Five former MLB umpires are now fighting Major League Baseball in federal court, but Yankees fans may know them best for a string of confrontations that left New York with a long memory.
Joe West, Tom Hallion, Gerry Davis, Larry Vanover and Jerry Layne filed a lawsuit Sept. 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Their case became public on Nov. 5, and attorney Paul B. Holmes said the five believe they are owed more than $2 million.
Together, the umpires worked 21,063 regular-season games across 179 seasons.
The complaint targets MLB’s retirement plan for umpires and its retirement committee. The five say their benefits were calculated incorrectly under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
The issue, according to the lawsuit, involves actuarial increases for umpires who started collecting retirement payments after normal retirement age. West and Vanover received lump sums, while Davis, Hallion and Layne receive periodic payments.
The group first raised concerns in 2021 and then went through internal appeals and settlement talks. Holmes has said other retired officials may have been affected, but only these five are plaintiffs. Their union is not part of the suit.
For Yankees followers, though, the names come with baggage.
Davis was behind the plate for one of the most notorious Yankees pitching controversies of that era. On April 23, 2014, at Fenway Park, Boston manager John Farrell asked Davis to inspect pine tar visible on Michael Pineda’s neck.
Davis ejected Pineda in the second inning of a 5-1 loss. Pineda admitted using pine tar for grip in cold weather, and MLB later suspended him for 10 games.
West crossed paths with Aaron Boone on Sept. 21, 2019, at Yankee Stadium. In the first inning of a 7-2 Yankees win over Toronto, Giancarlo Stanton struck out looking against T.J.
Zeuch, and the New York dugout objected to several low pitches. West, working third base, ejected Boone for yelling at plate umpire Jeremie Rehak.
Rehak also ejected Yankees hitting coach Marcus Thames.
Hallion’s run-in with Boone came April 15, 2022, at Camden Yards. Aroldis Chapman walked Ramón Urías with the bases loaded in the 11th inning, and Baltimore walked off with a 2-1 win.
Boone charged out of the dugout, first moving to shield catcher Jose Trevino while arguing the call, then following Hallion off the field before being ejected after the game had ended. Chapman admitted he lost the batter.
Vanover’s Yankees moment arrived in Cleveland on April 12, 2023. A replay dispute led him to eject Boone in the first inning, and four innings later Vanover was hit on the side of the head by an 89-mph relay throw from Guardians second baseman Andrés Giménez.
He left the field, spent two nights at the Cleveland Clinic and was later released. The Yankees won 4-3, and Boone said he was concerned for the umpire.
Layne’s Yankees connection goes back to May 13, 2014, when he ejected Joe Girardi after the fifth inning of a 12-7 loss to the Mets at Yankee Stadium. Girardi had objected to a called third strike against Kelly Johnson that stranded two runners while New York was still trying to chip into a big deficit.
Girardi said the ejection caught him off guard. In 2017, Layne was crew chief when a fan was removed from a Yankees-Rays game for shouting pitch locations, with plate umpire Dan Bellino initiating the removal.
West, who umpired an MLB-record 5,460 regular-season games, said he brought the payment issue to the retirement committee. He also pointed to a response from MLB senior vice president and chief employment counsel Steven Gonzalez as part of what pushed the officials toward court.
“If you don’t like the number, sue us.”
West also brought up his own legal history, noting that he won $500,000 in damages in a defamation case involving former catcher Paul LoDuca in 2021.
“Does Steve Gonzalez not know my history with dealing with lawsuits?”
MLB declined to comment on the pending case, and the allegations have not been resolved by a court.
West and Davis retired after the 2021 season, Hallion after 2022, and Layne and Vanover after 2024. The lawsuit seeks benefits the former umpires say they earned during those careers.
U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams has set a pretrial conference for Dec. 11, and as of Nov. 6 there has been no ruling on the retirement calculations.
In Other News...
Yankees Offseason Update Raises New Doubts About Two Key Roster Plans
The Yankees are already signaling that this winter may not be a quiet one. Jack Curry said the club expects to be active before Dec. 1, and his offseason update offered a clearer look at where the front office believes the roster still needs work. Two of the biggest questions sit on the defensive side, where the long-term picture in center field and the immediate situation at third base both appear unsettled.
Currys comments also hinted at how the Yankees may be thinking beyond the current roster construction. He raised the possibility of Cody Bellinger moving to center field in 2027, a nod to the idea that the club may not be fully sold on Spencer Jones as the answer there. At third base, the Yankees still view the spot as a need even with Ryan McMahon on hand, and his underwhelming performance has only sharpened the scrutiny around what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Offense Just Sent An Offseason Warning Fans Cant Ignore
The Silver Slugger finalists were announced, and for the first time in a while, the Yankees were nowhere to be found among the American League team finalists. After winning the award in each of the previous two years, that absence lands as a reminder of how uneven the offense looked across the season, especially with Aaron Judge dealing with injuries that affected the lineups overall punch.
Tampa Bay, Houston, Chicago and Minnesota all made the finalist list instead, a group that underlines how much ground New York has to make up if it wants to get back into that conversation. For a club that has long sold itself on star power and run production, being left out of the mix is the kind of offseason warning that tends to linger. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Third Base Search Just Got More Complicated This Offseason
The Yankees offseason search for help at third base has picked up a familiar kind of complication: the kind that involves a division rival with a young bat and a price tag shaped by need. Baltimore infielder Coby Mayo has surfaced as a possible trade target, and his appeal is obvious enough for New York. He showed real offensive growth last season, and his power production would fit the kind of lineup upgrade the Yankees have been weighing.
Mayos path in Baltimore is less clear because the Orioles have a crowded infield and are open to trade talks, especially if pitching is part of the return. That is where the Yankees could have an opening, since their system and big-league staff give them something the Orioles are known to value. The fit makes sense on paper, but the kind of deal that would actually move a player like Mayo is rarely simple, especially when two teams in the same division are trying to solve different problems at once. [Read more 🡒]