Umpires in Postseason

Editor’s note: All statistics are current through the 2016 season.

 

Playing in postseason is a special time for players. It is also special for umpires who are assigned to officiate.

The first modern World Series in 1903 was umpired by two men: Hank O’Day and Tommy Connolly. O’Day, a retired player, had been a member of the National League staff since 1897, but had umpired some games in the American Association, Players League, and the NL as early as 1884. Connolly represented the American League in this Series. He had worked some games in the AA and NL before joining the NL staff in 1898 and moving to the AL in 1901. O’Day went on to umpire 57 games in 10 World Series assignments while Connolly worked eight Series, encompassing 45 games. Both men are Hall of Fame umpires.

On October 9, 1907, the Tigers were playing the Cubs in Game Two of the Series at Chicago. In the top of the third inning, Germany Schaefer was called out at second on a steal attempt. Tigers manager Hughie Jennings argued the call and was ejected by Hank O’Day. This was the first ejection in a postseason contest. In 1972, Sparky Anderson became the first person to be tossed from a postseason game that was not the World Series. In the first game of the National League Championship Series, Cesar Geronimo hit a line drive in the top of the fourth frame that struck first-base umpire Ken Burkhart. Burkhart ruled it a foul ball and then ejected Anderson for arguing the call. Bobby Cox is the only person to be ejected more than once in postseason. He was tossed three times, twice in the World Series (1992, 1996) and once in the NL Division Series (2010). A complete list of postseason ejections can be found at the end of this article.

The umpire with the most World Series ejections is George Moriarty (3). For all of postseason, the leader, in addition to Moriarty, is Vic Carapazza (3 in the Division Series). Of note is the fact that both Harry and Hunter Wendelstedt have ejected someone in postseason. Commissioner Kenesaw Landis pulled Joe Medwick of the Cardinals from the seventh and final game of the 1934 World Series. Medwick and Mickey Owen tangled in the sixth inning and Medwick was pelted with fruit and bottles by Tigers fans. Landis decided to remove Medwick from the contest for Medwick’s safety.

Bill Klem appeared in the World Series for the first time in 1908. “The Old Arbitrator,” who made his National League debut in 1905, worked 103 Series games in 18 Series assignments through 1940. Both of these figures are records for an umpire in the World Series. Klem is the only umpire to work more than two consecutive Series, having umpired in five consecutive seasons from 1911 through 1915. Cy Rigler is a distant second in games worked in the Series with 62. Refer to lists at the end of the article for more information.

In the 1908 Series, four different umpires worked games. Jack Sheridan (AL) and Hank O’Day (NL) alternated with Bill Klem (NL) and Tommy Connolly (AL). This was the first time that more than two umpires worked in one Series. In 1909, the same alternation of assignments was used to start the Series. Jim Johnstone (NL) and Silk O’Loughlin (AL) umpired Games One and Three while Klem and Billy Evans were on the field for Game Two. All four umpires worked on the field for the first time in Game Four, with Klem behind the plate and Evans on the bases. O’Loughlin and Johnstone were positioned on the outfield lines. This change of umpire assignments occurred due to a controversial foul call in Game Two of the Series.

The assignments with two arbiters in the outfield lasted though the 1916 Series. In 1917, the four umpires all stood in the infield. The home plate and first base umpires still acted as a pair and they moved to second and third for Game Two. In 1918, the four umpires worked a rotation around the infield as we see now: home plate to third base to second base to first base. This method continued through 1946, but more on that later.

The 1911 Series featured umpire Bill Dinneen, a former big-league pitcher. Dinneen had pitched in the 1903 World Series for the Boston Americans and became the first person to both play and umpire in the World Series. Dinneen went on to umpire in eight Series (45 total games).

The people who have played and umpired in the World Series are listed in Table 1 in alphabetical order. No one has played in a League Championship or Division Series and also umpired in postseason.

 

Table 1 — People Who Played and Umpired in Postseason

Player/Umpire	Played	Umpired
Bill Dinneen	1903	1911, 1914, 1916, 1920, 1924, 1926, 1929, 1932
George Moriarty	1909	1921, 1925, 1930, 1933, 1935
George Pipgras	1927-28, 1932	1944
Eddie Rommel	1921, 1931	1943, 1947
Frank Secory	1945	1957, 1959, 1964, 1969
Lon Warneke	1932, 1935	1954

 

The first time six umpires worked in a postseason game was in the 1947 World Series. The lineup for game 1 at Yankee Stadium was Bill McGowan (AL, HP), Babe Pinelli (NL, 1B), Eddie Rommell (AL, 2B), Larry Goetz (NL, 3B), George Magerkurth (NL, LF), and Jim Boyer (AL, RF). Magerkurth and Boyer worked only in the outfield for the seven-game series. This practice continued through the 1963 World Series. Starting in 1964, all six arbiters rotated through all six positions, which is the current practice.

In 1984, staff umpires went on strike and all except one game of the two League Championship Series were worked by college umpires. In the American League, retired arbiter Bill Deegan worked behind home plate for all three games. Jon Bible, a veteran of four College World Series, umpired at first in the series while Randy Christal, also a four-time College World Series veteran who also had umpired in the 1984 Olympics, worked at second. Nine other umpires worked the other positions in the three-game series, with no one umpiring more than one contest. These were the only major-league games umpired by Bible and Christal.

In the National League Championship Series, four men worked the first two games in Chicago and four new umpires worked the next two games in San Diego. The strike was settled after Game Four and a four-man crew of veteran staff umpires worked the deciding Game Five in San Diego: John Kibler, Paul Runge, John McSherry, and Doug Harvey.

In 1990, Gerry Davis, then a nine-year veteran in the majors, worked as the junior man on the crew for the National League Championship Series. This was Davis’ first postseason experience but certainly not his last. Through the 2016 season, Davis has umpired more postseason games than any other person in history, with 133 (24 in the World Series, 57 in the League Championship Series, 50 in the Division Series, and 2 Wild Card games). He has had more opportunities to do so with extra rounds having been added in 1995 (Division Series) and 2012 (Wild Card Play-in games). However, Davis is at least 11 games ahead of his contemporaries, who have had equal opportunity to umpire in the postseason.

In 2009, there was a series of incorrect calls in early rounds of the playoffs, which led to a reassessment of how umpires are chosen for the World Series. That year, three umpires with at least 25 years in the majors and three World Series assignments each (Gerry Davis, Dana DeMuth, and Joe West) were selected along with three umpires with at least 11 years on staff and one Series assignment each. This was a major change from recent practice. From 1983 through 2008, only one World Series did not have an umpire working his first Series assignment (1997).

More recently, the initial positioning of umpires to start a series has changed. The tradition was that the crew chief would umpire at home plate in Game One, but, more recently, the crew chief has started in right field with another experienced umpire at the plate for Game One. This change places two experienced umpires who are highly-rated calling balls and strikes behind home plate for Games Six and Seven. In the LCS, the crew chief starts at second base. In the five-game Division Series, the chief starts in left field.

When the expanded replay system was put in place for the 2014 season, a small change was made to umpiring assignments for the postseason. An umpire was tasked as the replay official in New York during games for each series. The home plate umpire for Game One of each series worked two games on the field and then switched with the replay official for the rest of the series. This system is in place for the Division, League, and World Series. There is also a replay official for the Wild Card games. With the addition of one more umpire to a seven-game series, the starting rotation changed again. The crew chief started at second base and the umpire who was to leave after two games was the home plate umpire for Game One.

 

Most Games Umpired in the World Series
(through the 2016 season)

• 103 — Bill Klem
• 62 — Cy Rigler
• 57 — Hank O’Day
• 47 — Bill Summers
• 45 — Tommy Connolly
• 45 — Bill Dinneen
• 43 — Bill McGowan
• 42 — Al Barlick
• 42 — Jim Honochick
• 38 — Billy Evans
• 38 — Ernie Quigley
• 36 — Babe Pinelli
• 34 — Ed Montague
• 33 — Augie Donatelli
• 33 — Harry Wendelstedt
• 33 — Joe West

Most World Series Appearances

• 18 — Bill Klem
• 10 — Hank O’Day
• 10 — Cy Rigler
• 8 — Tommy Connolly
• 8 — Bill Dinneen
• 8 — Bill McGowan
• 8 — Bill Summers
• 7 — Al Barlick
• 6 — Billy Evans
• 6 — Jim Honochick
• 6 — Ed Montague
• 6 — Babe Pinelli
• 6 — Ernie Quigley
• 6 — Joe West

Most League Championship Series Appearances

• 12 — Jerry Crawford
• 10 — Gerry Davis
• 10 — Bruce Froemming
• 9 — Doug Harvey
• 9 — Randy Marsh
• 9 — Tim McClelland
• 9 — Mike Reilly
• 9 — Paul Runge
• 9 — Joe West
• 8 — Ted Barrett
• 8 — Angel Hernandez
• 8 — John McSherry

Most Division Series Appearances

• 12 — Gerry Davis
• 11 — Dale Scott
• 10 — Gary Darling
• 10 — Dana DeMuth
• 10 — Brian Gorman
• 10 — John Hirschbeck
• 10 — Jim Joyce
• 10 — Mike Winters
• 9 — Eric Cooper
• 9 — Paul Emmel
• 9 — Bruce Froemming
• 9 — Greg Gibson
• 9 — Jeff Kellogg
• 9 — Ron Kulpa
• 9 — Jerry Layne
• 9 — Tim Tschida

Most Games Umpired in Postseason

• 133 — Gerry Davis
• 122 — Joe West
• 111 — Bruce Froemming
• 111 — Jerry Crawford
• 103 — Bill Klem
• 100 — Jeff Kellogg
• 99 — Ed Montague
• 98 — Tim Welke
• 96 — Dana DeMuth
• 95 — Ted Barrett
• 94 — Tim McClelland
• 94 — Mike Winters
• 93 — John Hirschbeck
• 92 — Randy Marsh
• 91 — Mike Reilly
• 91 — Dale Scott

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Table 2 — Postseason Ejections
(Through the 2016 season)

Date	Series	Ejectee	Umpire	Reason
10/09/1907	WS	Hughie Jennings	Hank O’Day	Call at 2B
10/12/1909	WS	Bill Donovan	Bill Klem	Refusing to end conf. with 3B coach
10/20/1910	WS	Frank Chance	Tommy Connolly	Home run call
10/22/1910	WS	Tom Needham	Tommy Connolly	Bench jockeying
10/06/1919	WS	Ray Schalk	Cy Rigler	Call at HP
10/06/1919	WS	Jimmy Smith	Cy Rigler	Bench jockeying
10/10/1923	WS	Bullet Joe Bush	Hank O’Day	Call at 1B
10/06/1933	WS	Heinie Manush	Charlie Moran	Call at 1B (Bumped umpire)
10/09/1934	WS	Joe Medwick	Kenesaw Landis	Disruption after fight at 3B
10/04/1935	WS	Woody English	George Moriarty	Bench jockeying
10/04/1935	WS	Charlie Grimm	George Moriarty	Bench jockeying
10/04/1935	WS	Tuck Stainback	George Moriarty	Bench jockeying
10/04/1935	WS	Del Baker	Ernie Quigley	Call at 3B
10/07/1952	WS	Ralph Branca	Larry Goetz	Bench jockeying
10/08/1959	WS	Chuck Dressen	Eddie Hurley	Balls and strikes
10/15/1969	WS	Earl Weaver	Shag Crawford	Balls and strikes
10/07/1972	LCS	Sparky Anderson	Ken Burkhart	Fair/foul call
10/08/1972	LCS	Lerrin LaGrow	Nestor Chylak	Intentional HBP
10/08/1972	LCS	Bert Campaneris	Nestor Chylak	Fighting (Threw bat)
10/12/1972	LCS	Frank Howard	John Rice	Call at 1B
10/21/1976	WS	Billy Martin	Bruce Froemming	Throwing baseball onto field
10/27/1985	WS	Joaquin Andujar	Don Denkinger	Balls and strikes
10/27/1985	WS	Whitey Herzog	Don Denkinger	Balls and strikes
10/10/1986	LCS	Gene Mauch	Nick Bremigan	Call at HP (Reversed)
10/25/1987	WS	Danny Cox	Dave Phillips	Balls and strikes
10/08/1988	LCS	Bruce Hurst	Ken Kaiser	Interference call
10/08/1988	LCS	Jay Howell	Harry Wendelstedt	Doctored ball (Pine tar)
10/10/1990	LCS	Marty Barrett	Terry Cooney	Balls and strikes (Threw equipment)
10/10/1990	LCS	Roger Clemens	Terry Cooney	Balls and strikes
10/13/1991	LCS	Cito Gaston	Mike Reilly	Balls and strikes
10/20/1992	WS	Bobby Cox	Joe West	Checked swing (Threw helmet)
10/04/1995	LDS	Raul Mondesi	Bob Davidson	Balls and strikes
10/17/1995	LCS	Luis Sojo	Drew Coble	Called third strike
10/09/1996	LCS	Davey Johnson	Rich Garcia	Fan interference non-call
10/26/1996	WS	Bobby Cox	Tim Welke	Call at 2B
09/30/1998	LDS	Dwight Gooden	Joe Brinkman	Call at HP
09/30/1998	LDS	Mike Hargrove	Joe Brinkman	Call at HP
10/09/1999	LDS	Cookie Rojas	Charlie Williams	Fair/foul call (Bumped umpire)
10/17/1999	LCS	Jimy Williams	Dale Scott	Call at 1B
10/15/2000	LCS	Dave Duncan	Steve Rippley	Balls and strikes
10/16/2005	LCS	Tony LaRussa	Phil Cuzzi	Balls and strikes
10/16/2005	LCS	Jim Edmonds	Phil Cuzzi	Balls and strikes
10/11/2008	LCS	John Farrell	Sam Holbrook	Balls and strikes
10/07/2010	LDS	Joe Maddon	Jim Wolf	Checked swing
10/07/2010	LDS	Ron Gardenhire	Hunter Wendelstedt	Balls and strikes
10/08/2010	LDS	Bobby Cox	Paul Emmel	Call at 1B (Threw hat)
10/14/2012	LCS	Joe Girardi	Jeff Nelson	Call at 2B
10/04/2014	LDS	Asdrubal Cabrera	Vic Carapazza	Called third strike (Threw bat)
10/04/2014	LDS	Matt Williams	Vic Carapazza	Called third strike
10/07/2015	WC	Sean Rodriguez	Jeff Nelson	Fighting
10/14/2015	LDS	Mark Buehrle	Dale Scott	Coming onto the field (not on roster)
10/14/2015	LDS	Michael Saunders	Vic Carapazza	Bench jockeying
10/19/2015	LCS	Troy Tulowitzki	John Hirschbeck	Called third strike