You may see Mariano Rivera taking cuts here during Old Timers’ Day, but we see Diamond Nation umpire Gary Peckman behind the plate calling balls and strikes.
It’s not every day — or any day — an umpire, who has plied his trade at the high school level for his entire career, gets a call up to Yankee Stadium.
But for Gary Peckman and Rocco Fornaro that call did indeed come this summer.
The two veteran umpires, working games the past 15 years for both Diamond Nation and the NJSIAA, are unlikely to ever get over the experience. Nor will their colleagues and friends at Diamond Nation.
Peckman and Fornaro were joined by fellow Garden State high school umpires Keith Hoffman and Joe Marateo on the crew for the Yankees annual Old-Timers’ Game on Saturday. Peckman was assigned to home plate and Fornaro handled third base.
The experience wasn’t without incident, though, as Peckman received some heat from noted umpire debater Paul O’Neill over a strike call on — or just off — the outside corner. It happened on the first pitch to O’Neill from former teammate Roger Clemens.
O’Neill looked back at Peckman after the pitch and said, “Really?” Peckman answered, “Yessir.” It was all in fun, of course, and Clemens later said he had “painted the corner” with his batting practice fastball to O’Neill.
O’Neill endeared himself to Yankees fans during his nine years in pinstripes that included four World Series titles, but even more so for his grit, relentlessly competitive play and, yes, for letting umpires know how he felt.
“It was great,” said Peckman. “John Flaherty was warming up Clemens before Jorge Posada came out to catch and said to me, “Did you ever think you’d be calling balls and strikes for Roger Clemens?”
Or have a call debated by Paul O’Neill, for that matter?
NJ umpires Gary Peckman, Rocco Fornaro, Keith Hoffman and Joe Marateo outside Yankee Stadium about to create some unshakeable memories.
“Paul was having fun. I was having fun. It was strike one and he got on base after that. Then it became a fish story. He said he got a (Greg) Maddux call.” Umpires notoriously gave the Hall of Famer Maddox a generous strike zone.
Flaherty, by the way, is a St. Joseph (Mont.) grad. The Jersey influence in this game was truly filthy.
It was Peckman’s longtime Raritan Valley Umpires Association colleague Hoffman, a state assignor, who was instrumental in getting this specific crew the once-in-a-lifetime assignment through his contacts.
“Keith called me up and asked if I’d be interested in doing a game at Yankee Stadium,” said Peckman, a lifelong Yankees fan. “Keith and I have worked a lot of high school games together over the years.” When and what time were the only viable answers at that point.
It turns out, the Peckman-O’Neill “confrontation” still had a lot of leg well after the game.
On Monday night during the YES Network’s broadcast of the Yankees-Twins game, O’Neill and Michael Kay discussed O’Neill’s short debate with Peckman two days earlier. YES studio host Jack Curry, another New Jersey native, had shared with Kay that Peckman, who Kay mentioned by name, and the rest of the umps were “well known Jersey guys” and that Peckman loved the interchange with O’Neill. O’Neill then told the story from his perspective, which changed slightly from Peckman’s.
“I walked up to the plate and you know what happened?” O’Neill asked Kay, “He said, ‘I’m going to call one outside. (So) make a fuss out of it and get some air time.'”
Fornaro, a veteran of 14 years at Diamond Nation and high school ball, was assigned third base and would have just two calls to make at the hot corner. “I had a fair-foul call and an easy out call. Nothing like Gary,” said Fornaro. Hoffman oversaw action at second base and Marateo manned first.
“That’s a strike,” says Diamond Nation umpire Gary Peckman with 1970s legend Graig Nettles at the plate during Yankees Old Timers’ Day Game.
Though the Old Timers’ Day atmosphere is a loose one, it is still one that demands an expected professionalism from the umpires. But that didn’t stop the Old Timers from making friendly visits to the umpires’ dressing room.
“Our door was open and Joe Torre walked in,” said Fornaro. “I said, ‘Hello, Mr. Torre.’ He said, ‘No, Joe, please.” I said, Hi, I’m Rocco and then I introduced Joe (Marateo). Torre responded, ‘All we need now is a Frank and we’ll have my whole family here.’”
But, for Fornaro, all the thrills of umpiring on a big league field were topped by the presence of his fan club.
“The one thing I’ll remember most is my family being there,” he said. “I had about 20 friends and family there. They weren’t all together but I found them all and tipped my cap to them. My parents and immediate family were in the second deck on the third base side. My brother and mom were screaming when I walked on.
“My mom had a sign that said, ‘My first trip to Yankee Stadium and I get to see my son umpire Old Timers’ Day.’ I’ll always remember seeing them screaming. They were so happy. They told me my brother and daughter were crying.”
Peckman, who works as a purchasing manager in his out-of-uniform life, said Johnny Damon also stopped in the dressing room to say hello. “You try to be respectful to the game and the players,” said Peckman. “We are out there to do our job and not let it be too crazy.” Or cozy.
Diamond Nation umpire Rocco Fornaro, pictured in the lobby of Yankees Suites, enjoyed meeting Joe Torre, but his fan club provided the biggest charge to his heart.
That can be difficult when Peckman’s childhood heroes like Willie Randolph and Chris Chambliss walk by. “We certainly are not asking for autographs but a lot of players approached us. And I have so much respect for those guys from the late ‘90s-’00 (dynasty).”
Peckman said when he saw Mariano Rivera walking down the tunnel toward the field in uniform it was surreal. “I thought, hey this is really happening.”
It really was happening for a quartet of Jersey veteran umpires, who, some fans tend to forget, are truly huge baseball fans themselves and embrace the charming everyday interactions the game generates.
“Working high school games and at Diamond Nation, I love when the coaches come up and introduce themselves,” said Peckman. “Little things like that. Flaherty did the same thing when he came to the plate to warm up Clemens. The baseball community is such a nice world to be in.”
Rocco Fornaro didn’t have a busy day at third base but here’s proof he earned his keep.
Both Peckman and Fornaro work about 10 games a week at Diamond Nation and have been in the fold at the Northeast’s top travel ball facility since a year or two after the complex opened in 2009.
“I am so proud of Gary and Rocco,” said Jim Rueb, Diamond Nation’s Director of Event Operations and Umpire Assignor. “Seeing them on the field at Yankee Stadium with those baseball legends was truly a once in a lifetime experience. Everyone is stopping them around the complex, asking them questions and congratulating them.”
Fornaro has been a school teacher for 27 years and is currently a sixth grade science and social studies teacher in the Bayonne school system. “I get to do what I love all day long, working with kids and then being on a baseball field,” said Fornaro.
Fornaro credits his experience at Diamond Nation for helping him learn how to manage a game.
“I umpired my 1,000th game at Diamond Nation in 2024,” he said. “The more games you do the better you get. The more plays and games you see, the more you learn how to handle games, players, coaches and fans.
Fornaro’s experience at ‘The Nation’ and 14 years umpiring high school games has enabled him to bump up to the college game. He umpired a Rutgers game against Cal Baptist (Pa.) in 2024 and did two more Division 1 games in 2025; St. Peter’s University at Seton Hall and Iona at St. John’s.
“Everything speeds up at the college level,” says Fornaro. “The players are bigger, they throw harder and run faster. It’s a matter of staying calm, making sure you are in the right position and to be respectful to the game.”
Veteran umpires Fornaro, Peckman, Hoffman and Marateo have certainly held the game to the highest esteem and always stayed calm and were in the right position during the Old Timers’ Game. Ask Roger Clemens.