August 19, 2008 / Sports / Brooklyn Cyclones / Ups & Downs

From booth to field

By Ed Shakespeare

The Brooklyn Paper

The Brooklyn Papers / Gary Thomas

Cyclones video man Fred DeJesus is also a certified umpire. It's a good thing, too, because he got to fill in on Saturday night, after the home plate ump got injured. The Cyclones won. Just a coincidence?

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Fred DeJesus arrived at Keyspan Park on Aug. 16 and made his usual pre-game preparations as a member of the Cyclones video booth squad — including checking in with the umpires to make sure they had everything they need for the upcoming contest.

Then he went upstairs to the video booth and worked the first game of the Cyclones’ twilight double-header against the Tri-City Valley Cats.

In the second inning of the nightcap, home plate ump Mathieu Moisans was hit in the mask with a fastball. He was hit again in the top of the sixth inning — and this time, began to feel light-headed and dizzy.

When Cyclones’ trainer Matt Hunter recommended that he go to the hospital with a possible concussion, he might not have agreed so readily had he not known about DeJesus’s double life: he’s also a trained and certified umpire.

In fact, DeJesus, 35, a resident of Bensonhurst, had just umpired an American Legion game in Canarsie before the doubleheader, so, as always, he had his umpiring equipment with him.

“[Cyclones’ General Manager] Steve Cohen explained to the Tri-City manager [Pete Rancont] that I was a certified umpire, and he agreed to allow me to fill in,” said DeJesus.

Base umpire Matt Jones — there are only two umps at a New York-Penn League regular season game — took over behind the plate, and DeJesus manned the bases.

In addition to umpiring college games, DeJesus fills in as an umpire in the professional independent Canadian-American League, so he’s no neophyte to pro baseball.

“I wasn’t really that nervous,” said Dejesus about his field promotion.

There’s a reason for his grace under fire. In his career, DeJesus has now umpired six Cyclones’ games, including away games at Staten island and at Aberdeen.

A similar call to umpire two years ago resulted in an argument with then-Cyclones manager Mookie Wilson in which DeJesus calmly stuck to his guns on a close, and apparently correct, call that went against his employer, the Cyclones.

“There weren’t any tough calls this time,” said DeJesus of his latest experience. The Cyclones were leading 6–1 when he entered the game, and went on to win 6–2.

The next day, Moisans was still under doctors orders to rest, but to avoid any appearance of impropriety, another umpire filled in.

DeJesus was back in the video booth, ready for his next call to duty.

©2008 Community Newspaper Group