Richie Frey, one of the most beloved figures in local baseball, died on Sunday morning. He was 62.
Frey was a longtime area umpire who had become a fixture at Coca-Cola Park over the last five years as the warehouse manager.
Originally diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus in August 2011, Frey underwent surgery that October and was thought to have beaten the cancer.
But sadly, it returned and spread in recent months.
This was a man who loved baseball and loved people. That's why Coca-Cola Park was the perfect place for him.
I remember Frey proudly showing me around his workplace a few years ago and I could tell he was as popular among fellow workers as Ryne Sandberg, Rich Thompson and Andy Tracy were with the fans.
When he came back to work last spring, he was welcomed with open arms.
"I can't tell you how much I missed it," Frey said. "Sometimes it takes something like what I went through to realize how much people mean to you and how much you really enjoy doing what you do."
People enjoyed being around Frey.
"I don't know anyone who didn't smile or laugh when his name was brought up," said Blue Mountain League Hall of Famer Tim Fisher, who knew Frey since the two played Little League baseball together while growing up in Bethlehem.
"He was always laughing and upbeat. He was a great friend to so many and I am glad to be counted among them."
Like Dennis Schantzenbach who also left us much too soon when he died last spring, Frey got along with everybody in an often difficult profession.
Umpires and officials are often as competitive with each other as the coaches and players they control on the field.
But Frey didn't possess a large ego.
"If there was a rivalry among two umpires, he worked to bring them together," said Bob Varju, a longtime area umpire and the president of both the Tri-County and Blue Mountain amateur leagues. "He was a well-respected umpire and he helped out a lot of guys.
"I am indebted to him personally because he's the one who brought me over to do Pennsylvania high school ball. He spoke up for me. That's the kind of guy he was. He loved baseball and he loved people. He was the type of guy who would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it."
Frey was a solid baseball and softball player himself, spending 18 years in the Blue Mountain League and also catching Ty Stofflet, among others, while playing for the National Sokols fastpitch powerhouse.
He told me that when he got too old to play, he became an umpire. And when he got too old to umpire he turned to something that would keep him connected to the game he so dearly loved. That was the job in charge of the warehouse at Coca-Cola Park.
"They say no one is irreplaceable," Fisher said. "But to me, Richie Frey was irreplaceable."
Frey, who also ran the concession stands at Liberty and Freedom, worked high school, college, legion and amateur baseball for most of his umpiring career.
