BASEBALL MEMORIES: Cook twins devote 88 years to umpiring

If you have been an area ball player, coach or fan anytime during the past 40-plus years then there is a good chance you have been to a game umpired by one or both of the Cook twins…Wayne and Warren. The two have combined for 88 years and nearly 9,000 games of umping experience. Sleepy Eye ONLINE is pleased to host this story of their memories as both reflect on careers that is winding down. Thank you Wayne for the info and Warren for the photos! We thank you for your service to the games of baseball and softball.

Contributed Story

It’s the end of an era, and, at the same time, lots of baseball memories for the Cook twins, Wayne and Warren, of Sleepy Eye.

The final chapter of a distinguished umpiring career — 48 years for Wayne, 40 years for Warren — is about to be written Saturday, June 26, in their fifth and final appearance in the All-Star Series in Chaska. They started working the All-Stars in 2016.

There have been thousands of games (8,900) — 5,200 for Wayne, 3,700 for Warren — to reflect upon as they ponder retirement after the Covid 19 virus drastically cut the number of games they have worked the past two seasons.

When the reality of retirement hits, it will leave a void in their lives after spending countless hours on ball fields in several states, including Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas.

“It’s been quite a journey for us. We’d like to umpire for as long as we can. We’ve been blessed,” Wayne said.

When the game becomes more work rather than having fun, they agree that it is indeed time to step away.

“When I don’t enjoy it or have any fun, I know it’s time to walk,” Warren said.

“If it gets to be more work than fun, then we’ll know it’s time to quit. But I’ll hate to see that day when it comes,” Wayne said.

With health problems and overweight issues, it made the decision to step away from baseball next year much easier. That’s why the 2021 All-Star game will have special significance, especially since the All-Star Series was wiped out by the virus last summer.

The high school state tournament can’t compare, they said, to the All-Star game, where the top seniors in Minnesota comprise six teams, as the players in Chaska are playing for scholarships and a chance to be noticed by major-league scouts in the stands.

The Cooks may suffer withdrawal symptoms after missing the regular routine of being part of the national pastime — at all levels — including youth, midgets, teenage, VFW, Legion, college and amateur. Between them, they have been involved in a combined 35 state amateur tournaments statewide.

It is a 60-year commitment for Wayne and Warren, whose career began as 11-year-olds as batboys for Mulligan in 1961. There was a baseball field located two miles from their farm place in Mulligan Township, as well as in Comfrey, where games were played regularly.

They started umpiring together in 1980 after Warren coached six years with William Groebner in the Bi-County League.

Here is a small sampling of the Cooks’ favorite times umpiring together.

*1980, first year working the Class C state amateur tourney for Warren, who worked in back-to-back base games while Wayne worked the plate twice.

*1994, Belle Plaine beat Milroy, 4-2, at Arlington in the Class C finals. The Cooks had worked two Class B games prior to that.

*1998, NAIA regional hosted by Dakota Wesleyan in Mitchell, SD.

*2016, All-Star Series in Chaska for the fifth-place game (4-1) and championship contest (4-0). It was hot (mid-90s) and humid.

1980 THE BEGINNING
Warren, in his first year of umpiring, worked only the bases that season. That meant the burden of being the plate umpire fell on his twin, Wayne. Everything went smoothly. In one of the games, Norwood pitcher Dan Bergner silenced the bats of powerful Marshall, 4-0. He later hurled for Redwood Falls.

Marshall clean-up hitter, Lionel Bolden, an All-Conference outfielder at SSU, twice was retired with runners at second and third base.

1994 ALL THE ERRORS
The championship game featured a stark contrast between the starting pitchers: Belle Plaine left-hander Barry Wohler, who spent five years in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization; and Milroy right-hander Chris Pack, a Lamberton native and college freshman at Southwest State. He was selected as the Freshman of the Year in the conference.

Milroy won in 11 innings in the semifinals, and then had to travel to Arlington, where the fans waited. The fatigue from playing and then traveling about 20 miles took its toll on the Yankees, who were charged with nine errors.

The game ended with a runner at second base and the tying run at the plate. Earl Rich was the hitter who popped up to the second baseman. Rich had homered off Wohler earlier. Milroy finished with 40 homers as a team in the 40th anniversary year of the Yankees winning the mythical state championship in 1954.

1998 THE REGIONAL
The Cooks got off on the wrong foot at the outset, as they drove 3 1/4 hours to the college campus, but the games were being played at the municipal field in Mitchell as well as Salem. They had 10-15 minutes to drive across town. They made it, switching drivers as Wayne quickly got on his equipment as the plate umpire.

Warren said, “I don’t know how you got your game face on in eight minutes.”

The first inning was the difference as Bellevue, NB, scored three runs and won, 5-3, enroute to the tourney title. They were the defending national runners-up.

Warren had the thrill of working the plate as the Nebraska school won over Mayville State ND in the championship.

2016 ALL-STAR SERIES
It was 9 a.m. and the temperature was already 83 degrees. The day had temps in the mid-90s with the heat restricting the number of the fans attending.

Actually, it was the second All-Star appearance for Warren, who worked previously in 2005 with his partner, the late Manuel Rodriguez. Warren drew the first assignment and quickly noticed that the players made several major-league plays on defense.

He got in his car to check the temp, which he said was still 83. That can’t be possible, Wayne said. A later check found the temp had risen to 93 degrees by noon.

With a break before the finals, the Cooks went to Arby’s to cool down in the air-conditioning. They anxiously awaited the final game wearing light blue shirts, which showed the sweat on Warren’s uniform. The games were almost identical, with 4-1 and 4-0 scores.

David Darr, who played in Redwood Falls and got a coaching job in the Twin Cities, was one of the All-Star metro coaches in the title game.

“Wayne and Warren, I am glad to see you. I’m glad you made it here,” Darr said during the pregame festivities.

The All-Star experience was the highlight for the Cooks.

“They treated us like royalty,” Warren said. “We especially want to thank Dale Welter of Chaska for being so kind and respectful to us. It’s been amazing.”

The Cooks got invited to do the All-Star games after being recommended by Brent Meyer, the Belle Plaine manager in 1994. He had umpired in the All-Star Series. Shortly thereafter, Meyer died of a brain tumor. The Cooks are indebted to him for giving them the chance to be on the big stage at Chaska.

“You ump with a lot of different guys, but when your brother is out there with you — let alone your twin — that’s really kind of neat,” Wayne said.

What will life be without baseball for the 71-year-olds?

“The memories will be our legacy when we retire. We’ve met great players, coaches and fans and made many lifelong friendships,” Wayne said.

Finally, in crunching the numbers, Wayne worked an average of 108 games a year in 48 years, and Warren worked an average of 93 games a year in 40 years.

Come next year, the presence of the identical twin umpires, who grew up near Leavenworth, will be missed. Who will replace them?

They are “truly ambassadors of amateur baseball in Minnesota,” according to Harlen “Butch” Steen, the Raymond Rockets manager whose relationship with them has spanned 40 years.

“What they have accomplished in all areas of baseball over many decades is absolutely amazing. I have observed the professionalism that they bring to the game and their ambition. You can count on them. They are very caring and sincere about each and every team,” Steen said.

“There is many umpires that walked into a park to work a amateur game with a chip on their shoulder and always thought someone owed them something.  Warren and Wayne were two of a hand full (of umpires) that worked because they loved the game and weren’t worried about who they were impressing,” said Gary Hesse, former Fairfax Cardinal manager.  “Warren would allow you to argue and not treat u like it was a High School game.  People come to the park to see some of that and he would allow that up to a certain point.  If you got out of hand you were gone for the night.  Not once did Warren ever ask me how much I was going to pay him to work a promotion games like our Twins Night.”

“Warren and Wayne both deserve to be in the Minnesota Amateur Hall Of Fame,” concluded Hesse.

It would be hard to find anyone who would disagree with that statement!