Longtime umpire and baseball organizer, Rollie Bauman, dies at 86
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff Writer
Every small town has characters – people who make life easier in their chosen interests, people so special that generations will tell stories about what he or she did for them.
Rollie Bauman did just that in Burlington, working for decades to first popularize baseball in the city – and then support it in every way possible.
Bauman died Friday at the age of 86, leaving behind a legacy that, to this day, defines the sport of baseball in Burlington.
“I’d love to have a count on the number of young men whose first memory of organized baseball was Rollie,” said Bud Milroy, a member of Baseball 2000 – the local organization that helps fund and support the sport in Burlington – and a contemporary of Bauman’s. “He was such a figure there as an umpire over so many years.”
Bauman was more than just an umpire – and did more than just baseball. A husband, a father, a grandfather and a great-grandfather, Bauman is survived by numerous children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
But his impact in and around the baseball diamond ensured he has an extensive impact that goes well beyond blood relations.
Bill Milatz, who officiated with Bauman over the years, remembers his early years within the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA), umpiring freshman and junior varsity games.
“I can remember a lot of kids who were catchers asking me when he was behind the plate, ‘Mr. Umpire, could you please find out why Rollie’s strike zone is so low?’ And he did have a low strike zone,” said Milatz.
Then there was the time Milatz had a daughter playing eighth-grade basketball in East Troy – a game Bauman refereed.
“When he saw me in the stands, after each timeout, he’d come over and shoot the breeze with me,” explained Milatz. “Many, many other times, the other official was ready to put the ball in play, and Rollie was still shooting the breeze with me.
“That was Rollie. If he knew somebody … he’d walk over and start shooting the breeze.”
Because if there was a defining feature to Bauman’s personality, it was the fact that he always saw the people involved – and cared about all of them.
“He was an authority figure, but there was also a lot of back and forth kidding that would go on with kids,” said Milroy. “Now those gentlemen have grown up, and their kids have been through the program and know Rollie as an umpire.
“He was so much more than that, though.”
A supporter of sports in Burlington, for one – and not just baseball. While Bauman was the first to begin soliciting businesses to sponsor signs at Beaumont Field, now considered one of the premier community baseball fields in the country, the man cared about other sports as well.
He helped support girls softball, getting a youth program started in the community.
And it didn’t really matter how good you were at the sport either. Milroy said Bauman spent time petitioning for extra baseball teams at the American Legion level, so everyone could play.
“If we need to add a team, let’s find a way to add that team,” Milroy recalled of Bauman’s attitude. “The kids, that’s who we’re here for.”
Nearing the end of his life, Bauman became one of the charter members of the Burlington Baseball Hall of Fame. On the night he was honored, the majority of the celebration focused on Dick Imrie – another long-time baseball supporter.
Denny Busch says now they could have filled the rooms at the event at Veterans Terrace if they had announced Bauman was the other honoree. Instead, they told just Bauman’s family and a few friends – to keep it a surprise for the man.
“He was very, very surprised,” said Milatz, too. “We kept it secret from him.”
Busch said it was time to acknowledge what Bauman had done for baseball in Burlington.
“What better way to have them be the first two inductees?” Busch explained. “They are both very, very good people.
“That’s what the guy meant to people,” he added. “He’s been there for youth. You don’t find people like that no more. That breed is gone.”
That breed made sure baseball had everything it needed – including umpiring for free if needed, filling in as a coach or fundraising when money came up short.
For everything that Bauman did within the community, those who knew him best know he will be missed.
“Rollie will always be one of the higher-ups in sports in Burlington,” said Imrie. “Somebody else will have to step up to the plate even more.”
Added Busch, “He helped a lot of people. He was there for youth in Burlington.”
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