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What exactly makes an umpire or referee HOF (and even number retirement!) worthy?
Estil
Posts: 6,920 ✭✭✭✭
For those who don't know, three of the four major American sports HOF's (MLB, NBA, NHL) have umpires/referees in their respective HOF. Here is a list of MLB umpires who made the HOF and/or had their number retired:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umpire_(baseball)#Hall_of_Fame
What I've always been curious about though is what exactly makes an umpire/referee HOF worthy? As you can see here, longevity is apparently not enough.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_umpiring_records
WISHLIST
Dimes: 54S, 53P, 50P, 49S, 45D+S, 44S, 43D, 41S, 40D+S, 39D+S, 38D+S, 37D+S, 36S, 35D+S, all 16-34's
Quarters: 52S, 47S, 46S, 40S, 39S, 38S, 37D+S, 36D+S, 35D, 34D, 32D+S
74 Topps: 37,38,46,47,48,138,151,193,210,214,223,241,256,264,268,277,289,316,435,552,570,577,592,602,610,654,655
1997 Finest silver: 115, 135, 139, 145, 310
1995 Ultra Gold Medallion Sets: Golden Prospects, HR Kings, On-Base Leaders, Power Plus, RBI Kings, Rising Stars
Dimes: 54S, 53P, 50P, 49S, 45D+S, 44S, 43D, 41S, 40D+S, 39D+S, 38D+S, 37D+S, 36S, 35D+S, all 16-34's
Quarters: 52S, 47S, 46S, 40S, 39S, 38S, 37D+S, 36D+S, 35D, 34D, 32D+S
74 Topps: 37,38,46,47,48,138,151,193,210,214,223,241,256,264,268,277,289,316,435,552,570,577,592,602,610,654,655
1997 Finest silver: 115, 135, 139, 145, 310
1995 Ultra Gold Medallion Sets: Golden Prospects, HR Kings, On-Base Leaders, Power Plus, RBI Kings, Rising Stars
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Comments
Good question and i'd be curious to know as well. Joe West would seem to be an obvious choice, strictly from longevity alone, but as you pointed out, that isn't a factor.
The inclusion of the referees and linesmen in the 1990 Pro Set hockey set was a fun nod to the guys among the group referenced in your OP.
And don't forget the umps in the 1955 Bowman set and those two other sets for the umps I think around 1989/1990 or so? I know you often hear tons of complaints about them and making bad calls and whatnot but hey, if it weren't for the boys in black and/or blue our baseball games would be anarchy! And we certainly wouldn't want our National Pastime to become nothing more than a Calvinball mess now would we?
Dimes: 54S, 53P, 50P, 49S, 45D+S, 44S, 43D, 41S, 40D+S, 39D+S, 38D+S, 37D+S, 36S, 35D+S, all 16-34's
Quarters: 52S, 47S, 46S, 40S, 39S, 38S, 37D+S, 36D+S, 35D, 34D, 32D+S
74 Topps: 37,38,46,47,48,138,151,193,210,214,223,241,256,264,268,277,289,316,435,552,570,577,592,602,610,654,655
1997 Finest silver: 115, 135, 139, 145, 310
1995 Ultra Gold Medallion Sets: Golden Prospects, HR Kings, On-Base Leaders, Power Plus, RBI Kings, Rising Stars
A reliable deodorant ... hands down.
I don't know how I would have felt about umpire cards as a kid. I probably wouldn't have liked them a lot and they might have sat with my checklists. Now though, as my collecting interests have matured, I really love the fact that Topps does the archives, Heritage, Opening Day and other set autos and has introduced a number of baseball related characters, but not just players and coaches/managers. Announcers, GMs, Mascots, Umpires, etc. I actually look forward to the Archives set specifically each year for which Dodgers and former Dodgers (in a different uniform) are included, but also which non-players make the cut. This year was mostly disappointing, but some great stuff from past years.
Probably the first Ump card I owned was the slightly oversized Doug Harvey from the 1984 Smokey Bear Padres set.