William George Evans (February 10, 1884 – January 23, 1956), nicknamed "The Boy Umpire", was an American
umpire
An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection.
The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...
in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
who worked in the
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
from 1906 to 1927. He became, at age 22, the youngest umpire in major league history, and later became the youngest to officiate in the
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
at age 25.
Upon his retirement at age 43, his 3,319 career games ranked fifth in major league history; his 1,757 games as a home plate umpire ranked third in AL history, and remain the eighth-most by a major league umpire. He later became a key front office executive for three teams and president of the minor league
Southern Association
The Southern Association was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class A (1902–1935), Cl ...
.
In addition to his inside role in the sport, Evans authored countless articles,
as well as two books, ''Umpiring from the Inside'' (1947) and ''Knotty Problems in Baseball'' (1950).
He was elected to the
Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
in
1973
Events January
* January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...
, the third umpire ever selected.
Formative years
Evans was born in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
.
When he was still a child, he relocated with his family to
Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County, Ohio, Mahoning County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of ...
, where his
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
-born father became superintendent at a
Carnegie steel plant.
In Youngstown, the Evans family joined Westminster
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
Church, where Billy Evans attended
Sunday school
A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West.
Su ...
.
As a youth, Evans was active in
YMCA
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...
programs and participated in a neighborhood baseball club called the Youngstown Spiders, a team named in honor of the regionally popular
Cleveland Spiders
The Cleveland Spiders were an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The team competed at the major league level from 1887 to 1899, first for two seasons as a member of the now-defunct American Association (AA), followed ...
.
He gained notability as an athlete at Youngstown's
Rayen School, excelling at baseball, football, and track.
In 1902, Evans enrolled at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
, where he played on a freshman team managed by veteran major league shortstop
Hughie Jennings
Hugh Ambrose Jennings (April 2, 1869 – February 1, 1928) was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager from 1891 to 1925. Jennings was a leader, both as a batter and as a shortstop, with the Baltimore Orioles teams that won Nat ...
.
After two years, his law studies and collegiate sports career came to an end, with the sudden death of his father.
Evans returned to
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
and accepted a job as a sports reporter at the ''
Youngstown Daily Vindicator''.
The paper's city editor, Sam Wright, hired Evans on the basis of writing experience he secured as a staff member of his high school yearbook and college newspaper.
At the same time, Wright understood that Evans' varied experiences as an athlete provided him with an in-depth knowledge of sports.
In the early 1900s, while covering a baseball game between the
Youngstown Ohio Works club and a team from
Homestead, Pennsylvania
Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, in the Monongahela River valley southeast of downtown Pittsburgh and directly across the river from the city limit line. The borough is known for the Homestead Strike of 1892, an imp ...
, Evans was approached by the manager of the local club, ex-major leaguer
Marty Hogan
Martin Francis Hogan (October 25, 1869 – August 15, 1923), nicknamed "The Indianapolis Ringer", was an English born right fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Cincinnati Reds (1894) and St. Louis Browns (1894–1895). A ...
, and asked to fill an umpire vacancy.
According to Evans's obituary, the aspiring reporter, who was on a date with a young woman, "wasn't interested until Hogan mentioned he would be paid $15 a week for officiating the game", a figure equivalent to a week's salary at his sportswriting job.
Evans' ability caught the attention of
Charlie Morton, president of the
Ohio–Pennsylvania League
The Ohio–Pennsylvania League (1905–1912) was a Class C (baseball), Class C and Class D (baseball), Class D level minor league baseball league that featured franchises based in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The league was founded b ...
, and he was offered a full-time position as a league umpire.
Evans accepted the job, on the condition that he could retain his position as a sportswriter.
In 1906, he received a spectacular career boost from fellow Youngstowner
Jimmy McAleer
James Robert "Loafer" McAleer (July 10, 1864April 29, 1931) was an American center fielder, manager, and stockholder in Major League Baseball who assisted in establishing the American League.
He spent most of his 13-season playing career with t ...
, an ex-major leaguer who was so impressed with the young man's ability that he recommended Evans to
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
president
Ban Johnson
Byron Bancroft Johnson (January 5, 1864 – March 28, 1931) was an American executive in professional baseball who served as the founder and first president of the American League (AL).
Johnson developed the AL—a descendant of the mino ...
.
This gesture enabled Evans to move from a Class C Division
minor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...
club to the major leagues.
Major league umpiring career
At 22 years of age, Evans was the youngest umpire in major league history; furthermore, he was among those very rare umpires who broke into the major leagues with little previous professional experience.
[ He was regarded as the only umpire of his era who never had played professional baseball himself.] After making his debut at Highlanders' Park in New York City, he went on to umpire for six World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
: 1909
Events
January–February
* January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes.
* January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama.
* Januar ...
, 1912
Events January
* January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established.
* January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens.
* January 6 ...
, 1915
Events
Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix.
January
* January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction".
*January 1 ...
, 1917
Events
Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix.
January
* January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's ...
, 1919
Events
January
* January 1
** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia.
** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the c ...
and 1923. Working in an era during which most major league games used no more than two umpires (and sometimes only one), Evans single-handedly umpired seven double-headers in eight days during the 1907
Events
January
* January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000.
February
* February 11 – The French warship ''Jean Bart'' sinks off the coast of Morocco. ...
season. He was the base umpire for Charlie Robertson
Charles Culbertson Robertson (January 31, 1896 – August 23, 1984) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a pitcher, and is best remembered for throwing a perfect game in 1922. He was the last surviv ...
's perfect game
Perfect game may refer to:
Sports
* Perfect game (baseball), a complete-game win by a pitcher allowing no baserunners
* Perfect game (bowling), a 300 game, 12 consecutive strikes in the same game
* Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, New York ...
on April 30, 1922.
Unlike many umpires, Evans never made claims to infallibility. "I missed a lot of decisions", he once said. "At the time of making such a decision there was no doubt in my mind as to its correctness. However, a second or two later I felt that I erred and wished I could change my original ruling". Evans' humility and impartiality did not always protect him from abusive fans. As sportswriters, Daniel Okrent
Daniel Okrent (born April 2, 1948) is an American writer and editing, editor. He is best known for having served as the first public editor of ''The New York Times'' newspaper, inventing Rotisserie League Baseball, and for writing several books ( ...
and Steve Wulf observed, "roughness on the field seemed to elicit the same in the stands".[Okrent and Wulf (1989), pp. 52–53.] On September 15, 1907, in the midst of a doubleheader between the St. Louis Browns
The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they p ...
and Detroit Tigers, Evans suffered a skull fracture when a bottle hurled by an angry spectator knocked him unconscious.[
] ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' described the incident as "one of the most disgraceful scenes ever witnessed on a ball field".
Evans became known as an innovator during more than two decades with the American League. One obituary observed that he "introduced something new to officiating by running down to a base where a play was made so that he would be on top of it". This approach became a standard practice among major league officials. He was also aware of the increasing demands placed on umpires and strongly advocated formal training for baseball officials. Furthermore, in a game that retained much of the rough-and-tumble atmosphere of earlier decades, Evans "substituted diplomacy for belligerency and proved an arbiter could control a game without threats of physical violence".
At the same time, he was unwilling to "back down" when physically threatened. In September 1921, Evans was involved in a bloody fistfight with Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the las ...
, who contested one of Evans' calls. Baseball historian David Anderson noted that the trouble began when Cobb threatened to "whip" Evans "right at home plate", a move that would have led to Cobb's immediate suspension. Evans supposedly invited Cobb to the umpire's dressing room for "post-game festivities", and before long, the two men were brawling beneath the stands as players from both teams looked on. According to some accounts, many of Cobb's Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
teammates "rooted" for Evans. After the fight, Cobb was suspended for one game, while Evans attended the next several games wearing bandages. Both men had agreed before the fight that they would not report it to league officials, but a word of the incident eventually reached the league president, Ban Johnson.[Okrent and Wulf (1989), p. 53.] According to sports writers Okrent and Wulf, Johnson responded to news of the incident "with uncharacteristic humor", saying "only that he was sorry that he missed it".
For the duration of his career as an umpire, Evans also remained active as a sportswriter. From 1918 to 1928, he served as sports editor of Newspaper Enterprise Association
The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary news ...
and produced a syndicated sports column titled, "Billy Evans Says". His staff featured well-known sportswriters Jimmy Powers and Joe Williams.
Executive career
Evans retired from umpiring following the 1927 season to become the general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
of the Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...
, earning a substantial annual salary of $30,000. Baseball historian Bill James
George William James (born October 5, 1949) is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics. ...
observed that Evans was the first front-office executive of a major league team to be officially called a "general manager".[James (2003), p. 128.] In this capacity, Evans was credited with taking the Indians from a second division to a first division team. He served as general manager for the next eight years, until budget cuts forced him out in 1935
Events
January
* January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims.
* ...
. Rumors circulated that Evans's decision to leave the Indians was also motivated by a disagreement with the Indians' manager, Walter Johnson
Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887 – December 10, 1946), nicknamed "Barney" and "The Big Train", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year baseball career in Major League Baseball as a right-ha ...
, over the suspension of third baseman Willie Kamm
William Edward Kamm (February 2, 1900 – December 21, 1988) was an American professional baseball player. He played as a third baseman in Major League Baseball from to . Kamm played most of his career for the Chicago White Sox before finishing ...
and the release of catcher Glenn Myatt. Johnson allegedly accused Evans of "disloyalty", while Evans reportedly replied that he refused to be a "yes man". Evans soon found work as chief scout and head of the Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
farm system, but left on October 8, 1940, after the team sold Pee Wee Reese
Harold Peter Henry "Pee Wee" Reese (July 23, 1918 – August 14, 1999) was an Americans, American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers from 194 ...
to the Brooklyn Dodgers
The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...
over his objections.
Shifting sports, Evans returned to Cleveland to become general manager of the Cleveland Rams
The Cleveland Rams were a professional American football team that played in Cleveland from 1936 to 1945. The Rams competed in the second American Football League (AFL) for the 1936 season and the National Football League (NFL) from 1937 to 194 ...
for the 1941 season. Although the team struggled on the field, it was a financial success, but after failing to come to terms on a new contract, Evans left and spent the next year writing before accepting the position of league president of the Southern Association
The Southern Association was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class A (1902–1935), Cl ...
on December 3, 1942.
During his four years leading the league, the Association thrived despite many other leagues shutting down due to World War II. In his first year, attendance increased by nearly 300,000, and while it dipped slightly in 1944
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 2 – WWII:
** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...
, the threshold of one million people attending league games was again reached the following year.
On December 16, 1946, Evans accepted a contract offer from the Detroit Tigers to become their general manager.[ One of his first moves was dramatic – selling ageing superstar ]Hank Greenberg
Henry Benjamin Greenberg (born Hyman Greenberg; January 1, 1911 – September 4, 1986), nicknamed "Hammerin' Hank", "Hankus Pankus", or "The Hebrew Hammer", was an American professional baseball player and team executive. He played in Major Leagu ...
to the Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...
. Over the next four years, the team had two runner-up finishes to the New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
, but after dropping in the standings during the 1951
Events
January
* January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950).
* January 9 – The Government of the United ...
season, Evans announced his resignation on July 28 in favor of Tiger legend Charlie Gehringer
Charles Leonard Gehringer (May 11, 1903 – January 21, 1993), nicknamed "the Mechanical Man", was an American professional baseball second baseman, coach, general manager, and team vice president, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for t ...
.
Private life
Despite long absences from his residence in Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, Evans was known as a devoted husband and father. He married the former Hazel Baldwin in 1908; the couple had one child, Robert, who became the sports director of a radio station in Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
. Evans maintained close ties with family members and died while visiting his son in Miami.
Despite his success, Evans remained accessible to friends from his early days in Youngstown. Shortly after Evans' death, a former high school classmate, E. Allan Lightner, recalled that his late friend "was still the fine clean character that he was in his high school days in Youngstown". Lightner recalled that, shortly after his final conversation with the retired umpire, Evans sent Lightner an autographed photo of himself with former Detroit Tigers manager Red Rolfe
Robert Abial "Red" Rolfe (October 17, 1908 – July 8, 1969) was an American third baseman, manager and front-office executive in Major League Baseball. A graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy, Rolfe also was an Ivy Leaguer: a graduate, then long- ...
.
Final years
By 1952, Evans had unofficially retired, then was injured in an automobile accident in Monroe, Michigan
Monroe is the largest city and county seat of Monroe County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Monroe had a population of 20,462 in the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the south by Monroe Charter Township, but the two are administered autonomo ...
. After recovering, he remained in good health until January 21, 1956, when he suffered a massive stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
while visiting his son. Evans died two days later at the age of 71. Funeral services were held in Cleveland. Evans' remains were interred at Knollwood Cemetery
Knollwood Cemetery is a cemetery located at 1678 SOM Center Road in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. Established in 1908, it is one of the largest cemeteries in Cuyahoga County. A mausoleum was completed in 1926, and an expansion finished in 1959. The ceme ...
in Mayfield Heights
Mayfield Heights is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, and is an east-side suburb of Cleveland. The population was 18,827 at the 2010 census.
History
Mayfield Heights was initially built up as a streetcar suburb of Cleveland. It was ...
, Ohio.
Legacy
Evans' contributions to baseball have been widely recognized. In 1946 he was named in the Honor Rolls of Baseball
The Honor Rolls of Baseball were established in 1946 by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum's Permanent Committee to establish as a second level of induction designed to recognize non-playing contributors.James, p. 46 The committee de ...
, and in 1973 he became the third umpire elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.[ Evans is honored for the high standard of professionalism he set during his career as an official, and he is credited as a tireless advocate of formal training for umpires.] Ironically, as David Anderson observed, Evans might have been denied the opportunity to serve as an official in the major leagues "if the present day umpire school system existed during the Dead Ball Era". Anderson noted that Evans' description of the basic qualities required of an effective umpire holds up even today: "Good eyes, plenty of courage – mental and physical – thorough knowledge of the playing rules, more than average portions of fair play, common sense and diplomacy, an entire lack of vindictiveness, plenty of confidence in your ability".
In 1917 Billy Evans "noted American League Umpire" teamed up with the Spalding Athletic Library
Spalding Athletic Library sold sports and exercise books through American Sports Publishing Company from 1892 to 1941. Both companies were owned and founded by Spalding (company), Spalding. Books cover over 30 different sports and exercises, and ...
for the book, "How to umpire".[The Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer, Volume 47, page 387, Oct 1, 1917]
Retrieved Feb 11, 2021
Notes
References
* James, Bill (2003). ''The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract''. New York: Free Press. .
* Okrent, Daniel; Wulf, Steve (1989). ''Baseball Anecdotes''. New York: Oxford University Press. .
Further reading
* Evans, Billy. "Big League Thrills". '' Rotary_International#Publications, The Rotarian''. August 1932. pp
11-13
50-53
External links
*
Billy Evans Biography at Baseball Biography
– biography, career highlights
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Billy
1884 births
1956 deaths
Major League Baseball general managers
National Football League general managers
Boston Red Sox executives
Cleveland Indians executives
Cleveland Rams executives
Detroit Tigers executives
Minor league baseball executives
Cornell Big Red baseball players
National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from Cleveland
Sportspeople from Chicago
Sportspeople from Youngstown, Ohio
American Presbyterians
American people of Welsh descent
Major League Baseball umpires
Burials at Knollwood Cemetery
American male journalists
20th-century American journalists
20th-century American male writers
Writers from Youngstown, Ohio
Journalists from Ohio
American sportswriters