by Carroll Lee Ashburn
Everyone knows you can’t have a softball game without umpires, which was one of the Texacos greatest early challenges. Where to find an umpire?
All of the old Chesapeake League baseball officials had aged out or they wouldn’t or couldn’t umpire softball.
There were no umpire organizations closer than Richmond. However, thanks to a handful of local men—who had no previous training—the Texacos ended up with some great officiating.
Here are the top Texacos umpire tales:
• Beginning with number five. During the Texacos era, all the umpires were male, so when Mary Rogers from the Richmond area became the first female umpire…[to-view-more]