‘What’s My Line?’ Tata Didn’t Fool Panel

When Terry Tata was just 21 years old, he appeared on television’s long-running Sunday night show, “What’s My Line?” The producers figured – incorrectly – that the celebrity panelists would be fooled by his baby face and wouldn’t guess his occupation: Professional baseball umpire.

“I was supposed to be the youngest umpire in professional baseball,” he says. “I went around the panel once before somebody – I think it was Arlene Francis – guessed what I did.”

Terry Anthony Tata is still boyish in appearance, although he just celebrated his 71st birthday. On Thursday, he shared a multitude of stories, most of them true, about his 27 summers as a National League umpire and 40 years in professional baseball with the group known as the Silver Sluggers at the Derby Public Library.

“There must have been 60 people there. They are a good group of guys (and a few women). They asked some good questions,” he relates.

The Silver Sluggers were founded more than five years ago by Rich Marazzi, co-host of ESPN Radio’s “Inside Yankee Baseball,” baseball rules consultant and author of five baseball books. They gather each Thursday morning during the season to watch films, discuss their favorite sport and, on occasion, listen to special guests.

The Waterbury-born and –bred Tata fit right in. From 1973 until ’99, he was a member of the National League umpiring staff, working 3,743 regular-season games, four World Series, seven NL Championship Series and three All-Star Games. He was behind the plate for two no-hitters – Phil Niekro, Aug. 5, 1973 and Tom Seaver, June 16, 1978 – and was part of the officiating crew for three other no-no’s.

For a guy who was paid $1.50 for his first umpiring gig in the Piersall League, for an umpire who endured 13 minor league seasons before finally being promoted to the majors, it’s been a remarkable life.

Terry and his wife of nearly 39 years, Janice, live in a comfortable home, replete with wine cellar, in Cheshire. He receives a pension from Major League Baseball. Janice gets a pension from her career as a teacher in the Waterbury school system. He still works out three days a week at the Waterbury YMCA.

“I’m very, very blessed that I am able to live this lifestyle,” he says. “People ask what would have happened if you didn’t make the majors? Well, I guess I would have gone to work for a friend as a liquor salesman.”

As a teenager, Tata was umpiring three to five games a week in Waterbury. The Grammar League. The Parochial League. The 6th Grade League. “We used to get our assignments through the newspaper each Sunday. Your name would be in parentheses for the games you'd work that week,” he says.

“I started at $1.50 a game. Then they doubled it to three bucks. They gave it to you at home plate.”

In the spring of 1960, Tata entered the Al Somers Umpiring School in Daytona Beach, Fla. – which would, if he achieved passing grades, place him on a path to an umpiring position on one of minor league baseball’s lower rungs.

Encouragement came from Augie Guglielmo, another Waterbury native who umpired in pro ball for 20 years (and in the National League in 1952). In 1961, Gugie would become Terry’s stepfather when he married Marfisa Tata. 

As Tata recalls: “Augie calls down there and asks, ‘How’s the kid doing?’ Somers tells him: ‘With that baby face, he’ll get killed in the minor leagues.’”

Boyish appearance aside, Tata was assigned to the Midwest League, at Class D, the lowest rung on the ladder. “I received $139 dollars every two weeks.”

He would toil in the game’s outposts for 13 seasons, from the Midwest League to the Northern League, from the heat and humidity of the Texas League to the larger, but nonetheless, minor league cities of the International League until, finally, being assigned to the National League in 1973. Starting salary: $12,500 a year.

His earnings would climb through the years to more than $210,000 per season, with additional compensation for serving as crew chief and post-season assignments, and per-diem money when he was on the road.  

As an umpire, Tata learned to live with the taunts and occasional profanity from fans, and infrequent arguments with managers and players. He remembers one “bizarre play” when the razzing was justified:  

“We’re playing in New York at Shea. Tying run at third. Mets are hitting. Sacrifice fly to center field. The runner – I don’t remember who – is out by 10 feet. I call him out. Bob Boone is the catcher. When the dust had cleared, the ball is laying under Boone’s chest.  (Mets Manager Joe) Torre and (coach Joe) Pignatano went nuts.”

Many years later, Tata would receive much higher marks for his decisive call in the 1991 World Series between the Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins. The Braves won the fourth game, 3-2, in the bottom of the ninth inning when Mark Lemke slid past Brian Harper, the Twins catcher.

Both the ball and the runner appeared to arrive simultaneously, and Harper seemed to tag Lemke. “Safe!” signaled the plate umpire, Terry Tata. The Twins catcher appeared ready to fly into a rage, until the Twins realized the contact point had been the catcher’s elbow, not the ball.

“(Television commentator) Tim McCarver was very generous with his comments that night,” Tata recalls. “Writers and photographers were coming by and saying ‘Nice call.’ That was the most memorable play in the World Series, and I had a whole winter to enjoy it.”