Name Marty Foster Role Umpire | Mlb debut September 10, 1996 | |
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Born November 25, 1963 (age 60)
Denver, Colorado ( 1963-11-25 ) | ||
TOR@NYM: Umpire takes foul tip to mask, leaves game
Martin Robert Foster (born November 25, 1963) is an umpire in Major League Baseball. After first working in the American League in 1996, he joined the league staff in 1999 and has worked throughout both major leagues since 2000. Foster has umpired in one All-Star Game and two League Division Series.
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Umpiring career
Before reaching the major leagues, Foster umpired in the Appalachian League, Midwest League, Southern League, International League, Pacific Coast League, and American Association.
His first post-season assignment was the 2006 National League Division Series. He also umpired the 2008 American League Division Series and the 2002 All-Star Game.
Notable games
Foster was the home plate umpire on July 15, 2007 in a game between the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals, where, after the benches had been warned, Runelvys Hernandez hit Carlos Guillen in the head with a pitch sparking a brawl that lasted nearly 10 minutes, and resulted in 7 players being ejected.
Foster was the home plate umpire for 300th career win of Tom Glavine, on August 5, 2007 at Wrigley Field. He was the second base umpire for Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Matt Garza's no hitter against the Detroit Tigers on July 26, 2010. Foster ejected Tigers manager Jim Leyland from that game during the third inning.
In a 2001 spring training game, Foster was the plate umpire during Major League Baseball's first use of video monitoring of umpire strike zones. The video monitoring was part of an effort by baseball officials to enforce the rule book definition of the strike zone.
Foster was at first base in the last game played at the old Yankee Stadium.
While serving as the plate umpire during an April 8, 2013 game between the Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers, Foster made a controversial strike three call on Ben Zobrist that ended the game and gave Joe Nathan his 300th career save.