EDITOR’S NOTE: If Topps had an Eddie Lorelli baseball card, it would show he’s 5-foot-4, 125 pounds, throws and bats right, played shortstop, was a manager and now is an umpire. Few guys that have picked up a bat or glove for a ballgame in Indiana County over the last generation haven’t met Lorelli. And most don’t know how many times he’s come back from the DL. Gazette staff writer Chauncey Ross chatted with Eddie about his comeback from a recent game injury.

Question: So you got hit by a baseball on June 8 and it almost ended your baseball career?

Answer: What happened was there was supposed to be two umpires. One umpire didn't show. It was a game between Gorell and Creps United, in Junior Legion.

When you're alone, you can either go behind the plate with a mask on if you want to, but you can't cover the bases as well. But if you're behind the pitcher, which I have done before, you can cover the bases a lot better.

So I went behind the pitcher. It was the top of the third, I think, this kid hit a line drive and the pitcher was in front of me. I seen the line drive coming and I thought he was going to stop it … but he sidestepped it and when he did, it was too late for me to move. And it hit me right here (points above his right eye). 

So I was laying there and some people said I was out, but I don't think I was out. They were asking me all kinds of questions and I answered them all. How old I was, who was the president, when was I born. It was like a quiz program.

When I came home from the hospital, I went to one of the games and a lady came over to me and said ‘I was one who took care of you,” And I said ‘You have to be a nurse.’ She said ‘I am, and the other is a nurse, too.’

Question: How serious was this injury?

Answer: I went to Indiana Hospital, they took me up by ambulance they took me in and took a CAT scan and X-rays. And I was put through the quiz program again and I answered everything. Then they asked if I wanted to go to Pittsburgh or Conemaugh, so I said Conemaugh because it would be easier for (Loretta) to drive to.

The reason they sent me down there is they don't have brain surgeons up here. They didn't know whether I needed an operation or not, so they wasn’t taking any chance, so they shipped me down to Conemaugh Valley.

I had a concussion and I had a lot of bleeding in the brain. But there was no blood vessels broken and there was no fracture. That's what they were surprised about.

The kept asking me, do I have a headache? I never had a headache. I still don't have a headache.

Question: So how long have you been in the game?

Answer: I started in Iselin, actually played baseball and I managed the big boys there. We played Apollo, Vandergrift, Salina - that's the teams we played. I managed the team a few years. I played shortstop and I pitched once in a while.

Question: High school?

Answer: I played basketball, football and track. We had an intramural program and in a foul-shooting contest, I made 24 of 25 set shots. And in that tournament they had up in Indiana, I played against Billy Hunter.

Question: Eventually you got past your playing days.

Answer: I managed Little League and Junior Legion for a while. I managed Indiana Lions; when Merle Stillwell retired, I took over.

Question: When did you start being an umpire?

Answer: I started officiating in Little League in about 1980, and I’d probably been up there 10, 15 years. I was the umpiring chief up there at least nine years.

Question: And when it's not baseball season?

Answer: I've probably been bowling for 30 years. I've been bowling with Ken Widdowson for over 25. I'm right now with the Indiana County Men's League and the Inter-City Men's League.

Question: What are your average and your career high game scores?

Answer: My highest average was 188 when I bowled at Indian Lanes, I had a 188 average. My high game - 271. I had four strikes, then I had a sour 10 pin, and I struck all the way.

This year I went to Erie, for the state tournament. Me and Ken in doubles, I do real good in doubles.

I just got a new ball. The other ball I had for 25 years. The reason I got a new ball, this It got too heavy for me. It was 14 and one half - I went to a 13-pound ball now.

Question: You mentioned being in two branches of the military. How did you manage that?

Answer: I quit school and I went into the Navy. It was the tail end (of World War II). I must have been in there a year and we got discharged. Then we came home, did a couple odd jobs. I worked in the coal mines, I didn't like it. Then I joined the Army - my brother joined at the same time, and we were shipped to Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Question: That put you in your second war.

Answer: I was in Korea. I was a fort observer. I made the Inchon Landing, I made the Iwon Landing, and we were one of the first groups that landed up in North Korea when our boys got stuck at the Chosin Reservoir. We lost a lot of troops up there. … I was ready to go into the Chosin but unfortunately the Chinese came upon us and we didn't get a chance to go. We took off, we went back.

My outfit was the first to retake Seoul. Seventh Division, 31st Infantry, in 1951.

There's one story I want to tell you, it's not a story about the war itself, but to me it was like a miracle.

Question: I think people like miracles …

Answer: We were on patrol and we decided to take a break and lounge around, heat up a can of rations. Out on the front, the homes had a structure that looked like a counter but it was made of mud, clay and straw. Coal was in the bottom and on top they had holes. They would put the pots on there and that's how they would cook. They would put the fire underneath. The above 5 lines were pinked out, but we need mention of the house to make the following seem logical

So we were on watch. I went up and one guy came out and I took his place. I no sooner got in there and I saw the fire was going down. So I decided to go get some more wood. This buddy of mine took my place and I got maybe 10 feet away and heard an explosion. Here they booby-trapped it. They had a hand grenade in there. The one that took my place got the full … he didn't die, but he was going to need a lot of plastic surgery.

Now what made me decide to go get that wood right then? I just got in there and I decided 'I got to go get more wood.'

It's one of those miracles between the other medical mysteries.

Question: You gave me this list of all your other medical issues. "Heart attack, open-heart surgery, 1974. Heart attack and surgery again, 1988. Prostate operation, gallbladder operation and back operation, all in 1991. A stent in 1996, another stent in 2005. Prostate radiation and a back operation in 2003. Double-hernia surgery in January 2008." There are people that wouldn't get out of their chairs anymore after going through all this, and probably some that don't survive.

Answer: People don't know that, that I'm umpiring with those conditions that I've been under.

Question: Do you think you're on borrowed time or gifted time?

Answer: I think I'm on gifted time, really. Considering - two heart attacks.

The first heart attack … came real early, 4:30 in the morning. (Loretta) drove me up to the hospital and they hooked me up with all this IV. They brought me in there and I was talking to the nurse. All of a sudden, I went out like a light. When I did come to, I looked at her and said, 'What happened?' She said, 'You had a heart attack.' I said, 'With all this apparatus on me?' She said, 'Yes.' And she said, 'Ed, count your blessings, you're talking to me.'

Question: And none of these medical problems have ever kept you out?

Answer: I came back and I didn't sit on my can. I went out and did stuff. I had 39 radiation treatments and went out and umpired every night.

Question: Who’s the best pitcher you’ve seen in the games that you’ve officiated, around here, all time? Someone stands out?

Answer: (thinking)

Question: Have you called balls and strikes for anybody that went to the big leagues?

Answer: Well, a catcher. Devin Mesoraco, from Punxsutawney. He got drafted by the Cincinnati Reds. He got a $1.4 million bonus and is playing for the Dayton Flyers now, a minor league team for the Reds. And Mike Ryan.

Question: So outside of pitchers, then, who is the best overall player?

Answer: I'll tell you, one of the best catchers I've ever seen, Mark Thomchick, in my opinion, he was just as good as Devin Mesoraco. He could hit the ball hard and he was a very good catcher.

But today, these are the worst pitchers I’ve ever seen in my life. The pitchers today, I don’t think, are too enthusiastic, like they were years ago. They walk off of the field, they walk back in. We used to run.

I’m still trying to think of the best pitcher I ever saw. I think there were a few good ones. But I can’t name a real good one with the possibility of going to the majors.

Question: Speaking of the majors, how did you get to be a Cincinnati Reds fan?

Answer: It was a few years ago. I don't know if you remember when Bob Purkey played for Pittsburgh and he used to lose the games 1-0, 2-1. And I used to just love the guy because he used to work his heart out and lose. They traded him to Cincinnati and he started winning 19, 20 games, because he had hitting behind him.

And they used to pick on Marge Schott, but I thought she was one of the best owners in the league. I'll tell you why. What I admire about Marge Schott is that the ballplayers had no long hair, no jewelry. Remember when (Dave) Parker went over there? He had to take all that jewelry off and shave and everything. And when they went to eat, they had to wear a sports jacket. I mean, they were clean cut. She made them look like baseball players. That's what I admired about her.

Question: Despite all these health problems, you're still out every night calling ballgames. There's got to be some reason you're blessed with all this.

Answer: Maybe because I didn't come home and sit down like some people would do, I don't know. I feel better when I'm out umpiring or doing something other than laying on the couch. I feel 100 percent better. 

 Eddie Lorelli, at a glance

Job: Retired from U.S. Steel Corp., Edgar Thomson Works, Braddock

Age: 80

Family: Wife, Loretta, and son, Gino, of Indiana

Residence: White Township

Where I grew up: Iselin

Hobby: I bowl and I umpire

Favorite food: Lasagna

Food I refuse to eat: Liver and salmon

Favorite movie: “The Godfather”

Last book I read: “The Godfather.” Now I read Little League baseball rulebooks.

Favorite way to spend a day: Either bowling, or umpiring or watching the games

Pet peeve: People who do not use common sense

Life goal: To reach 100

Person who most inspired me: Bill Heard, a chemistry teacher at Elders Ridge High School. He put a lot of common sense in my head.

Something people don’t know about me: I was in the Navy and the Army.