Rejecting the rain, then ejecting the manager

Norman Rockwell’s “Tough Call”

Umpire Jocko Conlan ejects Frankie Frisch in the second game of a doubleheader 85 years ago today at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field after Pittsburgh’s manager walks out on the field with an umbrella to protest what he believes are deteriorating playing conditions. ‍

The ejection comes in the second game of the doubleheader, which the Dodgers sweep 9-0 and 6-2 in front of a Tuesday afternoon crowd of 9,372 in Brooklyn.‍

Artist Norman Rockwell uses the moment as an inspiration for his classic “Tough Call” that is first published on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on April 23, 1949.

The umpires depicted by Rockwell in his painting are Larry Goetz, Beans Reardon and Lou Jorda.

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