Volpe presents Warrick family with group sportsmanship award
Umpire Joe Volpe began presenting a pair of sportsmanship awards in 2021, choosing one player in the Fayette County Baseball League and one in the Fayette American Legion Baseball League.
鈥淚 just always thought good sportsmanship shouldn鈥檛 go unnoticed and when my colleague Paul Lancaster died in 2021, I decided to create this award in his honor,鈥� said Volpe, a Masontown native who was inducted into the Pennsylvania American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame in 2025.
This year for the Fayette County Baseball League award, Volpe did something a bit different.
Rather than give the award to an individual, Volpe presented it to an entire Mill Run family.
The honor went to John 鈥淏ull鈥� Warrick, his wife April and sons Cade and Luke.
鈥淚 never did that before,鈥� Volpe said. 鈥淏ut it just came across my mind and I thought, instead of just one guy, what family would be better than them?
鈥淥ne of my first County League games was up there with Paul. That whole Warrick family, along with the Orndorffs, Millers, Shearers, you鈥檙e talking about great people up there at Mill Run.
鈥淚鈥檝e always liked Bull. He鈥檚 a really good, classy guy, kind of shy, and his kids are just like him so I wanted to make it a family affair. They were happy.鈥�
Volpe presented the award before Mill Run鈥檚 home game with Charleroi on July 14.
鈥淩ay (Orndorff), their manager, is the only one I told ahead of time and he said, 鈥楯oe, that鈥檚 great,鈥� and he thanked me,鈥� Volpe said.
鈥淚 had both teams line up on the first and third base lines and I went out there and explained why I did it. If anybody was deserving of such a group honor, I thought they were.
Paul was a family man, too. He had three boys and he always liked it up there at Mill Run.鈥�
Volpe said he got positive feedback on giving out a family award.
鈥淢ill Run has had a team so long and they have such respect around the league,鈥� Volpe said. 鈥淕uys like (Carmichaels manager) Dickie Krause and (Hopwood Village Plaza manager) Buddy Marra told me that was awesome. Pickhandle (Mercosky), an all-time County League great, was there that night. It couldn鈥檛 have gone any better.
鈥淥ne thing about the Warricks, and the whole team really, is you know they鈥檙e going to play the game hard and play it right and you also know you鈥檒l never hear anything from those people, they never cause any trouble.
鈥淣o matter if they鈥檙e winning or losing, you鈥檒l rarely hear any cussing or complaining from Mill Run. They鈥檙e a class act no matter what the outcome of the game.鈥�
The award was the creation of Volpe, who is in his 37th year of umpiring.
鈥淧aul Lancaster died in 2021 and he was my mentor,鈥� Volpe said. 鈥淪o I just took it upon myself to do this for him. This is the sixth year, legion and county league.
鈥淚 know Paul would be happy.鈥�