After 45 years of umpiring, Warwick’s Tom Soares calls it a career – John Cardullo

by John Cardullo, sportswriter

For the last 45 years Tom Soares has been a fixture on the City of Warwick’s softball field. Either playing at one of the city’s many men’s softball fields or by umpiring on those same fields. Although he had success playing and was a part of many championship teams, it was his umpiring that landed him in the Rhode Island Slow Pitch Softball Hall of Fame.

It was in 1982 when young Tommy followed in his father, Jack Soares, footsteps and began umpiring. Jack Soares was a fixture on the fields and a legend as an umpire in his own right. The elder Soares was inducted into the Rhode Island Slow Pitch Softball Hall of Fame the same year as his son was, in the inaugural class of 2018 – becoming the first father and son combination to be inducted. Both father and son worked together as well as separately, both brought a professional and a integrity to the position. Gone were the days when former softball players went into umpiring just “for the money”! Lead by Tom and Jack, the Warwick Umpires Association was considered the best umpiring association in the state.

Tom would often end up playing on several teams throughout his career. Teams that were well known in Warwick, were the CannoNBAlls, the Players 35 team and ROTC (Return of the CannoNBAlls). He was a good ball player, and though his teams often won championships, it was umpiring where he found his comfort zone.

“Whether it was calling balls and strikes from behind the plate, or running around the field making calls, I was never intimidated.” Soares said, “I got myself into the best possible position to make the call. I hustled around the field and the teams noticed and appreciated the fact that the effort was made to get the call accurate. They didn’t always agree with the call, but they were always respectful, most of the time.” Soares laughed.

Soares umpired his entire career in Warwick, starting out as an ASA umpire, then a USSSA umpire when the director switched over. A couple of years later the league went to NSA and finally became a Freedom when the softball director decided to try a new and upcoming softball affiliation.

“I had a collection of umpire shirts. Light blue for ASA, red for USSSA, white for NSA and now dark blue for Freedom. Although the different affiliations have their own quirky adaptions of the rules, the basic game remains the same.” Soares said.

The minimum and maximum height requirements of the pitches vary and the pitchers in some cases are allowed to “pump fake” in order to throw off the batters timing, but the bottom line is the ball has to cross the plate. “Over the past several years teams were allowed to steal bases, most teams don’t steal because they either forget or just don’t want to. You find the upper, more competitive teams will take advantage of the stealing rule.” Soares said.

In addition to umpiring in all the different affiliations, he was the State Umpire In Chief when Warwick played NSA and recently when they were Freedom. He was able to train up and coming umpires the way he was taught and brought along. By conducting pre-season clinics and in-season reviews of each umpire, he was able to get all the umpires on the same. He even took on running the highly competitive Clegg Night League for a couple of seasons. This is where he decided that he was taking on too much and needed a break.

Soares gave up running the league and resigned as the UIC. He cut his umpiring schedule to working a few games a week. After taking a season off to recharge his batteries, he returned to the diamond. Although he enjoyed coming back, he felt something was missing. “My wife retired, I was retired, and the grandkids were our priority. I learned when I took my hiatus that I like having the extra time. The aches and pains that I was able to shake off when I was younger had a habit of hanging around. So, I knew that it was time.”

“Looking back on my career I umpired softball games at the highest level. Doing an ASA Class “A” State final in the mid-1990’s between Action Auto Collision and the Blarney Stone Pub in front of a packed house at Providence’s Neutaconkanut field was incredible. Being called regularly to umpire in NSA regional and National Invitational Tournaments were always a lot of fun. Traveling out to North Branford, CT to work in NSA tournaments were enjoyable because of the level of teams that played there. Then there were no class “E” or “E” rec, it was “A” or “B” and those players knew how to play!” I have to say that the greatest moment of my career was when I umpired in the ASA National Championship that was held in York, PA.”

“I stopped playing when I turned 48; I am 67 now, so for the last 19 years I umpired more games than I care to think about. I seen and umpired some of the best teams that played in Warwick. Players, National Gold, Sports Legends, Backstop, F.J. Neuman Lumber, New England Lift Truck, Rison’s Raiders, Roger Williams Auto and Softball Supplements to name a few were some of the teams that I was able to umpire at both mine and their peaks. It was what I considered the best time for softball in this state!”

As for his final game, it was a playoff game. It was also being used as a clinic for new and up and coming umpires, naturally. Word had gotten out that this legend of an umpire was working his last game. When the game concluded, many of Soares’ colleagues were in attendance to say goodbye. Instead of doing the dramatic and laying his umpire counter and ball bag on the plate to indicated that this was his last game, he did what he always done for 45 years, he shook the hands of the players and quietly exited the field.

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John Cardullo, sportswriter. John is a lifelong Rhode Islander. His sports experience is extensive, as a player, coach and sponsor of youth and high school sports. He has been the Public Address Announcer for the CCRI Men’s and Women’s Soccer teams. Both the Cranston East and Cranston West football, Cranston East Boys and Girls basketball for 12 years before moving onto the Central, Juanita Sanchez and Mt. Pleasant football teams. Also, Central HS Boys and Girls Basketball, Scituate High School Boys and Girls Basketball, Johnston High School Girls Basketball, Boys Volleyball, Girls Softball, Boys and Girls Soccer teams, and CLCF football.

John has been involved in Men’s softball for 61 years, starting as a batboy for his father’s team in 1964. He moved to the teams scorekeeper then became a player in 1975, and created the men’s team, Players Corner Pub, that went on to win 20 State Championships in their 35 year History. In the 1990’s he published the statewide softball magazine “The Fielders Choice” which was dedicated to all topics related to adult softball. As a feature writer, John and the publication won several media awards. In 2019 he was elected and inducted into the Rhode Island Slow Pitch Softball Hall of Fame which he also helped create. John is a softball umpire in Warwick, Rhode Island.

In his spare time John golfs with his life long friends on a weekly basis in season. After retiring from the printing Industry after a 45-year career, he now writes specialty sports columns for RINewsToday.com.