, but also the least rewarding.
"I tell these young guys there’s so much pressure in this game," Diaz tells USA TODAY Sports. "So, if you’re not going to have fun in this game, don’t do it. Do not do it. It’s not worth it. There’s just so much scrutiny and negative stuff now.
"It’s nasty. We don’t get the recognition. Everybody is putting us down. Like with Angel (Hernandez) and C.B. (Bucknor), they got so much criticism, and they’re great umpires. But everything is just so (expletive) negative."
He’s going to miss the people and friends he made over the years, on and off the field, but the game, well, not so much.
"There are a lot of people I’m going to miss, and I made a lot of friends, but what I won’t miss is the game," says Diaz, the son of Cuban immigrants. "Not one bit. It’s just changed so much. There’s so much more technical stuff. It’s kind of restricted us. I mean, everything is black and white now. You can’t manage the game.
"You used to look at the scoreboard, and you’d see a player’s batting average, home runs, RBI and stolen bases. Now, you look up, there’s all kinds of stats up there, exit velocity, launch angle, on-base percentage, OPS. You can’t find anything because it’s all a percentage."
He also came up when umpires weren’t mic’d to notify the crowd of challenges and reviews, leading to embarrassing hot mic incidents. Twice in the the last two months, Diaz accidentally blurted an obscenity in his mic that blared the stadium loudspeakers unaware his mic was still on.
Diaz became a full-time major league umpire in 1999 after playing in the minor leagues as an outfielder and shortstop. His first manager in the minors was Minnesota Twins’ Class A manager Duffy Dyer, who happened to be the Brewers’ third-base coach in Diaz’s umpiring debut. Dyer brought out the lineup card that day, didn’t say anything to Diaz, and it wasn’t until the sixth inning that Diaz finally said to Dyer, "You don’t remember me, do you?"
Dyer: “Am I supposed to?"
Diaz: “Well, I did play for you in 1984 with Kenosha."
Now decades later, it’s coming to an end, with Diaz keeping the nameplate atop his locker after every series, and making sure to thank each member of the grounds crew in every ballpark he visits.
"I like talking to the grounds crew because without them," Diaz says, "we couldn't do our job. We couldn't play this game. I appreciate what they do. They're the first ones here, the last ones to leave, and you know every time they come by, I thank them for doing what they do. You got to give them their props."
Diaz will leave with plenty of memories, from working three World Series, Barry Bonds’ record-setting 756th home run game, Mark Buehrle’s perfect game, games in Australia and the Dominican Republic, WBC games in Japan and Puerto Rico, and the inaugural Field of Dreams Game between the Yankees and White Sox in Dyersville, Iowa.
He still has the lineup card from his first World Series game in 2007 when the Boston Red Sox swept the Colorado Rockies, and plans to keep the lineup card from last game, too.
He’ll fly to his Orlando home after the game Sunday, do some fishing in Puerto Rico, and even has volunteered to help out his wife’s cousin as a deckhand on chartered boat tours.
Just don’t expect him to be at a ballpark any time in the near future.
Or maybe ever.
"I’ve been blessed," Diaz says. "The Lord has definitely blessed me throughout my career. It was a great run.
"But now, it’s time."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Umpire Laz Diaz calls out 'nasty' MLB climate as he ends storied career | Exclusive
