Nestor Chylak Obituary

Nestor Chylak Obituary

Baseball Almanac presents the actual word-for-word transcript from the obituary of umpire Nestor Chylak, taken from and courtesy of The New York Times.

"Few have ever been more respected in his field. Everyone looked up to him, and I developed more respect every time I saw him in a World Series or All-Star Game." - Commissioner of Baseball Bowie Kuhn

Nestor Chylak Obituary

Nestor Chylak, Umpire-
For 25 Years, Is Dead

DUNMORE, Pa., Feb., 17 (UPI)

Nestor Chylak, an American League umpire for 25 years and assistant supervisor of umpires since 1979, died today at the age of 59. He apparently suffered a heart attack.

Mr. Chylak, a native of Olyphant, Pa., started his umpiring career in 1947 in the Pony League. He moved to the Canadian-American League in 1950, the International League in 1952 and the American League in 1954. He worked five World Series, three American League championship series and four All-Star Games.

"I umpired for 25 years and can honestly say I never called on wrong in my heart," he once said. "The way I see it, an umpire must be perfect on the first day of the season and then get better every day."

In New York, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn paid tribute to Mr. Chylak saying: "Few have ever been more respected in his field. Everyone looked up to him, and I developed more respect every time I saw him in a World Series or All-Star Game."

Surviving are his wife, Sue; two sons, Robert and William, and a brother.

Nestor Chylak Obituary

Nestor Chylak umpired in one of the most infamous baseball games ever played in history — the Cleveland Indians "10¢ Beer Night" in 1974 and after the forfeited game said, "They were just uncontrollable beasts. I've never seen anything like it, except in a zoo."

Nestor Chylak was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Committee on Baseball Veterans on March 2, 1999. His hall of fame plaque reads as follows:

NESTOR CHYLAK JR.
UMPIRE
AMERICAN LEAGUE, 1954-1978
CONSIDERED BY MANY TO BE THE NONPAREIL UMPIRE OF THE
POST-WAR ERA. A MODEL OF CONSISTENCY WITH INVARIABLE
ACCURACY BOTH BEHIND THE PLATE AND ON THE BASES.
RESPECTED BY PLAYERS AND MANAGERS ALIKE, EFFECTIVELY
COMBINING AUTHORITARIANISM, TACT AND A SENSE OF
HUMOR. LAUDED FOR HIS WILLINGNESS TO LEND AN EAR TO
OBJECTIONS. HIS ILLUSTRIOUS 25-YEAR CAREER INCLUDED SIX
ALL-STAR GAMES AND FIVE WORLD SERIES ASSIGNMENTS.
SERVED MANY YEARS AS A CREW CHIEF AND THEN AS ASSISTANT
SUPERVISOR OF AMERICAN LEAGUE UMPIRES FROM 1979-1982.

Did you know that Nestor Chylak learned to umpire while working as a civil engineer yet managed to rise to the major leagues and officiate in six All-Star Games & five World Series?

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