Eric Gregg Dead at 55 [J. Mark English]

Richard Goldstein - New York Times...

Eric Gregg, who umpired in the major leagues for more than two decades while battling a craving for food and drink that spotlighted health concerns surrounding overweight umpires, died yesterday in Philadelphia. He was 55.

His death was announced by his son Kevin, who said he had a stroke on Sunday, The Associated Press reported.

Gregg was a full-time National League umpire from 1978 to 1999 and worked the 1989 World Series, four League Championship Series, two Division Series and an All-Star Game. He was the third black umpire in the major leagues, following Emmett Ashford, who made his debut in the American League in 1966, and Art Williams, who began umpiring in the National League in 1972...

...Gregg was born and raised in Philadelphia. He played high school baseball, but he was already overweight, destroying any chance at a playing career, he recalled in his memoir "Working the Plate," written with Marty Appel. Seeking a way out of the poverty and crime in his inner-city neighborhood, he turned to umpiring, beginning with Little League games while he was a teenager. After attending an umpire school, he began umpiring in the minor leagues at age 20...

...Amid all his travails with weight, and the premature end of his umpiring career in the labor dispute, Gregg remained proud of his accomplishments. As he told The Associated Press in 2001, "For a kid from the ghetto, I've done things you've never dreamed of."