Major league umpire John Tumpane can't explain why he approached the woman as she hopped over the railing of the Roberto Clemente Bridge in Pittsburgh on Wednesday afternoon.
The woman told Tumpane she just wanted to get a better view of the Allegheny River below. The look on her face and the tone of her voice suggested otherwise to Tumpane, who was in town to work the interleague series between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Tampa Bay Rays.
So Tumpane, 34, reached for the woman even as she urged him to let her go.
"It was just instinct," Tumpane said. "You hear kind of stories of this all the time, different scenarios, people aiding and [it was a] situation where I was lucky enough to be there to help and try to think of everything I could do, hanging on to her. At times she wanted to go the other way. I was like, 'not on my watch, please.' We were just hanging on."
And saving a life.
Tumpane secured one of her arms. A bystander walked up and grabbed the other while another -- Mike Weinman, an employee for the Rays -- clutched her legs and pinned them to the railing while Tumpane mouthed to someone in the crowd to dial 911.
"I couldn't tell you how long we were waiting for everyone else to get in place," Tumpane said. "Obviously, another power comes into be when you're hanging on and you know what the alternative is of you letting go and not having other people to help you."
Tumpane, Weinman and the third volunteer clung to the unidentified woman until emergency responders arrived.
"Once they were able to secure her, we were able to talk her back to help us out and we got back on this side," Tumpane said. "After that I went up to her. She said, 'You'll just forget me after this,' and I said, 'No, I'll never forget you.' This was an unbelievable day and I'm glad to say she can have another day with us and I'm glad I was in the right place at the right time."
Tumpane, who got into umpiring as a teenager, made his major-league debut in 2012 and recieved his full-time MLB commission in 2016, stressed he's no hero.
"I just happened to be there," Tumpane said. "I think I've been a caring person in my life. I saw somebody in need, and it looked like a situation to obviously insert myself and help out."
Subhead goes here
Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones always brings a certain flair to his at-bats, but duirng the Orioles' 3-1 victory over Toronto on Tuesday night, some of that flair literally fell into the batter's box.
Jones swung at a 2-2 pitch from Blue Jays pitcher Joe Biagini, fouling the ball off -- no harm done to either side of the at-bat. The only damage was inflicted on Jones' own jewelry.
One of the necklaces Jones wore completely fell apart and caused a bit of a mess at home plate. He helped clean up some of it, but home plate umpire Angel Hernandez needed to do more work than the typical plate dusting.
Manager Buck Showalter had a good laugh over the incident after the game.
"There's some teams I've played on in the past that would have a lot of fun with that tomorrow," Showalter said to MLB.com's Keegan Matheson. "Somebody would go to a costume jewelry place, buy about 15 of those and wear them to batting practice tomorrow. I'm sure for what he paid for it, I'd have stopped and picked it up too."
At least the jewelry didn't die in vain -- Jones walked and scored on a two-run double by Mark Trumbo.
Sports quiz
How many Gold Glove Awards has Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones won?
Answer
Four (2009, 2012-2014).
Sports on 06/30/2017