Love of the game keeps Neil Franklin on the diamond

Source: Brandon Sun

DELORAINE -- For the love of the game, Neil Franklin continues to umpire baseball and fast pitch, plus also finds time to coach U15 girls' fast pitch -- at age 69.

Born in 1955, Franklin wears two different hats when it comes to baseball and fast pitch as the retired automotive sales and dealership owner umpires and coaches his two favourite sports without hesitation with the advent of spring.

"It's all about the love of the game," he explained on an off-day from the diamond. "When the time comes for me to quit, especially when it comes to umpiring, in essence, I do not want somebody to come up to me and tell me I'm too old or too slow.

"For me, the love of the game means not just physicality at my age, but also mental. Being out on the diamond as a coach, or umpiring, keeps me in touch with the youth ... and I've always done this because I still want to give back to my community."

Giving back means the Melita resident not only umpires high school, youth ball, girls' and ladies fast-pitch in his own community, but also spends considerable time in Deloraine, where he has deep roots and started playing minor ball as a kid.

When he's umpiring a South West Baseball League (SWBL) game featuring the Deloraine Royals, it takes him back to his own youth as a teenager. Yes, Franklin played for the same Royals after he graduated from Grade 12 in 1973. He would wear the Royals uniform until 1978 before life changed and he started working and raising a family.

UMPING

"Now, when I'm doing games in the South West Baseball League and the Royals are playing, I not only umpire the game doing bases, but I also get to watch two of my grandsons play," he said.

The grandsons in question are Kai and Griffen Ryden, who also have a passion for baseball just like their grandfather.

While Franklin is officially retired from his car dealership and selling cars/trucks days, when he's not on the diamond, he has two part-time jobs working with funeral homes in Killarney and Melita. Sometimes he arrives for an ump assignment in the SWBL having just come from a weekend funeral service.

Franklin initially started umpiring in 2006, working recreation baseball and fast pitch in Melita and Deloraine for the next decade when you did not need to be certified by Baseball Manitoba. In 2016, he certified and worked games in the SWBL, high school, U13 and older age groups. He also found himself doing high school and senior ladies recreation fast-pitch games.

"Umping baseball or fast pitch has kept me active both physically and mentally at my age," he said. "Sure, I have to know two rule books, but it's a lot of fun when I'm doing games.

"I really enjoy doing the fast-pitch games with the girls, or ladies, and I generally do not have any issues because they just want to play.

"There are so few umpires in the Melita/Deloraine area ... I am still doing games because I don't want to see kids not being able to play ball because they do not have any umpires."

BASEBALL OR FAST PITCH

While he has no preference when it comes to which sport he umpires, Franklin would like to see more former players get involved in umpiring so the kids, and grown-ups, have officials on the diamond.

"I'm not getting any younger," he said laughing. "There will come a time when I decide I can't do it anymore, and who's coming up behind me to fill that spot?"

While fast pitch is more relaxing for Franklin, sometimes doing games in the SWBL can become testy as players become excited when a call does not go their way.

"I stick to my calls, and I've never ejected anybody from a game. I do give warnings," he said. "My approach to conflict is to remain calm, and I'll talk about it, but my call will still stand because that's what I saw. Am I perfect? Nobody is as things happen in a game, perhaps I was not in the right position to make the call which I made ... it happens."

Franklin said like players not making the perfect throw, catch or swing at the bat, umpires can make a mistake, too.

"We learn from those mistakes, to be in a better position to make the call the next time. I might be 69, but I'm learning all the time. As long as I'm having fun doing what I enjoy doing when it comes to umpiring, then I just move on to the next game."

While he's more confident behind the plate doing fast-pitch and calling balls and strikes seeing the much larger yellow-coloured ball, when it comes to baseball, Franklin lets the younger umpires work the plate. He's more than comfortable handling the three bases.

COACHING

Besides his umpiring, coaching is Franklin's other diamond passion. He started coaching fast pitch with daughters Britney and Alissa during a 10-year stint starting in 1995. Now he's an assistant coach with daughter Britney's U15 AAA girls' team in Deloraine, with granddaughter Mardee on the roster.

Standing at third base for games, he's the one who gives the signals to teenagers who sometimes miss what he's trying to ask for as part of the team's strategy with runners on base.

"It's trying at times getting them to follow my signals, so my daughter and I keep it simple if we want them to bunt or steal," he said.

"Mainly, I try to mentor the girls about positioning and batting procedure, what to do when we have one on and nobody out, or with two on and one out," he explained. "I try to talk about the mental part of the game with these young girls. Their physicality is already good, it's just trying to make them better as players with the mental part of the game."

This also means no iPhones on the field, or in the dugout to check on social media or TikTok posts.

"We're asking the girls for 90 minutes of their time," he said. "I'm asking them to zone in on the ball game, and not worry about what they're missing on their phones."

Besides still being active in umpiring and coaching, with the advent of winter, Franklin puts on his hockey scouting hat and heads out to arenas throughout southwest Manitoba, where he will watch U18 AA and AAA girls' games. Why?

"I'm a scout for the Dakota Lady Lumberjacks hockey team playing in the American Collegiate Hockey Association, a team that plays the ACC Cougars," he said. "I know the coach as a friend of the family, Reid Loucks from Melita, who coaches the team. He asked if I'd be interested in scouting the local talent for his team, and I said sure.

"I don't get paid. It's all volunteer, but the team will pay for my gas, give me a team sweatsuit. I've recruited about seven girls for the team the past couple of years."