The Umpire Struck Out with Longview Fans
By Van Craddock
Joe Pate was a fan favorite when, as a 19-year-old, the lefthander was throwing strikes for the semi-pro baseball Longview Cannibals. Pate eventually became one of the greatest pitchers in Texas League history for the old Fort Worth Cats. But Pate (his given name was Joseph William) wasnÕt very popular on June 30, 1933, when the player-turned-umpire incurred the wrath of irate Longviewites at a Dixie League game. The Associated Press reported the near-riot thusly:
"LONGVIEW - Police protection saved umpire Joe Pate from possible injury here when a crowd of irate spectators swarmed threateningly on the field, interrupting a game which Henderson won 4 to 3 over the Longview Cannibals. "Pate had made several close decisions and during the course of the game ordered Danny Lunch and Polly Phelps, Cannibals, and manager Art Phelan of the (Henderson) Oilers off the field." The Longview Daily News version of the incident wasn't quite as fair and balanced as the AP account. Henderson had won the game "mainly through the incompetency of supposed-to-be umpire Joe Pate, whose miserable exhibition was the worst in the history of Dixie League baseball in Longview," said the local paper. Umpire Pate "had a bad day and unfortunately every one of his putrid decisions went against the Cannibals, and as the game progressed the worse the decisions were.
First one and then the other jumped the umpire, who could have been no worse." It was when Pate tossed the second Longview player out that things turned ugly. "Police protection was needed … when over a hundred men spectators swarmed out of the stands and onto the playing field to see whether or not catcher Moore caught Phelps' pop foul against the screen," said the Daily News, noting that "it was the first time this season Longview fans have shown enough spirit to make a real fight for a ball game." The outnumbered umpire made a dash to the dressing room with angry fans in pursuit. Pate locked himself inside while fans pounded on the door and "openly voiced their opinion of Pate's work."
It took a while but eventually the crowd dwindled. Fans finally went home and Pate lived to umpire another day. In fact, he umpired the Longview-Henderson game the very next day without incident. Joe Pate wasn't used to folks booing him. As a ballplayer he had been hugely popular with fans. He pitched 12 seasons in the Texas League, eight of those years at Fort Worth.
For six consecutive years (1920-1925) he won 20 or more games. Twice during that span he won 30 or more games for the Cats. Thanks to Pate's knuckle ball (and alleged spit ball), Fort Worth won seven Texas League championships. He played two years in the major leagues, going 9-3 for Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's in 1926-1927. He played a couple more seasons in the Texas League, and then retired to become a businessman and umpire. When the 1933 season ended, Pate decided he'd had enough of umpiring in the small-town Class C Dixie League.
From 1934 through 1939 he umpired in the more prestigious Texas League. He later helped organize several minor leagues, including the old East Texas League. Joe Pate died in December 1948 in Fort Worth at age 56. Baseball fans, young and old, lamented his death. Texas League President J. Alvin Gardner called Pate "The greatest pitcher we ever had … (He) put more money into the till than any other player in Texas League history. When Pate was to pitch for Fort Worth, it always meant a big crowd."
Joe Pate was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1972 and joined the Texas League Hall of Fame in 2004.