Major League Baseball Umpires

[Penale52]

The September 10, 1880 edition of the Buffalo Morning Express notes that Fred Skelley, who umpired Cincinnati-Buffalo games on Sep. 9 and 10, was a first baseman for the local Essex club.
I found a photo of the Essexs of the era in the Feb. 6, 1922 edition of the Buffalo Evening News, with Skelley included.

[Penale52]

John Morris' 1921 obituary mentions that he served as president of the Louisville Commercial Club. He was shown as president of the club in the Sep. 6, 1888 edition of the Louisville Courier-Journal.

[Penale52]

Adam Wirth played for the Empire baseball club of St. Louis, as indicated by multiple newspaper and book accounts.

There is a book titled The Origins of Baseball in St. Louis, with an image of the 1867 Empires on the cover. While the image caption is a bit blurry, Wirth is labeled as the man standing third from left.

There is also a mention in one of his obituaries that his image once appeared in Harper's Weekly, but it doesn't give a year and I have been unable to locate it using various search tools.

[prewinter]

Originally Posted by Penale52

Adam Wirth played for the Empire baseball club of St. Louis, as indicated by multiple newspaper and book accounts.

There is a book titled The Origins of Baseball in St. Louis, with an image of the 1867 Empires on the cover. While the image caption is a bit blurry, Wirth is labeled as the man standing third from left.

There is also a mention in one of his obituaries that his image once appeared in Harper's Weekly, but it doesn't give a year and I have been unable to locate it using various search tools.

I did not know that book existed. As a fan of St. Louis baseball history, I have now ordered it. Thank you!

[Cusick]

Penale52, you've achieved more great finds. Thank you.

[Penale52]

William Lewis Shepard, who worked as an insurance broker and also was the president of the Illinois State Sportsmen's Association, was shown in the Dec. 22, 1895 issue of the Chicago Chronicle.

[Penale52]

Edwin Follet Austin was associated with various railroads starting in 1892 until his retirement in 1939. Here he is shown in the June 18, 1916 edition of the Pittsburgh Press.

[Penale52]

William Wallace Smith served as a state senator from Pennsylvania after his umpiring career, both of which were mentioned in his obituary in the Harrisburg Telegraph on Aug. 28, 1917. I found a photo of him in a story written just before his death in the Aug. 27, 1917 Evening Public Ledger. Both of these articles appear to indicate Smith died on August 27, not August 25, as Retrosheet indicates.

[Penale52]

I found two photos of Fred Bunce, who was both an amateur ballplayer and one-time National Association umpire before becoming the president of Phoenix National Bank. Here he is as an older man in his obituary in the Nov. 3, 1915 edition of the Hartford Courant (part 1 and part 2 are on separate pages, but both mention his baseball connection).

The second photo is Bunce with the Hartford Charter Oaks of the 1870s, shown in the Oct. 12, 1904 Hartford Courant.

Also in this photo is his twin brother, Henry, who is not the same Henry Bunce who umpired a National Association game in 1872 (and for now is still a missing ump). That Henry Bunce was significantly older, but also from Connecticut, so there might be a relation there.

[Penale52]

I found Connecticut's own Charles Kennedy in the Feb. 1, 1910 edition of the Hartford Courant, shown a little more than a year before his death in 1911.

[Cusick]

Thank you, Penale52, for your continued research and results in uncovering photos for previously missing umps.

[prewinter]

Originally Posted by Penale52

Shown in 1928

I'm researching a player named Powell from 1913, possibly named Jack Powell, and I think I found a connection between minor league player William Powell (powell008wil; actual name Jack Powell per Houston papers at the time), Jack Powell (powell001jac), and the umpire Jack Powell. The first Jack Powell played for Houston, Galveston and Austin in 1911. The second played for Vicksburg in 1912, at which point the papers noted he came from the Texas League in 1911. Baseball-Reference subsequently places the second Jack Powell in Sioux Falls, SD in 1921, from which he can be traced back to Aberdeen, SD and before that Casper, WY in 1921. And when Jack Powell was signed as an umpire in 1924, the Casper newspapers recognized him as their former player from 1921.

Jack Powell was pictured with the Houston Buffaloes in the Houston Post on April 12, 1911 (pg. 8). Here then is a comparison of the photo of umpire Powell previously posted on this site with Powell from the Houston Buffaloes in 1911. What do you think? Same or different?

Updated: I've added a picture of him from the Los Angeles Mirror News, January 22, 1954 (pg. 52) on the occasion of his retirement from the PCL. The article notes he began his career in baseball as a player in 1908.

Updated again: An article in the Salt Lake Tribune (May 5, 1954, pg. 25) reports that Powell broke in as a pitcher in 1906 with Kenosha before switching to the outfield in 1907. It states he played in the Colorado State League, the Texas League, the old Western League, the Cotton States League, the Interstate League, and the Federal League in 1913. It is highly likely IMO from what I've found that umpire Jack Powell is player Jack Powell from Houston/Galveston/Austin in 1911, Vicksburg in 1912, Sioux Falls/Casper/Aberdeen in 1921, Port Huron (in 1922, right before he switched to being an umpire) and the mystery Powell for the St. Louis Terriers in the 1913 Federal League. So below are two photos of him, one as a player and one as an umpire. He lasted 25 years as an umpire in the Pacific Coast League before retiring in 1954.

[Penale52]

I am fairly certain that the man listed only as "Fell" who umpired a June 8, 1885 American Association game between St. Louis and Philadelphia was Dr. Alexander Gray Fell of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (April 20, 1861 - May 1, 1913). There are dozens of results on Newspapers.com for "Alex Fell" and "Alexander Fell" of Wilkes-Barre working games in Pennsylvania in 1885, and even one of him referring a football game in 1891. There are mentions in early June of 1885 of Alex Fell receiving an offer to work in the American Association for $150 a month, though it appeared he decided the June 8 game was enough for him. According to his obituary, he went to Princeton and University of Pennsylvania, and gained fame as an athlete at Princeton, setting the intercollegiate 100-yard dash record and played halfback on the football team.
Here are two photos of him, the first from his Wilkes-Barre Times Leader obit from May 2, 1913 and the second from Find a Grave.

[Cusick]

Penale 32 -- Great research on Alexander Fell. I think you've found enough data points on connecting him to Philadelphia, umpiring, and the right time period to be on safe ground that he is indeed the unknown-first-name Fell who was the 19th century major league umpire.

[tnfoto]

There were some nice remembrances of Joe Sawchuk posted online shortly before his passing early last year. In addition to being a fill-in umpire, Sawchuk was a long-time official scorer in Toronto. The first photo shows him at his day job as a corporate illustrator, the second shows him in a 7-Up ad, ca. 1980.

[Penale52]

This shot is not great by any means, but I was able to spot Jim Lambeth in a WSFA News recap of his only major league game on May 2, 1995 Braves at Marlins, where he worked second base.

[Penale52]

Here is Jeff Jenkins working home plate for the only time during his brief MLB career, April 29, 1995 Braves at Dodgers.

[Penale52]

I was able to find an obituary for Charles Smith Wilbur in the Jan 18, 1928 issue of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, revealing his death as January 10, 1928. Wilbur played baseball in the Rochester area in his youth, became a lawyer, worked in the House of Representatives and the Senate, was an agent for the Treasury, and was the supervisor for the Census in New York City in 1900. Here's a photo of him from the Aug. 23, 1900 issue of the New York Tribune.

[Penale52]

Horace McFarlan was pictured in the Dec. 19, 1938 issue of the Cincinnati Post, in a group shot that featured Heinie Peitz and Pie Traynor, in celebration of McFarlan's 68th birthday.

[Penale52]

Pennsylvania native Tommy Phelan was shown in a short write up detailing his career up to that point in the April 28, 1907 issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer. It mentions he began umpiring in 1894, but does not mention his one-game stint as a National League ump in 1896.