American baseball umpire (born 1955)
Baseball player
Phil Cuzzi
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![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/Phil_Cuzzi.jpg/220px-Phil_Cuzzi.jpg) Cuzzi in 2013
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Born:
(
1955-08-29
)
August 29, 1955
(age 68)
Newark, New Jersey
, U.S.
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June 4, 1991
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Umpiring crew
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Crew members
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Special Assignments
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Philip Cuzzi
(born August 29, 1955) is an American professional baseball
umpire
in
Major League Baseball
(MLB). He worked as a reserve umpire in the
National League
(NL) from 1991 to 1993 and returned to the NL in 1999. Since 2000, he has worked in both major leagues. Cuzzi wore number 99 when his career started; he now wears number 10.
Career
[
edit
]
Minor league umpiring
[
edit
]
Cuzzi appeared in the
New York?Penn League
,
Carolina League
,
South Atlantic League
,
Southern League
,
Triple-A Alliance
,
International League
,
American Association
,
Florida State League
, and
Eastern League
before his promotion to the major leagues.
[1]
Major league career
[
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]
Cuzzi made his major league debut on June 4, 1991, umpiring at first base in an 11-inning game between the
St. Louis Cardinals
and
Los Angeles Dodgers
.
[2]
From 1991 through 1993, Cuzzi umpired a total of 71 National League games.
Cuzzi's umpiring career temporarily came to a halt in 1993. He had advanced to
Class AAA
baseball and served as an MLB reserve umpire. However, although he had done well, by 1993 there were no full-time major league slots for him, and he was released. Cuzzi subsequently worked as a substitute teacher and bartender. While working at a hotel bar in 1996, he had a chance meeting with NL president
Len Coleman
, who allowed him to resume umpiring if he would work his way back up from the low minor leagues.
[3]
In 1999, Cuzzi returned to the NL, working 49 games. He was promoted to the full-time major league staff in 2000.
Notable games
[
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]
Cuzzi has worked the Wild Card Game in
2013
and the
Division Series
in
2003
,
2004
,
2009
,
2012
,
2015
, and
2016
. He has umpired in the National League Championship Series in
2005
,
2014
and
2019
. Cuzzi was also the plate umpire for Game 1 of the
2017 World Series
. He also worked the
2008 All-Star Game
at
Yankee Stadium
and the
2019 All-Star Game
at
Progressive Field
in Cleveland. In Game 1 of the
2015 National League Division Series
between the
Chicago Cubs
and
St. Louis Cardinals
, Cuzzi's wide strike zone was criticized by some Cubs players and media for contributing to their 4?0 loss.
[4]
[5]
Cuzzi has umpired in at least three MLB
no-hitters
. He was behind the plate for
Bud Smith
's no-hitter on September 3, 2001,
[1]
and for
Cole Hamels
' no-hitter on July 25, 2015.
[6]
He was the third base umpire when
San Francisco Giants
pitcher
Jonathan Sanchez
no-hit the
San Diego Padres
on July 10, 2009.
[7]
Cuzzi was the plate umpire for a game between the
Boston Red Sox
and
Tampa Bay Rays
on August 29, 2000.
[8]
During the game, eight members of the Rays were ejected (seven by Cuzzi), but no Boston players were thrown out, something that reportedly had never happened before.
[9]
On April 16, 2009, Cuzzi was the first base umpire for the first game ever at the
new Yankee Stadium
.
[10]
In the top of the 11th inning of game 2 of the
2009 ALDS
between the
Minnesota Twins
and the
New York Yankees
with no one out, Twins catcher
Joe Mauer
hit a ball that tipped off of left fielder
Melky Cabrera
's glove, landed fair, and bounced into the stands ? Cuzzi called it a foul ball, denying Mauer of a
ground rule double
.
[11]
This call proved to be costly as the Twins lost the game 4?3 on a walk-off home run in the bottom half of the inning.
[12]
On August 17, 2019, Cuzzi was umpiring at first base when he ejected Yankees
CC Sabathia
and
Brett Gardner
. Prior to Gardner's ejection, Yankees manager
Aaron Boone
was ejected by home-plate umpire
Ben May
. After Boone returned to the dugout, Gardner was seen hitting the top of the Yankees dugout with his bat, an action that had gotten him ejected on August 9 by
Chris Segal
.
[13]
In ejecting Gardner, Cuzzi demonstrated the action by Gardner which earned him his ejection, holding a phantom bat and jabbing it against a phantom dugout roof.
[14]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Cuzzi lives in
Nutley, New Jersey
with his wife, Gilda. He attended
Belleville High School
, where he played baseball and football.
[1]
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
a
b
c
"Umpires: Roster - Phil Cuzzi"
.
MLB.com
. Retrieved
July 26,
2012
.
- ^
"St. Louis Cardinals 3, Los Angeles Dodgers 2"
.
Retrosheet
. June 4, 1991.
- ^
"Ump gets second chance"
.
The Augusta Chronicle
. Associated Press. June 11, 1999
. Retrieved
July 27,
2012
.
- ^
"Cubs' offense stall in Game 1 loss as wide zone hampers approach - Chicago Cubs Blog - ESPN"
.
ESPN.com
. October 10, 2015
. Retrieved
October 13,
2015
.
- ^
"Playoff Umps Are Screwing Up A Tenth Of Balls And Strikes"
.
FiveThirtyEight
. October 12, 2015
. Retrieved
October 13,
2015
.
- ^
MLB - Boxscore - Phillies v Cubs _ Philly
- ^
Sanchez makes most of opportunity, throws no-hitter in front of father
ESPN.com.
Retrieved July 26, 2012.
- ^
"Retrosheet Boxscore: Boston Red Sox 8, Tampa Bay Devil Rays 0"
. Retrosheet.org
. Retrieved
January 11,
2013
.
- ^
Stark, Jayson.
"Brawls, ejections ... and a near no-hitter"
.
ESPN.com
. Retrieved
January 11,
2013
.
- ^
Yankees open new stadium with blowout loss to Indians
ESPN.com.
Retrieved July 26, 2012
- ^
"Phil Cuzzi- Blown Call - 2009 ALDS"
.
Archived
from the original on December 15, 2021
. Retrieved
September 24,
2017
– via
YouTube
.
- ^
"New York Yankees 4, Minnesota Twins 3"
.
Retrosheet
. October 9, 2009.
- ^
"Brett Gardner mistakenly ejected by umpire after Cameron Maybin and Aaron Boone argued balls and strikes"
.
CBS Sports
. Retrieved
August 9,
2019
.
- ^
"Yankees' Brett Gardner has to end his bat antics"
.
New York Post
. Retrieved
August 17,
2019
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Phil Cuzzi
.
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Names in bold are crew chiefs
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