Umpires Who Were Former Major League Baseball Players by Baseball Almanac

Umpires Who Were Former Major League Baseball Players

Baseball Almanac is pleased to present a comprehensive list of EVERY former Major League ballplayer who became a Major League umpire. Included on the player-to-umpire roster are complete names, links to each players' Major League statistics, their player debut date, and their years of service as an umpire.

Note: There are many instances, especially during the early years of baseball, where an active player was used as an umpire during a game for various reasons. These unique player-umpire instances are NOT included on this page which focuses on "official" cross-over umpires.

"I demand respect on the field from managers and players. To me, that's 75% of umpiring." - Former Player and Hall of Fame Umpire John "Jocko" Conlan in the Hall of Fame Yearbook (1989)

Umpires Who Were Major League Players Player to Umpire
Player / Umpire	Player Debut	Umpire Years of Service
Charles Berry	06-15-1925	1942 - 1962
William "Kitty" Bransfield	08-22-1898	1917 - 1917
William "Ken" Burkhart	04-21-1945	1957 - 1973
Bob Caruthers	09-07-1884	1902 - 1903
James "Harry" Colliflower	07-21-1899	1910 - 1910
John "Jocko" Conlan	07-06-1934	1941 - 1964
Thomas Corcoran	04-19-1890	1915 - 1915
Montford Cross	09-27-1892	1914 - 1914
Bill Dinneen	04-22-1898	1909 - 1937
John Doyle	07-26-1882	1911 - 1911
J. Francis "Frank" Dwyer	09-20-1888	1901 - 1901, 1904 - 1904
Jack Egan	04-30-1894	1903 - 1903, 1907 - 1914
Bob Emslie	07-25-1883	1891 - 1924
Charles Ferguson	09-20-1901	1913 - 1913
William Friel	05-03-1901	1920 - 1920
Thomas Gorman	09-14-1939	1951 - 1976
Robert Groom	04-13-1909	1914 - 1914
Walter "Butch" Henline	04-13-1921	1945 - 1948
George Hildebrand	04-17-1902	1912 - 1934
Howard "Ducky" Holmes	04-18-1906	1923 - 1924
Harry Howell	10-10-1898	1915 - 1915
Arthur Irwin	05-01-1880	1902 - 1902
William Kunkel	04-15-1961	1968 - 1984
Sherwood "Sherry" Magee	06-29-1904	1928 - 1928
Frederick "Firpo" Marberry	08-11-1923	1935 - 1935
William "Barry" McCormick	09-25-1895	1917 - 1917, 1919 - 1929
Charles Moran	04-29-1903	1918 - 1939
George Moriarty	09-27-1903	1917 - 1926, 1929 - 1940
Hank O'Day	05-02-1884	1895, 1897-1911, 1913 - 1927
Al Orth	08-15-1895	1912 - 1917
Ralph "Babe" Pinelli	08-03-1918	1935 - 1956
George Pipgras	06-09-1923	1938 - 1946
Edwin Rommel	04-19-1920	1938 - 1959
James Scott	04-25-1909	1930 - 1931
Frank Secory	04-28-1940	1952 - 1970
William "Spike" Shannon	04-15-1904	1914 - 1915
Vincent Smith	09-10-1941	1957 - 1965
Bobby Wallace	09-15-1894	1915-1916
Edward Walsh	05-07-1904	1922 - 1922
Lonnie Warneke	04-18-1930	1949 - 1955
Player / Umpire	Player Debut	Umpire Years of Service
Umpires Who Were Major League Players

Former player turned umpire Jocko Conlan once wrote, "The real test of a big league umpire is whether he can take control and run the ball game."

Did you know that there have been more than three-hundred (300) instances in Major League history where an active player from a team helped / officiated with the umpiring crew? This practice might have been discontinued, but there are now instances where substitute umpires who were former players have helped and the most recent game was played on Friday, August 25, 1978 and the subs were Don Leppert & Jerry Zimmerman.

Follow the player links to determine their primary position then make trivia questions from that information — or, answer trivia questions like first or most recent cross-over player-umpires using this data.

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