Umpires

    Umpires are an essential part of every baseball game. Taking note of their importance, the Hall of Fame has been inducting them for some time now. I personally am not sure if any umpires belong in the Hall of Fame at all, but I will nevertheless list the best few umpires on the outside looking in. 

Bill McLean was the first famous umpire, officiating from the early 1870's until 1890, briefly holding a few major records. He umpired the first game in NL history on April 22, 1876, and was nicknamed "King of the Umpires." McLean, a fine umpire in the game's rowdy era, was also a former prizefighter. 

Cy Rigler umpired from 1906 through 1935, and is best known as the first to raise his arm to signal a strike. Rigler, who called ten World Series and the very first all-star game in 1933, was also the youngest umpire in MLB history. 

Lee Ballanfant called professional games for 41 seasons, including 22 years as a NL umpire from 1936 through 1957. A popular umpire with a reputation for being in position to make the call, Ballanfant worked four World Series and four all-star games. 

Bill Summers was an AL umpire from 1933 through 1959. He called eight World Series and a record seven all-star games. 

Babe Pinelli played third base in the Majors for eight seasons, twice topping the .300 mark. As an umpire, he called nearly 3,400 games across 22 seasons. He also umpired six World Series and four all-star games. 

Bruce Froemming umpired from 1971 through 2007, a total of 37 seasons, which was the MLB record until 2015. He was the second umpire to work in 5,000 games, and holds career records for the most championship series and postseason games as an umpire. 

Lucky Hall Of Famer Number 28 - Bill Klem

    Bill Klem umpired in the National League from 1905 through 1941. There are way too many umpires in the Hall of Fame, and although there really shouldn't be any umpires in Cooperstown, Klem stands out from the rest. 

    Klem umpired for 37 years and did have his accomplishments. He was the first umpire to wear an inside chest protector, and held five records through 2020, four of which still stand: The most career games umpired (5,375; surpassed on May 25 by Joe West), the most career games umpired behind the plate (3,548), the most World Series umpired (18), and the most career World Series games umpired (108). Unfortunately, his fifth record is for the most career ejections (251). Klem himself said "The best umpired game is the game in which the fans cannot recall the umpires who worked it." Well, if you average almost seven ejections a year for almost 40 years (including one in which he ejected 24 players at once), then fans will recall who you are. Additionally, the whole point of being inducted into the Hall of Fame is so that fans in all future generations might recall who you were. 

    Klem was not your typical umpire. He set a lot of bad example, and people look up to Hall of Famers as demonstrating good example (you know, character, sportsmanship, integrity, as it says in the criteria). For instance, Klem once said, "To me, baseball is not a game, but a religion." This is not something that you would want your children repeating, if you think about it. The main reason for my questioning Klem's induction lies in the fact that he hit Roger Bresnahan (himself a Hall of Famer) in 1911, which is completely out of line, especially for someone in a position of authority like an umpire. He was fined $50 for that performance, a fortune in 1911. 

My opinion: Bill Klem is not a Hall of Famer. 

WHY I THINK LON WARNEKE SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN

 WHY I THINK LON WARNEKE SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN 

By- Damien 

Lon Warneke pitched in the heaviest hitting era in the history of baseball, yet still had career statistics that would look good in the 1960’s and was one of the best pitchers ever at the time of his retirement. He was a five time all-star, one of the greatest fielding pitchers in baseball history, and the owner of both the meanest fastball and curveball in the game when he was at his peak. Lon Warneke started his career with the Cubs in 1930, but pitched in only one game, in relief. He won two games in 1931 and had one of the best seasons that any pitcher ever had in 1932. Warneke won a league leading 22 games, led the Majors with a 2.37 ERA, and finished second in the NL MVP Award voting. Warneke was even better in 1933, posting 18 wins and an ERA of just 2.00, and pitched in the first ever all-star game. He won 20 or more games in each of the next two seasons, but never again won 20 after that. However, Warneke averaged 16 victories per season through 1941, pitching for both the Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals, but was allowed fewer innings in 1942. He split the season between the Cardinals and the Cubs, who had gotten him back, and in 181 innings, he went 11-11 with an impressive 2.73 ERA. By this time Warneke was no longer really a power pitcher, but he worked well on finesse, and allowed the fewest walks per nine innings in the NL that season. Warneke won four games with a 3.16 ERA in 1943 and entered the military, stating that he would be ready “to toss hand grenades at Hitler and Hirohito”, which cost him his 1944 season. He pitched 14 innings in 1945 before retiring. Lon Warneke was a fantastic pitcher and a war hero who essentially epitomized a baseball Hall of Famer for his entire career. 

LIFETIME STATISTICS 

Games Pitched career: 445 season high: 43 in 1934 

Starts career: 343 season high: 35 in 1934 

Complete Games career: 192 season high: 26 in 1933 led NL: 26 in 1933 

Shutouts career: 30 season high: 4 in 1932, 1933, 1936, 1938, and 1941 led NL: 4 in 1932 and 1936 

Games Finished career: 66 season high: 11 in 1935 

Wins career: 192 season high: 22 in 1932 and 1934 led NL: 22 in 1932 

Losses career: 121 season high: 13 in 1933, 1935, and 1936 

Winning Percentage career: .613 season high: .786 in 1932 led NL: .786 in 1932 

ERA career: 3.18 season low: 2.00 in 1933 led NL: 2.37 in 1932 

WHIP career: 1.245 season low: 1.123 in 1932 

Innings Pitched career: 2,782 ⅓ season high: 291 ⅓ in 1934 

Strikeouts career: 1,140 season high: 143 in 1934 

Strikeouts Per Nine Innings career: 3.7 season high: 4.4 in 1934 

Walks career: 739 season high: 82 in 1941 

Strikeouts Per Walk career: 1.54 season high: 2.40 in 1935 

Saves career: 14 season high: 4 in 1935 

Fielding Percentage career: .988 season high: 1.000 in 1933, 1934, 1939, 1940, 1941, and 1942 led NL P: 1.000 in 1933, 1934, 1939, 1940, 1941, and 1942 

Double Plays career: 31 season high: 7 in 1932 and 1933 

Putouts career: 126 season high: 15 in 1934, 1935, and 1936 

Assists career: 538 season high: 72 in 1933 

DID YOU KNOW? 

-nicknamed “The Arkansas Hummingbird” 

-umpired 1,055 games from 1949 through 1955, and was the leftfield umpire when Willie Mays made his famous catch in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series 

-among MLB players from Arkansas, he has the most career wins, starts, complete games, shutouts, and innings pitched 

-is the only person ever to have both played in and umpired a World Series and an all-star game 

-struck out two and allowed no earned runs during his final MLB game to earn a three inning save 

-pitched a no-hitter on August 30, 1941 

-pitched one-hitters in his first two starts of the 1934 season 

-had a nine game winning streak in 1932 

-struck out over 100 batters in a season for five straight years (1932-1936) 

-also finished 12th in the NL MVP Award voting in 1935, 13th in 1934, 16th in 1937, 20th in 1933, 27th in 1941, and 30th in 1938 

-went 2-0 with a 0.54 ERA and a shutout in the 1935 World Series 

-struck out seven Yankees in Game 2 of the 1932 World Series, including Babe Ruth 

-batted .324 in 1938 and .300 in 1933 

-set the MLB record for pitchers by handling 227 straight errorless chances 

-had a .553 career caught stealing percentage at pitcher 

-also played one game as a pinch hitter and 13 as a pinch runner 

-among MLB pitchers, ranks 45th in career fielding percentage, having made only eight career errors 

-was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1961 and into the Reading Sports Hall of Fame in 2011

WHY I THINK BILL DINNEEN SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN

 WHY I THINK BILL DINNEEN SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN

By- Damien 

Bill Dinneen was a very fine pitcher, but I am mostly advocating him for his long career as an umpire. He umpired three games in 1907 and full time from 1909 through 1937, and umpired eight different World Series for a total of 45 career World Series games. Dinneen also umpired behind the plate for the first ever all-star game in 1933. As a player, Bill Dinneen was also plenty good. He went 170-177 lifetime with a 3.01 ERA. He won 20 or more games four times and was the first person ever to both play and umpire in at least one World Series. He is still the only person to umpire in the World Series who had once pitched a shutout in the Fall Classic (he went 3-1 with a 2.06 ERA and 28 strikeouts in the 1903 World Series, which was his only Series appearance). Bill Dinneen started his career with the NL Washington Senators in 1898 with a 9-16 record. He went 14-20 in 1899 but turned it around in 1900 with the Boston Beaneaters by going 20-14. Dinneen won 15 games in 1901 and was dealt over to the AL Boston Americans after the season, winning 21 games in 1902. He rung up a 21-13 record in 1903 to lead the Americans to the first ever World Series title, and kept it up with 23 wins in 1904. Dinneen went 12-14 (with a no-hitter on September 27) in 1905 but slumped to eight wins in 1906. He split his next season between the Boston Americans and the St. Louis Browns and won seven games. Dinneen went 14-7 with a 2.10 ERA for the Browns in 1908 and 6-7 in 1909, the year he started to umpire. Finding a chance to succeed in baseball without giving himself a sore arm, he quit pitching early, at the age of 33. After 29 years as an umpire, he retired. Bill Dinneen was a great pitcher and a famous, long-tenured umpire whose 40-year career in baseball should have been enough to get him into Cooperstown. 

LIFETIME STATISTICS 

Games Pitched career: 391 season high: 42 in 1902 

Starts career: 352 season high: 42 in 1902 

Complete Games career: 306 season high: 39 in 1902 

Shutouts career: 24 season high: 6 in 1903 

Games Finished career: 35 season high: 10 in 1908 

Wins career: 170 season high: 23 in 1904 

Losses career: 177 season high: 21 in 1902 led AL: 21 in 1902 

Winning Percentage career: .490 season high: .622 in 1904 

ERA career: 3.01 season low: 2.10 in 1908  

WHIP career: 1.231 season low: 1.031 in 1904 

Innings Pitched career: 3,074 ⅔ season high: 371 ⅓ in 1902 

Strikeouts career: 1,127 season high: 153 in 1904 

Strikeouts Per Nine Innings career: 3.3 season high: 4.5 in 1903 

Walks career: 829 season high: 106 in 1899 

Strikeouts Per Walk career: 1.36 season high: 2.43 in 1904 

Saves career: 7 season high: 4 in 1907 led AL: 2 in 1903, 4 in 1907 

Fielding Percentage career: .941 season high: .979 in 1908 

Double Plays career: 19 season high: 4 in 1903 

Putouts career: 160 season high: 25 in 1900 

Assists career: 800 season high: 98 in 1904 

DID YOU KNOW? 

-nicknamed “Big Bill” 

-was the first former MLB player to later become an umpire, and was well known for his integrity 

-pitched seven innings without allowing an earned run in his final MLB game, yet still earned the loss 

-won a World Series ring in 1903 with the Boston Americans 

-led the AL in batters faced in 1902 (1,508) 

-tossed two shutouts in the 1903 World Series, including the first one ever 

-struck out 11 batters in Game 2 of the 1903 World Series to set the single game record 

-batted .303 in 1899 and .280 in 1900 

-drew two walks in the 1903 World Series 

-also played two games at first base, eight in the outfield, one as a pinch hitter, and three as a pinch runner 

-ranks 37th in career complete games 

-among MLB umpires, ranks 18th in career regular season games, sixth in games behind home plate, fourth in World Series, and fifth in World Series games 

-was the second base umpire when Cleveland second baseman Bill Wambsganss turned his unassisted triple play against the Dodgers in Game 5 of the 1920 World Series