CL Umpire Koichi Uemoto Passes Away
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Re: CL Umpire Koichi Uemoto Passes Away
[ Author: westbaystars | Posted: May 6, 2006 6:46 PM
| YBS Fan
]
I saw the flags at half-mass today (May 6) at Yokohama Stadium. Does anyone know if this was to honor Uemoto-san?
Re: CL Umpire Koichi Uemoto Passes Away
[ Author: Christopher | Posted: May 7, 2006 9:52 AM
| HAN Fan
]
Yes it was - we stood in a silent prayer in respect of him as well.
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According to Nikkan Sports, Uemoto had just returned to his home in Saitama after umpiring a day game at Nagoya Dome on the 4th, asked his wife to wake him at 10:30 the next day (as he had the 5th and 6th off), but he never awoke from that sleep.
Uemoto is survived by his wife and two daughters, the older playing softball for her high school team. His wife commented, "he was a man of few words, so the girl(s) often said that they were just happy to play catch with him."
The Central League offices had never heard of any health problems with Uemoto-san. And he performed his duty on the field the previous day without incident. So the suddenness of his death came as quite a shock to many.
Uemoto was drafted out of high school in the 1981 draft (5th round) by the Hiroshima Carp as a catcher. In 1985 he became a Central League umpire where, up until May 4, he worked 1,412 games.