Major League Baseball Umpires

[Pinetarpress]

I did not look through this entire thread but The trading Card Database does have a great collection of Umpire Cards in the 1977 TCMA Umpire Set

If you already have these posted here I apologize

[SPORTSMEM817]

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/tri...&pid=184527869

[FatJack]

Steve Palermo succumbed to cancer and passed away on Sunday (May 14, 2017). He was 67.

Steve debuted as an American League umpire in October 1976 and then served in that capacity from 1977 - 1991. He worked the 1983 World Series and 4 League Championship Series.

In July 1991, Steve and two friends ran to the aid of two women being mugged in the parking lot of a Dallas restaurant. Two of the muggers drove off. Steve and one of his friends chased down and tackled the third. But the car with the other two came back, shooting Steve and his friend. The friend took three bullets, but recovered fully. One bullet hit Steve--a millimeter away from killing him, it nonetheless was pressed against his spine. Doctors said he'd never walk again, but Steve proved them wrong. Of course his days of calling balls and strikes were over.

Steve was well enough to throw out the first pitch of the 1991 World Series. He was hired as a Special Assistant to the Major League Executive Council in 1994. In 2000, he became an umpire supervisor.

tnfoto posted a few images of Steve earlier in this thread, Attached below are two images from an eBay auction and a scan (also from eBay) of his 1988 T&M card.

[Merkle923]

From work behind the plate during a 1966 A's-Yankees game. The catcher's Phil Roof.

[Merkle923]

Three veteran American League umpires (including the late Russ Goetz) mid-dispute with then-Yankees manager Bill Virdon at Fenway Park. I can say with assurance that the image dates to September 10, 1974.

[Chickazoola]

I've located an illustration of 1882 AA and 1884 UA umpire Alamazoo Jennings. He also played for the 1878 Milwaukee Grays. He was popular umpire and was depicted somewhat cartoonishly in the August 31, 1884 Cincinnati Commercial Tribune.

[Merkle923]

The 28-year National League veteran and future Hall of Famer, working his last World Series in 1967, making sure George Scott hits the plate correctly with Boston's second run in Jim Lonborg's one-hitter.

[FatJack]

Clearly no match for the superior image of Eddie Rommel posted by tnfoto several years back, this is, nonetheless, a new offering on eBay. This is a Don Wingfield shot and the date given on the back is March 1960, though Rommel's final season as a major league umpire was 1959. Regardless, given that tnfoto's posted image is given as from 1938, you now have available images from both ends of Rommel's umpiring career.

[Penale52]

From the Cleveland Memory Project. Pictured with Brewers manager George Bamberger and Larry Hisle in 1979.

[Penale52]

This article mentions Shaw's career as both a basketball and baseball official, including his brief MLB career.

[Penale52]

Not a great photo, but Mike Spinelli is pictured as a New York Penn League Umpire in the July 6, 1971 edition of the Niagara Gazette.

[Penale52]

George Sweeney, who played minor league ball in 1941 in addition to his five games as a replacement ump in 1979, is shown first on the basketball team in the 1936 yearboook of his high school, Cretin (St. Paul, Minnesota), and on the baseball team of the University of Minnesota (1939).

[FatJack]

Former major league umpire Ken Kaiser passed away Tuesday at the age of 72.

Kaiser began in the pros in the Florida State League in 1965. As he rose through the minor league ranks, he briefly moonlighted as a professional wrestler. Going by the name of "The Hatchet Man", Kaiser would don a black hood, believing that, if he were recognized, his umpiring career would end before he reached the majors. The wrestling money wasn't that great--as little as $25 a night--so one assumes he was having fun, battling the likes of Andre The Giant, Haystacks Calhoun, and Dino Bravo. Upon his promotion to the major leagues in 1977, he gave up wrestling (aside from one charity match in the 80s--a mud-wrestling match against the Gonzo Sisters).

Kaiser was charitably listed as being 288 pounds, though most believe he tipped the scales well over 300. He umpired for 13 years in the minors and 23 in the majors, including the 1991 All Star Game and the World Series games in 1987 and 1997. Outspoken on such topics as rule changes and video replay on calls, he was voted the Most Colorful Umpire in a 1986 Sporting News poll (not necessarily a compliment) and one of baseball's worst in a 1999 poll of American League players.

In 1999, as umpires sought a new contract, they undertook an ill advised strategy in which they submitted their resignations. When a new agreement was reached, MLB re-signed the umpires they liked and gleefully accepted the resignations of those whom they otherwise had wanted to fire but could not. Among those not re-hired were Eric Gregg and Ken Kaiser. I specifically mention Gregg because I remember seeing him as a vendor at Phillies games after that. As he admitted, he needed the money. Kaiser, at the time, said, "My whole life is gone." And, in his 2003 book, "Planet of the Umps," he had this to say: "Two things nobody wants to grow up to be are an umpire and broke. Thanks to my career in baseball, I got both."


tnfoto posted a few images of Ken earlier in this thread. The smallest of those (likely sized for the OOTP game, which I don't play) is from Ken's 1988 TM card and I've included a larger version, here, as well as the back of the card (notice they don't list Ken's weight). Also attached is a postcard of Kaiser (circa 1980) which is a current offering from the Larry Fritsch folks on eBay.

[Chickazoola]

I had previously posted this image in the photopack since Dugan was also a missing player. His woodcut is featured in the April 19, 1885 Kansas City Times.

[Chickazoola]

I previously posted this photo in the Missing Managers thread, since Ed Hengel was the manager of the 1884 Chicago Unions. His passport photo is available on familysearch.

[Chickazoola]

I just posted this in the photopack, since Frank Bell was also a missing player.

This is not great, and probably doesn't quite qualify for what we are looking for, but I wanted to share for its uniqueness.

A woodcut of Frank Bell being shot to death by bartender Joe Hughes is featured in April 14, 1891 Cincinnati Post. Bell is the man on the far right being shot.

[Penale52]

Schroeder died in 2016, and he is shown here in his obituary.

[FatJack]

Former Major League umpire Bob Engel passed away on March 5, 2018. He was 84.

Engel worked his way up to the big leagues, starting out officiating high school baseball and basketball and spending 10 years in the minor leagues. He debuted as a Major League umpire on August 24, 1965. As an umpire, Engel was considered one of the best. In his 25 yeas in The Show, he umpired 3,630 games including 3 World Series (1972, 1979 and 1985) and 4 All-Star games. He eventually served as the president of the Major League Umpires Association.

Engel's career came to an abrupt end when he was arrested for shoplifting more than 4000 Score baseball cards from a Target store in his hometown of Bakersfield, California in 1990 and attempting to do the same at another store. He plead no contest, was sentenced to three years probation, and retired from umpiring thereafter.

Attached are Engel's 1989 T&M Umpire card (front and back) and a 1977 postcard. More images of Bob Engel can be found accompanying his Bakersfield.com obituary and as posted earlier in this thread by tnfoto.

[Penale52]

Cliff Schaller umpired nine games from 1978-1979, all in Cincinnati. Retrosheet gives his birth date as December 28, 1950, and a quick Google search lists a Cliff Schaller, who appears to be the same age, from Cincinnati running a heating and cooling company. Here he is in a Facebook post by Spring Valley Bank from Cincinnati.

The ump and the business owner are confirmed to be the same man in a Cincinnati Enquirer article from 1978, which states that umpire Schaller "runs service for Williamson Heating and Air Condition."

[Penale52]

Retrosheet lists Edward C. Oliger as being born October 11, 1942 and living in Cincinnati. I found a match in Ohio yearbooks on Ancestry.com for two photos of him. The first comes from the 1958 Western Hills High School (Cincinnati) yearbook, when Oliger was a sophomore. The second is the 1963 Miami of Ohio college yearbook, showing him as a junior.