BUTLER TWP — When Larry Barnett spoke on the baseball field, people listened.

Patients at the Butler VA Medical Center were glad to follow suit Thursday morning.

Barnett, a former American League umpire, visited the hospital in conjunction with a program sponsored by the Disabled American Veterans.

"I just want to tell the veterans thank you for their service to our country," said Barnett, 61. "When I'm down, they probably pick me up more than I pick them up."

Barnett also handed out autographed pictures and baseball cards of himself, telling one patient, "These are each worth $1,000, but I'm giving them to you for free."

With each visit, he gives away one jacket with his name stitched on the front. Carmen Santillo was the latest recipient of the exclusive gift.

Barnett, who resides in Prospect, Ohio, umpired in the AL from 1969-99 and has been making such visits to VA hospitals since 1976.

"I think I'm the only one in the program who has been to all 172 hospitals around the country," he said. "If I'm not the only one, I'm one of just two or three."

Other hospital visits on Barnett's schedule this week included Wilkes-Barre and Erie.

Next month, he will travel to Arkansas and Oklahoma.

"Now that I'm retired, I take one week every month to go to the hospitals," he added.

Not surprisingly, Barnett has many stories to tell from his 31 years in the major leagues.

"One time I was umpiring home plate when I got into an argument with Yankees catcher Thurman Munson. I told him that if he didn't shut up, I was going to bite his head off at the shoulders and swallow it whole.

"Thurman turned around and said, 'Larry, if you do that you'll have twice as much sense in your stomach as you do in your head.'"

Barnett umpired in four World Series (1975, 1981, 1984, 1990), six AL Championship Series (1972, 1976, 1979, 1982, 1986, 1991) and five All-Star Games (1971, 1976, 1980, 1986 and 1997).

But one memory sticks out for him.

"I was umpiring the night Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's (consecutive games played) record," said Barnett. "That was something. It was voted as the greatest moment in baseball history."

Barnett threw his share of managers and players out of games.

"If a guy was just arguing with me and speaking his mind, I'd let him go," said Barnett. "But if they said something filthy or called me a violent name, that was automatic. They were gone.

"Anytime you see a manager or player get thrown out quickly like that, it's because they used foul language or insulted the umpire."

Barnett admitted he changed his approach to arguments as he gained more experience.

"As a younger umpire, you do look forward to those confrontations," he said. "But as you get older, you get wiser. You learn that you don't have to be in the manager's face all the time. He'll come to you soon enough.

"As an umpire, you have to be fair and just do your job," added Barnett. "That's what they pay you to do."

Like many players who walk away from the game, retirement was not easy for Barnett.

"The first couple of years after I retired, it was tough," he said. "When you were an umpire, everybody looked to you for your wisdom. When you retire, it's like all of a sudden you're sitting in the dumb section. It took me a couple of years to get over that."

Barnett said embraced the game much as players do, just from a different position on the field.

"I love the game of baseball. It's the best game in the world."