New inductee

After years of stepping up to the plate, Jim Edinger will go out swinging.

Edinger, District 1 umpire in chief, was inducted into the Idaho Amateur Softball Association Hall of Fame last month in Boise. Edinger, who plans to retire later this year, is now one of only six umpires to be part of the Boise Hall of Fame.

“It was exciting,” he said. “It was an honor for me and it really cut me deep.”

Rather than quit the sport after a baseball injury 40 years ago, Edinger moved behind the plate and started calling games in the area. Slow-pitch softball was the way of the field, and between 300 and 400 teams rallied together in summer months. Edinger trained umpires for the games.

“When you think of umpire in North Idaho, you think of Jim,” said Steve Anthony, recreation director Coeur d’Alene, who has been working with Edinger for about 30 years.

Anthony said Edinger called thousands of games over the years and some of his fondest memories with Edinger were working on national tournaments. While Anthony directed tournaments, Edinger worked closely with the city to coordinate umpires with upcoming games in the area.

Edinger was president of the Amateur Softball Association and secretary/treasurer for about 20 years. He also served as the District 1 commissioner for high school baseball.

In addition to his baseball efforts, Edinger scheduled the Coeur d’Alene Recreation Department’s basketball officials, keeping him busy year-round.

As District 1 umpire in chief, he organized six national tournaments, 15 regional tournaments and 30 state tournaments, sometimes working with about 60 teams and 30 out-of-town umpires.

Many of the people he’s worked with have offered their loyalty and respect, Anthony said.

“Jim has had a great effect on a lot of young umpires in this area,” Anthony said. “He seems to have a knack with his personality.”

Edinger said some of his favorite moments were watching no-hitters, working the large tournaments and calling games with his two brothers, sometimes mocked as the three blind mice when on the field. During the season, he often worked five nights a week and weekends, sometimes after getting off a 15-hour workday with the Coeur d’Alene School District.

But when it came to game time, he said he enjoyed every minute of it.

“I love the game,” he said. “I love camaraderie and meeting people.”

In his early years, he received a Bob Martin award, a state award offered to young umpires who excel on the field. He’s since been to dozens of clinics to improve his calls and said he’s never had a situation on the field he couldn’t handle.

He learned to shrug off taunts from the stands and, instead of letting fans get to him, he put his energy into making friends with the players.

“After a while they remember you’re human,” he said. His skills and friendships earned him slow, steady recognition until Tony Luzzo, deputy district umpire and chief for the league, nominated Edinger to the Hall of Fame.

After submitting a short paragraph, the softball board responded quickly with their call.

“It was like they were just waiting for somebody to make the nomination,” he said. “Everybody on the commission recognized right away that Jim deserved it.”

Luzzo, who will fill Edinger’s spot after he retires this summer, was his understudy for the past 10 years by helping with tournaments and other duties. For the last 15 years, he’s been directing umpires for high school games and worked side-by-side with Edinger.

“It’s a big thing in a small community,” Luzzo said.

Now at the end of his career, he plans to sit back and watch games for fun and spend more time with his family. He said it’s hard to leave the sport, but he had fun one game at a time.

“It paid off for me,” he said. “Not because I spent so many years doing it, but I felt good after I completed each game.”