One of the largest najor league baseball umpires, Eric Gregg died of a stroke at 55.

One of the stories I like about him is told former Phillies manager, Larry Bowa, n Game Five of the 1997 NL championship series against Atlanta, Florida's Livan Hernandez struck out 15 batters and the Braves' Greg Maddux fanned nine as the teams combined to set a championship series record with 25 in the Marlins' 2-1 win. Eight players were called out and several more fell behind in the count as Gregg appeared to make the plate wider than its usual 17 inches.

"Eric will be ever known for one game, but I don't think that's fair," Braves pitcher John Smoltz said.

Larry Bowa, a coach for the Phillies in the 1990s, remembered a steamy day in Florida when Lenny Dykstra argued balls and strikes with Gregg, hoping an ejection would give him an extra day off.

"Eric said, 'Lenny, I know exactly what you want me to do. You want me to run you out of this game.' And he says, 'If I got to stay in this heat, you got to stay in this heat, so it doesn't matter what you call me, how many times you call me, I'm not running you out of this game,"' Bowa said.