Tata appeared on the television program What's My Line? on June 11, 1961, where he was presented as being the youngest umpire in "organized baseball." He was 21 years old at the time and stated that he worked in the Northern League which incorporated, he said on the program, "Minnesota, the Dakotas, Canada, and Wisconsin." The panelists were able to discern his occupation.
On June 22, 1993, Tata was drugged and robbed in his room in Burlingame, California. After working second base in that evening’s game between the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park, he invited a woman up to his room for a drink. She slipped a tranquilizer into his glass and made off with a Rolex watch, a gold bracelet, two World Series rings, and $500 in cash.[5]