It Doesn’t Pay to Be an Ump

ST. LOUIS —  San Diego Padre reliever Trevor Hoffman was going to offer a $100 reward to the man who found his wallet, then had second thoughts when he realized who it was. “I thought it might look funny, giving money to an umpire,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman took a cab from the team hotel to Busch Stadium on Tuesday and left his wallet in the back seat.

Umpire Ed Montague later got into the same cab and recovered the wallet. Montague was waiting at the clubhouse door when Hoffman approached.

“He asked me for some identification and I couldn’t understand why he would be doing that,” Hoffman said Thursday.

When Montague handed the wallet over, Hoffman started to offer him a reward. “I stopped short of doing it when I realized how it would look,” Hoffman said.