By Steve Williams
Phil Morton worked a long time as an assistant district attorney and prosecutor in Blount and Knox counties until he retired in 2020. Along the way he took up umpiring Little League baseball games and reached its top level in 2004 when he worked behind the plate of the LL World Series Championship at South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
That’s the game televised every summer, with the 12-year-old all-stars from the USA and other countries playing for the title.
“My kids played Little League when they were five years old and I’ve been with it ever since,” said Morton. “The local league asked me to come out and help umpire one day and that’s how I got involved with the umpiring part of it. I’ve been involved with Little League I guess 40 plus years. I was living in Maryville and working at the DA’s office in Blount County when I started.”
Phil, who now lives in Knoxville, has a grandson, Jonah (age 11), and a granddaughter, Murphy (7), who play Little League baseball in Maryville.
Morton, himself, didn’t play Little League baseball growing up. And when he got older he would rather umpire than coach.
Looking back, Phil said he wasn’t nervous when he umpired Little League’s biggest game and was ready for it.
“It was a super honor obviously to be picked to work the plate of the championship game,” recalled Morton. “It was a very high honor. I was fortunate to get it.”
That game matched Thousand Oaks, Calif., against Curacao, an island in the southern Caribbean north of Venezuela. It turned out to be a close contest with some controversy late in the game.
The California manager, whose team was trailing, argued with Morton that the first base umpire missed a call at first. Morton backed his partner’s call and finally settled down the Thousand Oaks coach. The TV replay also showed the call was correct and Curacao won 5-2.
Now 75, Morton still umpires some but mostly makes sure everything is in order at the district and state levels as the UIC (Umpire in Chief). He planned to be at Gallatin this past weekend for the Tennessee state tournament.
Prior to the state tourney, Phil oversaw the District 6 tournament. The Northern Division was played in Rutledge and the Southern Division was played in Athens.
Maryville defeated West Knox County (Karns) in the District 6 finals to qualify for a spot in the eight-team state bracket. Morristown and Jonesborough also advanced to the state.
Little League is in its 79th year and only five umpires from the state of Tennessee have worked the LL World Series. Three of the five were from District 6, which includes Karns and Maryville.
The late Jim Moore was the first from District 6 to work at Williamsport, followed by Morton and Marty Henry, who now is a Southeast Region umpire.
While Morton said he didn’t receive any awards working the championship game in South Williamsport years ago, he was rewarded with getting to umpire Little League’s biggest game of all.
Historic youth baseball tourney
The Little League World Series tournament will be held Aug. 19-30 at the LL International Complex in South Williamsport, Pa.
The tourney has a 20-team double elimination format split evenly across a United States and International bracket.
The championship game will be streamed live nationally on ABC.
