John Kruk recalls threatening to kill umpire

John Kruk remembering that time he threatened to kill an umpire is just another day in the Philadelphia Phillies broadcast booth.

During the ninth inning of the Phillies 5-2 win over the Miami Marlins in South Beach Monday night, Kruk revealed he just received an interesting note about the game’s home plate umpire Brian O’Nora from former ESPN colleague Judson Burch.

“The game before I retired, I think I threatened to kill him.” – John Kruk on home plate umpire Brian O’Nora

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“I just got a text message from Judson Burch,” Kruk told broadcast partner Tom McCarthy. “Big Phillies fan. Big umpire savant. He said Brian O’Nora has been around so long, he threw you out of a game.”

McCarthy questioned whether the nugget of information was true and Kruk began to jog his own memory.

“Well,” Kruk said. “The game before I retired, I think I threatened to kill him.”

That will certainly get you ejected!

O’Nora began his career as a Major League Baseball umpire in 1992. John Kruk retired in 1995. And according to Baseball Reference, O’Nora was the home plate umpire during Kruk’s penultimate game, a pinch hitting appearance that ended in a strikeout.

Kruk’s retirement was one of the most unique ever, waiting to get one final hit before immediately walking off the field to call it a career. But before that final hit, Kruk was in the middle of an 0-15 streak, culminated by that strikeout with O’Nora behind the plate. So, with Kruk seeing the finish line on his career but struggling to get there, it’s certainly possible that a borderline strike call by O’Nora would have set him off.

Three decades later, O’Nora is still drawing the ire of MLB players as an umpire. And John Kruk is one of the most popular broadcasters in the sport thanks to stories like these.