Mr. Guglielmo had a long and respected career as a baseball umpire in the minor and major leagues and was a force in keeping Eastern League baseball in Waterbury when the San Francisco Giants pulled out in 1967.
His friends called him "Augie" or "Gugie" and throughout his career his scrappy and dramatic style as an umpire brought him face to face with some of the greats.
He was the first umpire to send Jackie Robinson to the showers, and he once ejected a boisterous spectator in Philadelphia for berating Robinson. And he went nose-to-nose with Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda and the feisty great Baltimore Oriole manager Earl Weaver during Weaver's first year in the majors.
Mr. Guglielmo is mentioned in five baseball autobiographies, including Ron Luciano's "The Umpire Strikes Back" that lauds "Gugie" as "perhaps the greatest minor league umpire I've ever known."
Mr. Guglielmo was only about 5-foot, 3-inches, but what he lacked in height he more than made up for in authority. He set ejection records wherever he umpired.
He was among a line of well-known sports figures who grew up in Waterbury. He was born Jan. 17, 1913....
"Augie" got to skip AAA ball, which is rare for an umpire, and went straight to the majors after a surprise meeting with National League executive Albert "Happy" Chandler who had heard of Augie's hustle as a member of a two-man AA umpiring crew.
But he served only one season in the majors and then went to the International League, one step below the majors, from 1953 to 1966.
What he described as his most memorable moment came at Ebbets Field when Jackie Robinson stole home for the 16th time. Augie, who was behind the plate, remembered Robinson inching down the line with each pitch. On a 3-1 count with the bases loaded, Robinson bolted for home, swerved by the catcher in an acrobatic move to avoid his lunge with the ball, and scored. The picture of Robinson's slide and Mr. Guglielmo's dramatic "safe" call is a famous one.
He once argued with Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda in 1958. Dodger first baseman Jim Koranda had whacked two homers in his first two at-bats. Then he hit what looked like his third, but "Gugie" called it foul. Lasorda thought it was fair and argued. "I mean we screamed and hollered. I was furious," said Lasorda in his book "The Artful Dodger." "As I walked to church the next morning, I saw the back of his bald head. I knew it was Gugie. I quietly slid into the pew behind him and whispered in a heavenly sing-along, 'Gu-gie, the ball was fa-air.' He looked straight up, as if he had seen the light. 'Oh no,' he said, 'not in church.'" ....
He lived ... with his wife, Marfisa (Santavenere) (Tata) Guglielmo and he was communicant of Our Lady of Lourdes Church. More than 22 plaques and citations adorned his basement wall.
Besides his wife, he leaves a stepson, National League umpire Terry Tata of Cheshire, a granddaughter, and a great-grandson.
In Augie's memory I dedicate this production about the sport and the region he loved.
