Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Vintage World Series Crew

Left to Right: Charley Rigler (NL), "Silk" O'Loughlin (AL), Billy Evans (AL), and Bill Klem (NL). Klem and Evans are Hall of Fame members. Not sure of the year as these umpires worked the 1912, 1915, and 1917 World Series together. Can anyone help?


And here is the 1909 World Series Crew: (L-R)Billy Evans, Silk O'Loughlin, Bill Klem, and James Johnstone. One hundred years ago this month! The 1909 World Series was the first time four umpires were used at the same time: plate, bases, and two outfield umpires.
***MORE INFO***
During the 1909 World Series with the Detroit Tigers, the Pittsburg Pirates installed temporary seats to accommodate the large crowds. The ground rules established that a ball hit or bounced into the permanent stands would be a home run, but a ball hit or bounced into the temporary stands would be a double. During Game 2, Dots Miller of the Pirates hit a ball down the right field line that landed fair and bounced into the stands. Neither Billy Evans nor Bill Klem saw where the ball had landed. Evans and Klem wound up asking the fans where it had landed. They decided that the ball landed in the temporary seats and Evans called it a double.

Billy Evans decided that having the two World Series reserve umpires on the field watching the foul lines would prevent another fiasco like this from ever happening again. A four man umpiring crew was implemented during Game 4 and continued until finally expanded to six umpires in 1947.

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