Phil Cuzzi

Philip Cuzzi

• Height 5' 10", Weight 200 lbs.

• Born August 29, 1955 in Newark, NJ USA

Biographical Information

Phil Cuzzi began umpiring in the New York-Penn League in 1985, then moved to the South Atlantic League in 1986. He umpired his first major league game in 1991 in the National League, serving as a part-time major league umpire from 1991 to 1993. He returned to the major league staff to stay in 1999. He is a crew chief.

Cuzzi was the home plate umpire when Bud Smith pitched a no-hitter on September 3, 2001.

When Major League Baseball introduced stricter rules concerning pitchers using foreign substances to improve their grip on the baseball in 2021, Cuzzi became known as the strictest enforcer of the rules. He ejected pitchers Hector Santiago and Caleb Smith that year, and on April 19, 2023 tossed out Max Scherzer for a similar violation. In this case, it was home plate umpire Dan Bellino who first detected a problem, and after Scherzer was asked first to wash his hand, and then to change his glove, it was Cuzzi, who was the crew chief. who finally tossed him out of the game when the problem persisted.

"People only know to hate us. We are a misunderstood group. People don't really know us, but to know us is to love us." - Phil Cuzzi

Further Reading

• Tom Larwin et. al.: "Observations of Umpires at Work", in The Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Volume 40, Number 1 (Spring 2011), pp. 77-87.

Related Sites

• Phil Cuzzi on Retrosheet.org
• Sporting News umpire card