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Tommy Woodring - LVBA Coach & Professional Umpire

By Ryan Lunceford, 02/04/15, 8:30AM PST

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As a seven year old, Tom Woodring (aka “Tommy”) dreamed of one day stepping onto a Major League baseball field. In April 2014, his dream would come true. However, it wouldn’t look quite as he imagined as a little leaguer playing in Henderson and Boulder City, NV.

At a young age, Woodring became fascinated with the game of baseball. Coming from an athletic family (his father played football in college), Woodring quickly picked up the game with the help of Mike Martin, LVBA’s owner and president. Martin offered Tommy weekly lessons in LVBA’s former batting cages and training center. His coaching helped Woodring move from just another kid who played baseball to a baseball player.

It wasn’t long before Tommy became a stand-out player in the Las Vegas Valley. At the age of 12, Tommy was chosen for the newly formed Boulder City Little League All-Star team followed by a season with one of the few club baseball teams at the time, the Southern Nevada Bulldogs. Then, as an 8th grader, Woodring played on the Bishop Gorman legion team—only one of two eighth graders on the team.

High school and college would prove to be much of the same for Woodring. He played two years under coach Tim Chambers at Bishop Gorman High School before transferring to the brand-new Foothill High School in Henderson, NV where he graduated in 2001. Eventually Tommy would make his way to Santa Barbara City College to play for the Vaqueros baseball program. However, after 3 years of catching behind home plate and playing first base, Woodring saw his playing career come to an end in 2004.

It seemed as though the dream of stepping onto a major league field was exactly that: a dream.

With a continued love for the game of baseball, Woodring made a shift from playing to coaching. From 2005-2007, Tommy served as an assistant baseball coach for his alma mater, Foothill High School. In addition, he began coaching with Mike Martin at LVBA; helping out with the Lightning club ball teams and the many clinics and camps offered by LVBA.

Then, in 2006-2007, Woodring made a decision that would forever change the course of his life. While in college, Tommy would umpire many inter-squad games. He discovered he had a bit of a knack for it and decided to pursue the possibility of umpiring at a high-level. He signed up for and attended the Harry Wendelstedt School of Umpiring - a five-week course that teaches the tools to becoming a professional umpire. Of the 250 students that attended, only 15 were chosen to attend PBUC’s Umpire School—Tommy was one of them. Of the 30 that attended Woodring’s session at The Umpire School, only a few were chosen to begin umpiring at the next level. Again, Woodring would find himself as one of the chosen. 

On July 12, 2007, Tom made his debut as a professional umpire in Fort Meyers, FL for the Gulf Coast League (rookie league) game between the Twins and Red Sox.  For the remainder of the summer, Woodring would umpire in the sweltering heat of Florida summers. Little did he know that it would serve as a training ground for greater things to come. 

In 2008, Tom moved up to Short-Season A ball in the Northwest League. In 2009, he would umpire for the Spring Instructional League in Florida followed by another step up to the Long-Season A ball in the South Atlantic League. In 2010 he was commissioned to umpire High-A ball in the California League.

Woodring would continue to make his way up the ranks of professional umpiring, landing a position in the AA Eastern league in 2011. Then, in 2012, Tom was invited to umpire the Futures Game at Kaufman Stadium during the all-star weekend. Working first-base for the game, Tommy knew that he had certainly made an impression and was poised to make another jump the following season.

In 2013, Tom joined a AAA Pacific Coast League umpiring crew. After a successful season, he was invited to Arizona’s Fall League—setting him up to be selected for a trip to Spring Training and the potential to umpire his first Major League game.

When spring rolled around in 2014, Tommy’s name was on the list of umpires selected to work the games of Arizona’s Cactus League. He spent the month of March working games from Peoria to Tucson in the hopes of making the call up list for Major League umpires and an opportunity to umpire at the highest level.

True to form, Tommy would make the call up list for the 2014 Major League baseball season. Though technically still a AAA umpire in the Pacific Coast League, the possibility existed to be called up on short notice and fill-in on one of the nineteen Major League umpiring crews. 

The first call didn’t take long.

On April 16, 2014, Woodring geared up for what would be his first time umpiring a Major League game. In the bowels of Yankee Stadium, he met the rest of the umpiring crew and was given the assignment to work third-base. Then, just before 1:00pm ET, Woodring fulfilled the dream he had as a seven year old kid. 

Though it may have been by a path less traveled, Tommy walked out of the tunnel at Yankee Stadium and took his first step onto a Major League field.

During the next six months Tom umpired over 100 games in the Majors—from New York to Los Angeles. Today he is preparing to umpire for this year’s Spring Training and another shot at working games at Major League stadiums around the country.

Despite all of the Major League fields Woodring has stepped on during the last six months, he still makes his way back to one field whenever he can. In the off-season, Tommy still takes the time to step on the field at the Las Vegas Baseball Academy to coach some of Las Vegas’ youngest and most talented baseball players. Asked why he continues to do so, Woodring simply replied, “I love baseball and want to give back.” 

Maybe, just maybe, one of those young baseball players will follow in Tommy’s footsteps…