R. I. P. Carl Lake

Veteran umpire Carl Lake with his grandsons Nathan Edwards (top) and Cameron Edwards (bottom). Lake worked games for 53 years at St. Pat’s Field in St. John's.

I can’t believe I never finished this ... Carl Lake

Writers note: I am saddened to learn about Carl’s passing on Wednesday. My heartfelt condolences to his family and everyone that knew him well.

The story below is something that I was working on this summer. Carl and I were in discussions to do a co-piece together; I was working on one about him, and he was going to visit Premier Sports Academy Inc. for a feature on the facility. Obviously this never came to fruition.

I remember being on a leadership field trip in the 12th grade, sitting around a campfire, and our teacher (Jim Brien) asked us about things that we regret. For me, it was then and will always be, ‘things left unsaid’.

Carl, I am genuinely sorry that I didn’t take the time to publish this story while you were still alive, though I have a feeling you will still hear it nonetheless less!

Congratulations on having lived an incredible life. You did so much for your community, sports and this province. You are a genuinely wonderful person, and St. Pat’s just lost a piece of its heart and soul with your passing.

You will be missed.

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By Ryan Sweeney

Dedicate ... Commit ... Succeed

Change ... The ... Culture.

These are our tag lines at Premier Sports Academy, and they represent what we are trying to teach our young athletes. Through our individual dedication and commitment, collectively we will be successful. When each individual adopts this mind set, the culture will have changed, and our ability to be successful will be permanent.

After spending the summer back at the ball field, after so many years away from the sport due to injury and travelling abroad for work, I’ve come to better understand that there are people on the other side of the game who take commitment to a whole new level. I think as a competitor, someone who plays the game for fun, or a coach who is mentoring the next generation, it is easy to show up to the field day-after-day; there’s a reason to get excited.

What about umpires, why do they continue to show up? Let’s be honest: they aren’t getting rich from it; It’s a thankless job at the best of times; and at the worst, well let’s just say if players and coaches were treated that way, they’d stop showing up pretty quickly.

What about showing up to the park for the better part of seven decades, and calling the balls and strikes for more than 50 years? What about after getting a cancer diagnosis and battling for an extended period of time - would you still be able to make the walk to throw out the season’s first pitch? Would you still be able to do one game to keep the streak going? Oh, and on the side, maintain a sports column each day promoting teams and players ... would you be able to do that?

When you write all of that in one paragraph, it doesn’t seem plausible. Then again, there’s only one Carl Lake for a reason.

Mr. Lake has done it all, and he’s seen it all. Ask him who the greats were, he will compliment many, but he has strong fact based opinions about the best to ever play locally:

Best Hitter: “By far, Gary Gulliver. He could give you a clutch hit or home run anytime”.

Best Fielder: “Wow ... many great fielders … Bill Fitzgerald at second base, Hoss Cochrane at first, Brian Colbourne of Corner Brook. Put Brian Colbourne anywhere and he would gobble things up. Darren Colbourne from Corner Brook and Ray Colbourne ... there were many”.

Best Pitcher: “Tom and Frank Humber brothers from Corner Brook. Jesus, Tom could blow it by anyone and Frank was smart with every pitch. Bobby Kent was also a great pitcher, and no one can forget Mac Rideout - what a talent on the mound. Of course, Mike and Sean Janes brothers with Holy Cross were very smart on the mound”.

Best Coach: “Many. Don Colbourne in Corner Brook, Brian Farewell and Bill Campbell in St. John’s; and of course, Sean Gulliver.”

When I asked Carl about his favourite memory, you get the feeling that you’re speaking to someone that is very different than the rest of us. While a lot of us may be passionate about the sport, Carl lives it with every emotion and sense in his body.

Greatest Moment: “Umpiring at Nationals in St. John’s in 1982, I did the plate that two former major league pitchers pitching. Bill “Spaceman” Lee with Quebec and Dave Pagan with Saskatchewan. Both pitchers came to the umpires’ room after a game and asked who the plate umpire was and shook my hand. Lee said I was too small for majors, but when he threw (as he said) his bread and butter pitch on the knees on the black of the plate, he got the pitch and the same for Pagan, who broke in with the Yankees. That compliment from two major league pitchers was some thrill.”

Carl has lots of great memories, not just personal ones, but ones that include the greatness, success and contributions of others:

Frank Humber’s screwball: “It was named right, it screwed me up many times.”

How about the evolution of umpiring, how did that role grow and evolve in Newfoundland? “The first change for umpires came when Paul Whelan went to a clinic in New Brunswick, but biggest is when Dave Buckingham brought in two American umpires... man did we learn a lot. Dave was persistent that we be perfect or at least good on field. Many things have changed but the dedication of umpires in St. Johns is fantastic”.

Carl is a pioneer in our sports community, and we are truly lucky to have someone like him. It was a pleasure to see him around the ball field this summer. His dedication and commitment to the sport of baseball embodies the mind set and mentality we want from our athletes. Not only will you have success with this approach, but you will create a lifetime of friendships and memories along the way!

Thank you Carl!

Ryan Sweeney

President - Premier Sports Academy Inc.