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Hooks, Texas |
Beginning his 22nd season with the American League in 1998. Umpired more than 3,400 major league games; his post-season highlights include:
1988 World Series; 1981-83-87-92-97 AL Championship Series; 1996 AL Division Series; 1984 and 1995 All-Star Games.
Awards and Honors
1985 — The Sporting News “Best Hustler”
1987 — Named Honorary Attorney General of Oklahoma
1991 — USA Today “Most Colorful”
• Citations from both the Texas and Michigan legislatures for his charitable works.
Nominated for:
Longtime commitment and efforts to help the poor in the community of Hooks, Texas. Founder of the Hooks Christian Services Charity.
Family: Married — Carolyn; 2 children
Sports Officiated: Professional baseball
Present Activity: Currently enjoying his 22nd season in the American League.
Reggie Jackson once called him the “Reggie Jackson of umpiring,” and even though Durwood Merrill isn’t as brash as the Hall of Fame slugger, he certainly is one of baseball’s most entertaining figures.
For 22 major league seasons, he has been one of the most colorful characters in the game. He has a homespun wit and charm and, in some respects, he’s become a kind of Will Rogers of sports. Fans across the country know him for his cowboy boots and black hat and managers refer to him as “Big Tex.” Durwood’s friends say he is part John Wayne, part Will Rogers and part Elmer Gantry (he was raised in a Baptist minister’s home).
Because of his Christmas charity work in his hometown of Hooks, a town of 2,000 tucked into the northeast corner of Texas, Merrill has been featured by both ESPN and The Sporting News. He has co-authored a book about his life, entitled, You’re Out
and You’re Ugly Too: Confessions of an Umpire with Attitude. It was released this spring by St. Martin’s Press of New York.
To understand Durwood Merrill is to know about his conviction, dedication and commitment to a Christmas charity in his hometown that provides food, toys, bicycles and clothes to almost 200 impoverished people every year. The charity began with one family in 1979 when Merrill learned that a woman and three children had no gifts and were starving. After helping that family, the charity grew by almost five families per year until it became the Hooks Christian Service a few years later. The service now provides help to needy people year round in East Texas.
Says Merrill, “A lot of times I’ll walk into one of those homes and the mama will be bawling and she’ll say to me, ‘I just told the kids we wouldn’t be having Christmas and then you show up.’ That’s the stuff you never forget. I truly believe that this work is my ministry.”