John Kerin

On September 28, 1908, at the end of his tenth game as an American League umpire, John “Jack” Kerin was coldcocked by a furious Chicago White Sox fan who broke his nose.1

This incident makes a fitting introduction for two reasons. It reminds us that Kerin worked in an era when umpires faced physical threat—and he was capable of holding his own, once trading punches with manager Jesse Burkett in the middle of a minor-league game.2 Also, it seems like an appropriate entry point to a turbulent big-league career that included only one full season, was shortened by illness, and ended with his firing late in the 1910 season.

While fisticuffs are a recurring thread in Kerin’s story, there’s more to it than that. A former minor-league pitcher, Kerin went to Europe to support soldiers after World War I, then worked in industries from motion pictures to poultry farming. Near the end of his life, he returned to the region where he grew up and became a respected municipal elder, serving in local government.

John Patrick Kerin was born on March 3, 1875, in Townsend, Massachusetts, a small town bordering New Hampshire, north of the cities of Fitchburg and Leominster.3 He was the son of John Kerin and the former Mary Sullivan, both natives of Ireland.4 The younger Kerin was four years old when his father, a laborer, died of pneumonia in October 1879.5

Mary remarried about nine years later to a man named Frank Allen. They lived in Pepperell, a similarly small town next door to Townsend.6 John Kerin put down roots there: He went on to list Pepperell as his residence for much of his adult life, often living with family members. Also throughout his life, census listings and other official documents consistently described him as unmarried.7 Other aspects of his early life, such as the extent of his formal education and his introduction to competitive baseball, are less traceable through published sources.8

Kerin served as something of a hurler-for-hire as a young man. He made at least one appearance for a factory team in Stoneham, Massachusetts, in the summer of 1896, though it’s not clear whether he worked there.9 A newspaper elsewhere in Massachusetts noted that he pitched on the Augusta team in the Maine State League the following season, “and after the league disbanded was clever enough to secure work for the entire summer in the various towns of the state which wanted a pitcher for a game or two each week.” The news item also gave Kerin’s height as 6 feet and his weight as 180 pounds.10

A story about Kerin’s signing with the Augusta team identified him as “John Kerwin,” a name he reportedly used at some of his stops. Kerin/Kerwin was described as “a pitcher of remarkable speed and … very strong.”11 The following year he popped up in Pepperell, pitching for a town team that advertised for games “with strong teams paying reasonable guarantee.”12

The high-water mark of his playing career came in the New England League, a circuit rated as Class F when he pitched there in 1899 and unclassified when he returned in 1901.13 Baseball Reference’s entry for Kerin has him bouncing around the league like a pinball, appearing for as many as six different teams in two seasons.14 This was not necessarily a reflection on his pitching, as he was capable of strong performances. The Boston Globe credited him with “an elegant game” in August 1899, when he threw a complete-game 4-2 win for Taunton over Manchester.15 On Opening Day of the 1901 season, he pitched a complete–game win for Lowell over Augusta, 17-4, “[using] a slow curve and [working] it well,” the Lowell Sun reported. He also went 2-for-4.16

The 1901 season also found Kerin making an unusual transition: The 26-year-old began umpiring in the New England League in mid-June, making his debut in a game involving the same Lowell team for whom he had pitched on Opening Day a month earlier. “He did all right for a start and will make a good one,” the Sun summarized his first game.17

Kerin seems to have been hesitant about the switch. In July, he attended a game in Nashua and tried to talk the manager into starting him, and by early August he was back on the mound in Haverhill.18 He later said that arm trouble compelled his switch to umpiring; perhaps he went through periods when the pain receded and he thought a comeback was possible.19

His arm was strong enough to take Kerin to New York City in spring 1902. He enrolled in Manhattan College and excelled as a pitcher on their baseball team, pitching a one-hitter in a game against the University of Vermont and beating a Black team called the Cuban X Giants.20 School records indicate that Kerin attended only that spring and did not graduate.21 Though he shaved two years off his age in the school’s student registry,22 he pitched under his real name. “He has the head of a pitcher who has played the game all his life; is cool and collected as a cucumber,” one story said of the 27-year-old minor-league veteran.23 Kerin also umpired college and scholastic games in the New York area that spring.24

After umpiring scholastic games in Massachusetts in spring 1903, Kerin jumped back to the New England League in July.25 He quickly built a good reputation. Near the end of the season, Sporting Life [magazine] opined, “There isn’t a better umpire in any league today than Jack Kerin.”26 Another account said Kerin’s umpiring was “praised on all sides,” adding, “A New England League umpire has anything but an easy road to travel, and he who can suit all hands is deserving of praise.”27

Kerin’s pugnacity was already in evidence. At the start of September, he ejected Manchester pitcher Jesse Whiting after Whiting assaulted him; reports suggest Kerin may have fought back. Kerin later approached Whiting and demanded either an apology or a fight. Whiting chose the apology.28

Less than two weeks after that run-in, Kerin got his first major-league opportunity, umpiring two Boston Americans games against the New York Highlanders on September 14 and 15, 1903, at the Huntington Avenue Grounds. Kerin worked the first game on the basepaths with plate ump James Hassett, then umpired the second by himself.29 The September 14 game was Hassett’s last in the majors before being fired.30 Kerin may have owed his tryout as much to the AL’s desperate need for a substitute ump in Boston as to his own talents.

Kerin’s work received mixed reviews. In its writeup of the first game, the Boston Globe called him “a big failure” and “wholly incompetent,” suggesting that two-thirds of his decisions were incorrect due to poor positioning.31 The Boston Herald’s coverage of the second game was more positive, reporting that Kerin hustled and “acquitted himself very creditably,” though it also noted that a questionable decision at first base had helped the visiting team score three runs.32

These games have often been attributed to the similarly named John A. “Jack” Kerins, who played parts of seven seasons in the American Association from 1884 to 1890 and also umpired in that circuit for three seasons.33 Newspaper box scores credited “Kerins,” which may explain the confusion. But two Boston Herald articles from September 1903 specify that Kerin umpired the games, not Kerins.34

Supporting evidence also points to Kerin as the logical umpire. He was local, he was well-regarded, and he was free to work following the end of the New England League season on September 12.35 Kerins, in contrast, was living in Louisville, Kentucky, and working as a bartender in 1903. He’d had no direct involvement with major league baseball since 1891 and had been rejected for a National League umpiring position in 1897.36

Kerin’s uneven umping in the Boston games did not lead either to any further AL work in 1903 or to a full-time major-league position. He returned to the New England League in 1904 and 1905, then moved up to a pair of Class A leagues, one step below the majors—the Eastern League in 1906 and the American Association in 1907 and 1908.37

Reviews of Kerin’s work followed a familiar pattern. He earned praise for keeping games under control and umpiring “without fear or favor,” while also drawing flak for questionable decisions.38 “Kerin’s work is very erratic,” a Kansas City paper stated. “He intends well, no doubt, but nevertheless makes the most apparent mistakes.”39 Kansas Citians got to see the ump’s chesty side, too. In July 1907, Kerin abruptly decked one of a group of jeering fans who had been following him after a game. He broke the fan’s nose.40

Kerin’s second chance at the majors came courtesy of AL President Ban Johnson, who announced in late August 1908 that his loop would staff each game with two umpires the following season. This required a staff expansion, and Kerin and Frederick “Bull” Perrine of the Pacific Coast League were named as additions.41

While Perrine joined the AL at the start of 1909, Kerin returned to the bigs on September 19, 1908, five years to the week after umpiring in Boston, when he worked the basepaths for a Philadelphia Athletics-St. Louis Browns game in St. Louis.42 Kerin went on to work six more games in St. Louis, including three as plate umpire. On September 23 he made the first of his 19 major-league ejections, running Browns manager Jimmy McAleer for disputing a hit-by-pitch call.

Then he went to Chicago, where his season ended prematurely and on bad terms. On September 28, Kerin—umping on the bases in a game between the White Sox and Boston Red Sox—ejected White Sox manager Fielder Jones for arguing a seventh-inning interference call against baserunner Patsy Dougherty. Chicago fans and players believed the call robbed the White Sox of a vital chance to score in a game that ended in a 2-2 tie, called for darkness after 10 innings.43

After the game, a local attorney and prominent rooter named Robert Cantwell stepped up behind Kerin without warning and punched him in the nose, knocking the umpire unconscious. Cantwell escaped into the crowd while Kerin was brought into the White Sox clubhouse for medical attention.44 Cantwell was later arrested, found guilty of assault, and fined $75 plus costs, with White Sox pitcher Frank Smith serving as a witness for Kerin at trial.45 The AL regular season ended on October 8, but Kerin did not work again that season after the attack.

The 1909 season turned out to be Kerin’s only full major-league campaign. He worked 160 games, including 78 behind the plate, and ordered 11 ejections, including four members of the Red Sox in a single game on September 8.46 The umpire did not work any no-hitters or games with cycles, and was not tapped for duty in the World Series. He presided over a historic game in Detroit on July 16, when the Tigers and Washington Nationals played 18 innings without scoring. At the time, it was the longest scoreless game in major-league history.47

A decision by Kerin contributed to the game’s length. With the bases loaded and one out in the 15th inning, Sam Crawford grounded to Washington pitcher Bob Groom, who was slow to throw to the plate. Players on both teams assumed baserunner Bill Killefer had scored the game-winning run and began to leave the field—but Kerin unexpectedly called Killefer out. Ty Cobb’s strikeout then ended the inning. Kerin was also responsible for ending the game for darkness, although enough sunlight reportedly remained to play at least one more inning.48

Trying to evaluate Kerin’s performance based on century-old news accounts is impossible. Umpires tend to draw notice for controversies, while games that run smoothly go unmentioned. That said, accounts from 1909 indicate Kerin landed in his share of rhubarbs, certainly enough to taint his reputation.

• “Some of his decisions on balls and strikes had about them the penetrating odor of Fromage de Brie,” a Cleveland sportswriter scoffed in April.49
• In May, the Washington Evening Star headlined its game roundup “Umpire Helps to Defeat Nationals,” criticizing a “poor decision” by Kerin.50
• Louis papers jumped on him that same month for an allegedly blown fair-foul call.51
• On July 23, Cleveland newspapers blasted his “lack of backbone” for allowing the Yankees to stall during a rain-threatened game that was eventually called after six innings. (Kerin reportedly came close to trading punches with Cleveland manager Nap Lajoie before fellow ump Jack Sheridan separated them.)52
• And on August 8, the Washington Post’s sports section ran a centerpiece photo of a missed call under a headline reading “Snapshot Shows Umpire Kerin’s Error.”53

The 1910 season began with Kerin working regularly between April 14 and June 26.54 Then he disappeared for almost a month, returning to work on July 19 in a doubleheader between the Tigers and Red Sox. The umpire was said to be ill at home in Pepperell during his layoff. One account reported that he had “quick consumption”—a now-obsolete term for tuberculosis—and would never return to the baseball field. Another blamed malaria, saying Kerin had worked until he was too physically ill to leave his hotel.55

Kerin returned to work from July 19 through August 27, rotating between home-plate and basepath duties. This period included a rhubarb in which Kerin ejected Tigers manager Hughie Jennings on August 10. Kerin had to pull a watch and threaten to forfeit the game if Jennings did not leave the dugout; Jennings left, then kept returning to further needle the ump.56 The manager’s antics drew a suspension.57

Then, with more than a month left in the regular season, Kerin was fired.58 Jack Sheridan, the AL’s chief of umpires, “came to the conclusion that Kerin was not up to the major league standard either by reason of faulty eyesight or by illness, which has bothered Kerin considerably this season,” a reporter wrote.59

Kerin worked his last AL game on the basepaths in the second half of an August 27 doubleheader between the Tigers and Washington Nationals. Washington scored a walk-off run in the ninth to give future Hall of Famer Walter Johnson a 5-4 win. Kerin ended his big-league career with 268 games umpired, including 129 behind the plate.60

After taking 1911 off because of illness, Kerin returned to the New England League in 1912—the site of his fistic exchange with Burkett, then managing in Worcester.61 From there Kerin moved to the Class A Southern Association, one step beneath the majors, where he stayed from 1913 through 1918.62 He also continued to work college games, including a Yale-Princeton matchup.63 During his offseasons, Kerin was an avid fox hunter.64

In his last season in the Southern, Kerin reportedly directed a racial epithet at Little Rock pitcher Emilio Palmero during a disagreement and suffered a beating from Palmero in retribution.65 Palmero was not quite 23 years old and Kerin 43; perhaps this episode taught the umpire that leading with his fists was not a sustainable approach.66

Kerin went back to Massachusetts in June 1918 as the Southern Association folded as a result of the World War I military draft, poor fan support, and increased travel costs.67 Within a few months, he’d found his next adventure. On August 1 he filed for a US passport, stating his purpose as travel to France and Great Britain as a field secretary for the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization that provided recreational and religious services for soldiers overseas.68 While abroad, Kerin coached a baseball team and taught soldiers to umpire.69

After coming back to the US in September 1919,70 Kerin returned to the reconstituted Southern Association in 1920, where he received mixed reviews. While one reporter called his umpiring “disgusting,” another described him as a “first-class umpire.”71

The most noteworthy judgment on his work that season belonged to a crowd in Nashville in August, who pelted the field with a prolonged deluge of soda bottles after Kerin called a visiting runner safe at home with what proved to be the winning run. Kerin’s temper got the better of him in the riotous conditions, and he tried to climb a wire fence in pursuit of one or more abusive fans. Visiting New Orleans Pelicans players finally convinced Kerin to shelter in their dugout. “He was wild and seemed like a crazy man,” a New Orleans reporter wrote. “He had to be held in the dugout to keep him from probably getting killed.”72

A fellow umpire named Scott Chestnutt73 introduced Kerin to his work as a salesman in the film industry. This was less stressful than getting hit by bottles, and it apparently paid better than umpiring; it was the first of several business pursuits that kept Kerin out of baseball for most of the 1920s. Chestnutt and Kerin worked for Lynch Enterprises, an operator of Southern movie theaters that allied with the Famous Players-Lasky movie studio to build a network of theaters—and, critics charged, to pressure competitors to sell out.74 A later news item listed Kerin as a salesman for United Artists Corporation.75

Stephen A. Lynch, founder of Lynch Enterprises, also found success as a Florida real estate developer.76 It’s not clear whether Kerin was directly influenced by Lynch. In any case, a massive real estate sales and development bubble drew scores of dreamers and schemers to Florida in the 1920s in what became known as the Great Florida Land Boom.77 Whatever his inspiration, Kerin also went into business as a real estate salesman in the Sunshine State, selling both timber and land.78

Kerin and a partner named H.H. Jackson, described as a former baseball player,79 jointly developed a poultry farm eight miles northwest of Orlando. A newspaper puff piece in May 1926 said the men had “studied poultry husbandry while in baseball” and had invested “many thousands of dollars,” predicting that the property “will soon become one of the show places of Orange County.”80 A similar news story the following month captured the optimistic flavor of the boom years: “Take a trip out Clarcona way and visit the White Leghorn farm now being conducted by two ex-baseball players, Kerin and Jackson. … Here you will see about 3,000 of the most beautiful birds ever produced anywhere at any time. … This farm, and the manner in which it is being conducted, will drive away any case of blues you may have.”81

Alas, the Great Florida Land Boom was headed for a crash, and Kerin was not destined to live out his days as a breeder of hens and roosters. By the time the Great Depression began in October 1929, Florida’s bubble had already burst, undone by investigations into crooked land dealing, a railroad embargo that slowed development, and several major storms.82 A foreclosure notice in July 1930 advertised the sale of property in the Orlando area belonging to Kerin and Jackson. While it was not specifically identified as the poultry farm, it was located on the same road.83

Presumably, the souring of Kerin’s business interests in Florida contributed to a decision to get his umpire’s mask out of mothballs. He was rehired at age 54 in 1929 by the Southern Association.84 A preseason story called him “one of the best umpires ever to work in the [Southern] loop.”85

But Kerin’s work that season must not have been up to his old standard—his contract was not renewed for 1930. “Booth Hopper, Jack Kerin and Gomer James were not retained as umpires in the Southern Association by [league president] John D. Martin’s announcement,” an Atlanta sportswriter snarked. “Unless memory has picked me off first base, those dear boys caused no end of howling last year in the left field bleachers.”86 Neither newspaper searches nor Kerin’s Sporting News umpire cards indicate that he umpired professionally after 1929.87

In October 1932, the 57-year-old Kerin was included in a list of newly registered voters in Pepperell, indicating that he had resettled in his home region.88 He maintained a few connections to the world of sports. In 1935, he was granted a U.S. patent for the design of a sports cleat.89 Four years later he umpired an Old-Timers Day game at Fenway Park, collecting the signatures of legends such as Cy Young, Smoky Joe Wood, and Home Run Baker on a baseball for his nephew.90

But at this late stage of life, he made his largest contributions in the political arena. Kerin was elected as his town’s delegate to the state Democratic political convention in 1936.91 In the 1930s and ’40s he served on Pepperell’s board of selectmen—the most powerful elected board in the traditional New England town government structure—and as a member of the town’s board of public welfare.92

Kerin still held these positions when he became seriously ill in early 1946.93 The old pitcher and umpire died of congestive heart failure in a Nashua, New Hampshire, hospital on March 16, 1946. He was less than two weeks past his 71st birthday.94 His fellow selectmen included a permanent tribute to him in Pepperell’s annual report, noting that the town had lost “a very good citizen and also a very sincere and conscientious Town officer.”95

Kerin was survived by a niece, Mary Munson, with whom he had been living, as well as two grandnieces and one grandnephew. Following services, he was buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Pepperell.96

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Brian Dunn and copyedited by Bill Lamb.

Sources

In addition to the sources listed in the Notes, the author also consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for information on players, teams, and seasons. He also thanks the Giamatti Research Center at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum for providing its clip file on John Kerin, as well as Amy Surak, archivist at Manhattan University, for responding to inquiries.

Photo credit

Rochester (New York) Union and Advertiser, January 26, 1907: 15.

Notes

1 “Punched Jack Kerin,” Fitchburg (Massachusetts) Sentinel, September 29, 1908: 2; “Umpire Kerin Knocked Down at Chicago Game,” Lynn (Massachusetts) Daily Evening Item, September 29, 1908: 6.

2 “Burkett Assaults Kerin, But the Latter Comes Back,” Fall River (Massachusetts) Daily Globe, August 30, 1912: 11; “New England League Crumbs,” Lynn Daily Evening Item, August 30, 1912: 6. “Punched Jack Kerin,” cited above, also mentions Kerin’s reputed handiness with his fists.

3 As of July 2026, Kerin was the only player, coach, manager, or umpire in Retrosheet records to list Townsend as his birthplace. Kerin’s birthplace and date are recorded in his own hand in a 1918 passport application, accessed via Familysearch.org in July 2026, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKDN-F7NN?lang=en.

4 1871 marriage record for John Kerin and Mary Sullivan, accessed via Familysearch.org in July 2026, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6R99-1SV?view=index&action=view&cc=1469062&lang=en.

5 1879 Massachusetts death record for John Kerin (misspelled “Kerrin”), accessed via Familysearch.org in July 2026, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-XCZ7-SVN?view=index&action=view&cc=1463156&lang=en.

6 1900 US Census listing for Frank and Mary Allen and family, accessed via FamilySearch.org in August 2026, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9TD-56Y?lang=en. John, who would have been about 25, was not listed as living with Frank and Mary Allen and his two sisters in this Census.

7 Kerin was identified as a Pepperell resident in “Pepperell,” Nashua (New Hampshire) Daily Telegraph, September 30, 1899: 3. Kerin’s 1910 U.S. Census listing (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2VT-7KW?lang=en), 1917 U.S. military draft registration card (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZND-FQ7?lang=en), 1920 U.S. Census listing (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MX1D-8C9?lang=en), and 1940 U.S. Census listing (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4FT-8KR?lang=en) all listed Pepperell as his residence. (All documents accessed via FamilySearch.org in July 2026.) Kerin’s 1946 newspaper obituary, cited elsewhere in this story, made no mention of a spouse or children. Finally, some citations list Kerin’s residence as East Pepperell; this is not an independent community but is a neighborhood of the town of Pepperell.

8 Research on FamilySearch.org and multiple online newspaper sites in 2026—ranging from major collections like Newspapers.com and GenealogyBank.com to smaller sites like FultonHistory and the Nashua (New Hampshire) Telegraph archives at https://nashua.advantage-preservation.com/ –failed to turn up specific references to Kerin’s high school-age years or any participation in amateur baseball before the mid-1890s. Kerin’s 1940 US Census listing, cited above, listed his highest level of education as two years of college though, as this biography explains, that seems questionable.

9 “A.E. Mann 24, P. Cogan 22,” Stoneham (Massachusetts) Independent, July 25, 1896: 5. Despite the football-type score, the article reported that Kerin, pitching for A.E. Mann & Cos., “did excellent work” until his starting catcher was hurt and forced to leave the game. A.E. Mann was a shoemaking factory, as mentioned in “May Move Their Factory from Stoneham,” Boston Evening Transcript, January 8, 1897: 8.

10 “Kerin Wants to Pitch,” Worcester (Massachusetts) Spy, March 9, 1899: 2. The story misidentified the Maine State League’s partial season as 1896; news coverage makes clear the league broke down in midseason 1897. (One example: “Base Ball,” Belfast (Maine) Republican Journal, July 8, 1897: 1.) Another news item listed Kerin as 5’11” and 190 pounds: “Notes,” Bangor (Maine) Commercial, April 29, 1897: 2.

11 “One More Pitcher for Augusta,” Augusta (Maine) Daily Kennebec Journal, April 28, 1897: 5. Kerin’s use of a pseudonym is also mentioned in a story published during his umpiring years: “Kerin in Grandstand,” Worcester (Massachusetts) Daily Telegram, August 31, 1910: 8.

12 “Amateurs Busy,” Boston Globe, June 20, 1898: 10.

13 The New England League did not operate in 1900. Kerin spent that season in another Class F circuit, the Connecticut State League, pitching for teams in Bridgeport and Waterbury. “New England League,” Baseball-Reference B-R Bullpen, accessed July 2026, https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/New_England_League; “State League Players,” Waterbury (Connecticut) Evening Democrat, May 4, 1900: 7; “Waterbury Walloped,” Waterbury Evening Democrat, June 30, 1900: 7.

14 As of July 2026, Kerin was credited on Baseball-Reference with pitching for New England League teams in Fitchburg/Lawrence, Haverhill, Lowell, and Taunton, Massachusetts, and Manchester and Nashua, New Hampshire. Research for this story found news stories or box scores confirming his participation in games for Fitchburg/Lawrence and Taunton in 1899, and Haverhill and Lowell in 1901. Kerin’s appearances for two teams in 1899 can be explained by the fact that one of the teams, Fitchburg/Lawrence, folded partway through the season. All four teams for whom Kerin is credited with pitching in 1901 lasted the entire season.

15 “Close Games to Finish,” Boston Globe, August 4, 1899: 4.

16 “Opening Game,” Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun, May 16, 1901: 10. The fact that Kerin went from being described as “a pitcher of remarkable speed” to a slow-curve artist within a few years’ time could be a comment on his developing arm trouble. Or the reporters who wrote those descriptions might simply have seen him on nights when he emphasized one part of his repertoire above another.

17 “Like School Boys,” Lowell Sun, June 18, 1901: 2. Manchester beat Lowell, 10-0, in Kerin’s first game; he was the sole umpire working.

18 “Baseball Notes,” Nashua Daily Telegraph, July 8, 1901: 7; “Alternated in the Lead,” Boston Globe, August 2, 1901: 4.

19 “Kerin in Grandstand.”

20 “Manhattan, 9; Vermont, 0,” New-York Daily Tribune, May 4, 1902: 6; “Manhattan Defeats Cuban X Giants,” New-York Daily Tribune, April 12, 1902: 4.

21 Author’s email correspondence with Amy Surak, archivist of what is now called Manhattan University, in August 2026. Surak provided a photo of the college’s student registry from spring 1902, confirming that the John P. Kerin who pitched for Manhattan was the same one who later became an AL umpire. (Manhattan’s Kerin listed his hometown as East Pepperell, Massachusetts.) Surak reported that college records showed no sign of Kerin attending the school at any other time. Also, newspaper searches by the author failed to find matches for Kerin and Manhattan outside the spring of 1902.

22 Author’s email correspondence with Amy Surak, who reported that the student registry listed Kerin’s age as 25. At the time he arrived at Manhattan in March 1902, he would have been just past his 27th birthday.

23 “Manhattan Varsity is the Best College Team of Year,” New York World, May 6, 1902: 6. While many stories from spring 1902 identify Kerin only by his last name, this one uses his full name, Jack Kerin.

24 “Umpire John Kerin,” Boston Sunday Herald, September 20, 1903: 42.

25 “Groton 12, Tufts ’04 9,” Boston Globe, April 23, 1903: 5; “Groton Captured Game,” Boston Globe, May 14, 1903: 2; “Morse Tips,” Fall River Daily Herald, July 30, 1903: 2.

26 “New England League News,” Sporting Life, September 12, 1903: 16.

27 “New England League,” Fall River (Massachusetts) Evening Globe, September 10, 1903: 6.

28 “Lowell 7, Manchester 2,” New Bedford (Massachusetts) Evening Standard, September 2, 1903: 9; “Baseball Gossip,” Fall River (Massachusetts) Daily Herald, September 4, 1903: 2. The latter story, part of which reprints commentary from a Manchester, New Hampshire, newspaper, reported that Whiting started the altercation, but Kerin “[rushed] in for a scrimmage with a player.”

29 Interestingly, Tim Jordan, who hit .305 that season for Nashua of the New England League, also made his only two big-league appearances of 1903 in these same two games, starting at first base for the Highlanders. Jordan went on to become an early power threat, twice leading the National League in home runs (in 1906 and 1908) with the Brooklyn Superbas.

30 The 1903 season was Hassett’s only season as a big-league ump. News stories indicate that Hassett had been suspended earlier in the season and had been widely criticized by sportswriters. “On the Diamond,” Bay City (Michigan) Evening Times, September 16, 1903: 5. Hassett’s firing is mentioned in a “Baseball Gossip” column printed in multiple newspapers, including the Abilene (Kansas) Daily Chronicle, September 21, 1903: 3.

31 “Hits and Errors,” Boston Globe, September 15, 1903: 5. This article incorrectly refers to the umpire as “Kerins.”

32 “Almost a Walkover,” Boston Herald, September 16, 1903: 8.

33 At the time research for this biography began in the summer of 2026, Retrosheet credited the two 1903 games to Kerins. After the author provided news stories indicating that Kerin worked the games, they were switched to the career record of Kerin.

34 “Almost a Walkover”; “Umpire John Kerin.”

35 “Pennant for Lowell,” Boston Sunday Herald, September 13, 1903: 10. Box scores in that day’s Herald indicate that Kerin umpired a doubleheader between the Manchester, New Hampshire, and Lawrence, Massachusetts, teams on the season’s final day.

36 Bill Lamb, “Jack Kerins,” SABR Biography Project, accessed August 2026, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/jack-kerins/.

37 “Jack Kerin Will Not Officiate,” Lynn Daily Evening Item, February 8, 1906: 7; “Notes,” New Bedford Evening Standard, June 14, 1906: 9; “John Kerin,” Rochester (New York) Union and Advertiser, January 26, 1907: 15.

38 “Concord Batted Hard in Fourth,” Lynn Daily Evening Item, June 28, 1905: 11; “Baseball Notes,” Fall River Daily Herald, July 21, 1906: 2; “Sporting Odds and Ends,” Kansas City Journal, June 14, 1907: 7.

39 “Sporting Odds and Ends.”

40 “Kerin’s Weird Guessing,” Kansas City Times, July 8, 1907: 12. This article sharply criticizes Kerin’s work during the previous day’s game.

41 “Johnson Gets Umpires for the Double System,” Cleveland Press, August 26, 1908: 6.

42 One news account said Perrine did not report for major-league work in 1908 because of the relatively late close of the Pacific Coast League season. “Kerin To Umpire in Ban’s League,” Columbus (Ohio) Evening Dispatch, August 27, 1908: 11.

43 Dougherty was on second base and George Davis was on first when Jiggs Donahue grounded to Red Sox shortstop Heinie Wagner. Wagner’s throw to third hit Dougherty and rolled away, apparently allowing Dougherty to score the tying run. But Kerin called Dougherty out at third, ruling that he had interfered with Wagner’s throw. The White Sox subsequently scored a run to tie the game but could not muster a go-ahead run. I.E. Sanborn, “Sox Game Is a Tie; Umpire Attacked,” Chicago Daily Tribune, September 29, 1908: 8.

44 “Cantwell Slugs an Umpire,” Chicago Daily Tribune, September 29, 1908: 1; “Notes of the White Sox,” Chicago Daily Tribune, September 29, 1908: 8; “Sox Rooter Breaks Umpire’s Nose for Ruling Losing Game,” Chicago Inter Ocean, September 29, 1908: 1; “Neither Could Win in 10 Innings,” Boston Globe, September 29, 1908: 5. Both Chicago Daily Tribune accounts specified that Cantwell was behind Kerin when he punched the umpire. Because a strong punch on the nose is difficult to land from behind, it’s possible that Cantwell was actually at Kerin’s side, or at an angle to him.

45 “Hold Cantwell Hit Umpire,” Chicago Daily Tribune, October 13, 1908: 3; “Cantwell Must Pay a Fine,” Washington Post, April 16, 1911: Sports:1. Kerin himself wrote about the play and the attack in John Kerin, “The Toughest Decision I Ever Made,” Boston Globe, March 28, 1912: 8.

46 Kerin thumbed Ed Karger, Bunny Madden, Larry Pape, and Smoky Joe Wood for bench jockeying.

47 “Record Game Played in American League,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, July 17, 1909: 7; “Washington and Detroit Battle Eighteen Innings Without Score,” St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat, July 17, 1909: 9. The record was surpassed on September 11, 1946, when the Cincinnati Reds and Brooklyn Dodgers played a 19-inning scoreless tie in Brooklyn.

48 Phil Williams, “July 16, 1909: Tigers-Senators game called after 18 innings in scoreless tie,” SABR Baseball Games Project, accessed August 2026, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-16-1909-tigers-senators-game-called-after-18-innings-in-scoreless-tie/.

49 “Fans Are Not Greatly Impressed With the Work of Umpire Kerin,” Cleveland Press, April 19, 1909: 10.

50 “Umpire Helps to Defeat Nationals,” Washington Evening Star, May 22, 1909: 1:10. On a full count to the Cleveland Naps’ Bill Bradley, Kerin ruled the payoff pitch ball four; he then ejected Washington catcher Gabby Street for complaining. The Washington Herald’s game story on the same day was headlined, “Umpire Is Blamed for Nationals’ Defeat at the Hands of Naps.”

51 “Kerin’s Bad Break Hits Browns Hard,” St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat, May 29, 1909: 8; James Crusinberry, “Hit-and-Run Game Defeats McAleer’s Men,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 29, 1909: 6.

52 Henry P. Edwards, “New York Scores Only Run of Game,” and “Sheridan Prevents Fight on Bench,” both Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 23, 1909: 6.

53 Kerin was criticized for making an out call at third base; the Post said he “has a habit of making decisions on close plays at long range.” J. Ed Grillo, “Rube Proves Easy,” and “Snapshot Showing Umpire Kerin’s Error,” both Washington Post, August 8, 1909: Sports:1.

54 Kerin made the last 11 appearances of this stretch, between June 15 and 26, working the basepaths.

55 “Bench Breezes and Fanfares in Fandom,” Lynn Daily Evening Item, July 15, 1910: 7; “Jack Kerin Is Ill,” Pittsburg Press, July 19, 1910: 19; H.G. Salsinger, “Detroit Is After Five Collegiate Pitchers,” Detroit News, July 6, 1910: 11.

56 E.A. Batchelor, “Frightful First Is Fateful to Champions,” Detroit Free Press, August 11, 1910: 8.

57 “Tigers Are in Bad Shape to Start Eastern Trip,” Detroit Times, August 13, 1910: 6.

58 The 1910 regular season in the AL ended on October 9.

59 J. Ed Grillo, “Washington Club Puts In Drafts for Ten Players,” Washington Evening Star, August 30, 1910: 10; Stephen V. Rice, “Jack Sheridan,” SABR Biography Project, accessed August 2026, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/jack-sheridan/. News items in Detroit and Pittsburgh also blamed Kerin’s firing on ill health that had prevented him from doing the job well: “Little Bits of Baseball,” Pittsburg Press, September 11, 1910: Sports: 2; E.A. Batchelor, “Five Catchers Now Are on Pres. Navin’s Roster,” Detroit Free Press, September 9, 1910: 9. Other articles did not question Kerin’s eyesight; the author of this biography guesses that “faulty eyesight” may have been a euphemism for poor judgment.

60 This total includes the two games in Boston in 1903 that have often been credited to Jack Kerins, as discussed earlier in this story.

61 “Kerin On Way Home Stops in Worcester,” Worcester Daily Telegram, June 17, 1918: 9; “Umpire Staff Complete,” Boston Globe, April 11, 1912: 7; “Burkett Assaults Kerin, But the Latter Comes Back,” Fall River Daily Globe, August 30, 1912: 11. According to “Kerin On Way Home Stops in Worcester,” malaria sidelined the umpire in 1911.

62 “Veteran Umpires Will Be Missing,” New Orleans Item, January 26, 1913: 6; “Kerin On Way Home Stops in Worcester.”

63 “Southern League Umpire Will Handle Big Game,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, May 31, 1913: 11; “Yale Draws First Blood on Tigers,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 1, 1913: Sports: 3.

64 Among various news items making reference to Kerin’s fox hunting: “General Sporting Notes,” Fitchburg Daily Sentinel, March 4, 1913: 6.

65 “Inside Stuff,” (Little Rock) Arkansas Gazette, May 23, 1918: 13. The fight is described more briefly in “Cuban Pitcher and Umpire Kerin Put On Fistic Contest,” New Orleans Item, May 10, 1918: 10.

66 The author of this biography tried to determine whether the Palmero incident was Kerin’s last physical fight as an umpire. Unfortunately, a newspaper database search for the terms “umpire,” “Kerin,” and “fight” turned up too many irrelevant matches to be useful.

67 Unheadlined item, Fitchburg Daily Sentinel, June 17, 1918: 6. Another news item has Kerin among four Southern League umpires getting fired in mid-June. However, the story indicates the league was cutting back from two umps per game to one, which suggests that the decision may have been based as much on league finances as on Kerin’s performance. “Carpenter, Brennan, Pfenninger, Chestnutt Retained as Umpires by President Baugh,” New Orleans States, June 13, 1918: 11.

68 Passport application for John Patrick Kerin, accessed via FamilySearch.org in August 2026, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKDN-F7NN?lang=en; “K of C Service in the Great War,” Knights of Columbus website, accessed August 2026, https://www2.kofc.org/en/news-room/columbia/2017/may/kofc-service-great-war.html.

69 “Knights of Columbus,” Fall River Daily Globe, August 2, 1919: 3; “Doughboys Play Ball Nearly Until Midnight Along Rhine River,” Houston Chronicle, October 20, 1919: 8.

70 Listing in New York (Ellis Island) passenger arrival list for September 13, 1919, accessed via FamilySearch.org in August 2026, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J642-NP8?lang=en.

71 W.N. Stone, “Travelers and Chattanooga Battle Six Times in Next Three Days, Due to Mr. Rain,” (Little Rock) Arkansas Democrat, September 2, 1920: 7; “One Game Today; B. Allen Refuses to Play Pair,” Chattanooga (Tennessee) Sunday Times, July 25, 1920: 19. Interestingly, Little Rock reporter Stone classified Kerin as the league’s second-best umpire in late August but had apparently soured on him a few weeks later. W.N. Stone, “Jazzin’ the Sport Game,” Arkansas Democrat, August 21, 1920: 7.

72 Cliff Abbo, “Nashville Fans Stage Disgraceful Exhibition Against Umpire Kerin,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 23, 1920: 8; “Mad Bugs Bombard Umpires,” Atlanta Constitution, August 23, 1920: 7.

73 Scott Chestnutt umpired in several minor leagues, including the International League and Southern Association, but never reached the majors. Upon his death in 1948, his newspaper obituary described him as “the dean of film salesmen in the South,” well-known to theater operators throughout the region. Sporting News umpire card for Scott Chestnut [sic], accessed via Retrosheet in July 2026, https://retrosheet.org/TSNUmpireCards/Chestnut-Scott.jpg; “Scott E. Chestnutt,” Atlanta Journal, May 12, 1948: 26.

74 “Martin Needs Four Umpires,” Birmingham (Alabama) Age-Herald, March 18, 1921:10; “Scotty Chestnut [sic] Jack Kerin Among Orleans Visitors,” New Orleans States, December 29, 1922: 12. Background on Stephen A. Lynch, the founder of Lynch Enterprises, and his business relationship with Famous Players-Lasky can be found in “Stephen A. Lynch Genius of Movies,” Raleigh (North Carolina) News and Observer, July 7, 1927: 2.

75 Herbert Caldwell, “Wise and Otherwise,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, January 19, 1930: 19.

76 “Stephen A. Lynch Genius of Movies.”

77 Joshua Ceballos, “History We Call Home: How the Great Land Boom Shaped South Florida 100 Years Ago,” WLRN (South Florida National Public Radio), accessed July 2026, https://www.wlrn.org/south-florida/2025-03-24/south-florida-centennial-100-years-cities.

78 Kerin is described as “selling real estate in Miami” in Howard S. Purser, “Sport by Shots,” Miami Herald, November 6, 1925: 12A. A few months later, a classified ad for “Kerin Realty Co.” selling timber and property in Orlando appeared in the Orlando Morning Sentinel, February 10, 1926: 2:5.

79 A search of Baseball-Reference in July 2026 did not find a player named Jackson listed on any of the teams for which Kerin is recorded as playing. However, Baseball-Reference’s minor-league records from that period were not always complete and definitive as of that time.

80 “Oakhurst Poultry Farm Destined to Be One of Show Places Here,” Orlando Morning Sentinel, May 16, 1926: 7.

81 H.T. Holton and Ray A. Frame, “Floridians Show Interest in All Farming Projects,” Orlando Morning Sentinel, June 13, 1926: 4:1.

82 Ashley Gonzalez, “Flagler City and the Florida Land Boom and Bust of the 1920s,” Flagler County (Florida) Historical Society website, accessed July 2026, https://flaglercountyhistoricalsociety.com/flagler-city-and-the-florida-land-boom-and-bust-of-the-1920s/.

83 “Master’s Notice,” Orlando Evening Reporter-Star, July 12, 1930: 7. The same advertisement also appeared in the July 26 edition, advertising a scheduled sale of the property on August 4. The location of the property is described as “north of the Clarcona clay road;” “Oakhurst Poultry Farm Destined to Be One of Show Places Here” describes the farm’s location as “the Clarcona road.” Incidentally, a legal advertisement related to the foreclosure gave Kerin’s address of record as care of United Artists Corporation in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Notice,” Orlando Evening Reporter-Star, June 10, 1930: 9.

84 Associated Press, “Southern Association’s Umpires Are Selected,” Alexandria (Louisiana) Daily Town Talk, February 8, 1929: 2. Available sources do not explain, or provide a date for, Kerin’s departure from the film business.

85 Henry Vance, “On the Level,” Birmingham Age-Herald, February 15, 1929: 10.

86 Ed Danforth, “Mawnin’!,” Atlanta Constitution, April 5, 1930: 19.

87 Based on searches of Newspapers.com and GenealogyBank.com for terms including “Jack Kerin” umpire and “John Kerin” umpire for the years 1930 and 1931, conducted in July 2026. A search of The Sporting News’ archives for Kerin during 1930 and 1931 also turned up no mentions of him. Kerin has two Sporting News umpire cards, both accessed via Retrosheet.org in July 2026. The first identifies him as John Kerin and lists his minor-league stops between 1911 and 1920; the second lists him as Jack P. Kerin and mentions only his Southern Association tenure and his death. Neither card mentions his major-league work.

88 “Pepperell,” Fitchburg Sentinel, October 21, 1932: 14.

89 “Official Gazette of the U.S. Patent Office,” Vol. 460-461, November-December 1935: 1235, accessed via the Internet Archive in July 2026, https://archive.org/details/officialgazette460unit/page/n1234/mode/2up; “Index of Patents Issued from the United States Patent Office,” 1935: 851, accessed via the Internet Archive in July 2026, https://archive.org/details/indexofpatentsis1935unit/mode/2up. Athletic shoes were apparently an interest of Kerin’s: In 1938, he wrote a letter to the Boston Globe asking why New England’s shoe factories did not make athletic footwear. “A Pertinent Question,” Boston Globe, January 10, 1938: 14.

90 “Pepperell,” Lowell Sun, July 14, 1939: 10.

91 “Democratic State Convention Delegates,” Boston Globe, April 29, 1936: 14; Commonwealth of Massachusetts, “Presidential Preference by Districts and Number of Votes Received by Each Candidate for Election as Delegate and Alternate Delegate to the Democratic National Convention, the Democratic State Convention and State Committee at the Party Primary, April 28, 1936”: 77, accessed via the Internet Archive in July 2026, https://archive.org/details/electionstatisti19351936mass/page/76/mode/2up.

92 Kerin can be seen listed in both positions in Pepperell town reports, which are official annual documents issued by every Massachusetts community summarizing the community’s operations over the preceding year. One example is the Pepperell annual report for the year ending December 31, 1943: 3, accessed via the Internet Archive in July 2026, https://archive.org/details/annualreportsofo1943pepp/page/n7/mode/2up.

93 “Report of Selectmen for the Year Ending December 31, 1946,” 1946 Pepperell, Massachusetts, annual report: 8, accessed via the Internet Archive in July 2026, https://archive.org/details/annualreportsofo1946pepp/page/n13/mode/2up. Kerin’s illness was also reported in “Pepperell,” Fitchburg Sentinel, February 6, 1946: 4.

94 New Hampshire death certificate for John P. Kerin, accessed July 2026 via FamilySearch.org, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FDKY-WJS?lang=en; “Deaths Recorded 1946,” Pepperell, Massachusetts, annual report for 1946: 26, accessed in July 2026 via the Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/annualreportsofo1946pepp/page/n31/mode/2up.

95 “Report of Selectmen for the Year Ending December 31, 1946,” Pepperell, Massachusetts, annual report for 1946.

96 “John P. Kerin, Former Umpire, Dies, Age 71,” Fitchburg Sentinel, March 16, 1946: 10.