Disgraced umpire Al Clark to serve house arrest after 4 month prison sentence.
Photo: Zoran Millich/Allsport
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Disgraced umpire Al Clark to serve house arrest after 4 month prison sentence. Photo: Zoran Millich/Allsport |
When
First Accused, Clark Denied All Allegations, August 22, 1998
And this is 6 years later - after all legal attempts to
avoid punishment had been exhausted...
Associated
Press
NEWARK, N.J. -- Former major
league umpire Al Clark was sentenced to four months in prison Thursday for his
part in selling baseballs that he and a memorabilia dealer falsely claimed were
used in historic games. The games included the ones when Cal Ripken Jr. tied
and broke Lou Gehrig's record for the longest playing streak.
After prison, Clark must serve four months under house arrest. Chief U.S. District
Judge John W. Bissell fined Clark $10,000 and ordered him to repay $40,000,
including $7,920 to a Texas man who paid that amount for one of the bogus balls.
"This could not have happened without Mr. Clark," Bissell said. "He
was the source of authenticity that allowed this to happen." Clark, 56,
an American League umpire between 1976 and 2001, was allowed to remain free
on bail until he reports on July 12 to a prison to be determined. He had lived
in Trenton and now lives in Williamsburg, Va., and Boca Raton, Fla. He pleaded
guilty Feb. 23 to a single count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Also pleading
guilty then was his friend, memorabilia dealer Richard Graessle Jr., 43, of
Millburn, who admitted he sold the balls to other dealers, who sold them to
the public.
Graessle
pleaded guilty to tax evasion for his role in the scheme, which operated between
September 1995 and November 1998. He is to be sentenced June 8. At their pleas,
they admitted selling balls that they falsely claimed had been used in several
historic games, including Dwight Gooden's May 1996 no-hitter for the New York
Yankees; the one-game playoff between the Yankees and Boston Red Sox in October
1978; Nolan Ryan's 300th career victory in July 1990; and others. Clark signed
the balls, and he or Graessle wrote up phony certificates of authenticity, they
admitted.