Robert Daniel Emslie (January 27, 1859 – April 26, 1943) was a Canadian

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

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), ...

(MLB) who went on to set numerous records for longevity as an

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. Born in

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

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, Canada, Emslie had a brief professional playing career with the Baltimore and Philadelphia clubs in the American Association. His professional umpiring career began in 1888, and after spending a couple of seasons in the minor leagues, he was promoted to the major leagues as an umpire in 1890. Emslie was nicknamed "Wig" due to his premature receding hairline, which was a result of the stress of umpiring games single-handedly in the rough-and-tumble 1890s; he was derisively called "Blind Bob" by the New York Giants following his role in the infamous "

Merkle's Boner Merkle's Boner refers to the notorious base-running mistake committed by rookie Fred Merkle of the New York Giants in a game against the Chicago Cubs on September 23, 1908. Merkle's failure to advance to second base on what should have been a g ...

" play during the National League pennant race. The play involved a force out when a Giants player stopped running to second base upon seeing that the game's winning run would score. When "Merkle's boner" occurred, Emslie had already worked more major league games than any umpire in MLB history, then later served as the National League's chief of umpires upon retiring from active umpiring. He retired to St. Thomas, Ontario and died there on Monday, April 26, 1943. In 1946 he was included 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 1986 he was named to the

Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (french: Temple de la renommée du baseball canadien) is a museum located in St. Marys, Ontario, Canada. The museum commemorates great players, teams, and accomplishments of baseball in Canada. H ...

Playing career

Emslie began his professional career playing for several semi-professional teams in Ontario until signing on with the Camden, New Jersey team of an early version of the

Interstate League The Interstate League was the name of five different American minor baseball leagues that played intermittently from 1896 through 1952. Early leagues Earlier versions of the Interstate League, with years active: *1896–1901: an unclassified ...

for the season. He pitched for them until middle of the season when he joined the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

of the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

. The first season with the Orioles, he had a 9–13 record, with 3.17

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA), 21 complete games, and one

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

. His best season was in , when he had a 32–17 record, completed all 50 of his starts, and had a 2.75 ERA. In , Emslie's numbers greatly decreased with Baltimore, reportedly due to a sore arm, attributed to his excessive use of the curveball, at which he was moved to the Philadelphia Athletics also of the American Association. He pitched in only four games for the Athletics; his major league playing career was over, and by his minor league career was through as well.

Umpiring career

After his playing career finished he was attending an International League game and was asked to officiate this game between Toronto and Hamilton when the assigned umpire fell ill. He umpired with the International League for the and seasons, then began his Major League Baseball career umpiring American Association games in . He began the season in the Western League, but was back in the majors by August 17, working for the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

Emslie was involved in many of the game's highlights, including calling four no-hitters. The first one was on August 16, 1893, when

Bill Hawke William Victor Hawke (April 28, 1870 – December 11, 1902) was an American Major League Baseball player who pitched for three seasons, all in the National League, with a career record of 32 wins and 31 losses. Career Born in Elsmere, Del ...

of the Orioles tossed his; the second was

Deacon Phillippe Charles Louis "Deacon" Phillippe (originally Phillippi) (May 23, 1872 – March 30, 1952) was a Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the Louisville Colonels and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Biography Born in Rural Retreat, Virginia to Andrew ...

's of the

Louisville Colonels The Louisville Colonels were a Major League Baseball team that also played in the American Association (AA) throughout that league's ten-year existence from 1882 until 1891. They were known as the Louisville Eclipse from 1882 to 1884, and as th ...

on May 25, 1899. The third no-hitter came on September 18, 1903, by

Chick Fraser Charles Carrolton Fraser (August 26, 1873 – May 8, 1940) was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He pitched for numerous teams between 1896 and 1909. He ranks second all time among major-league pitchers in the category of hit batsmen, ...

of the Philadelphia Phillies, and the fourth was tossed on May 8, 1907, by Francis "Big Jeff" Pfeffer of the

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. He also officiated on July 13, 1896, when

Ed Delahanty Edward James Delahanty (October 30, 1867 – July 2, 1903), nicknamed "Big Ed", was an American professional baseball player, who spent his Major League Baseball (MLB) playing career with the Philadelphia Quakers, Cleveland Infants, Philadelph ...

become only the second player to hit four

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s in one game. By the end of the season, he began to work the bases almost exclusively instead of calling games from behind the plate. In all, Emslie umpired for 33 years before retiring at the end of the season, after which he then served as NL chief of umpires, with the responsibilities of inspecting, scouting, and coaching new umpires.

The Merkle incident

Emslie was the base umpire on September 23, 1908, when controversy erupted at the end of the New York Giants– Chicago Cubs game at the Polo Grounds. With the score tied and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Giants had

Moose McCormick Harry Elwood "Moose" McCormick (February 28, 1881 – July 9, 1962) was an American professional baseball outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. ...

on third base and

Fred Merkle Carl Frederick Rudolf Merkle (also sometimes documented as Frederick Charles Merkle; December 20, 1888 – March 2, 1956), nicknamed "Bonehead", was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball from 1907 to 1926. Although he had a lengthy c ...

on first base;

Al Bridwell Albert Henry Bridwell (January 4, 1884 – January 23, 1969) was an American shortstop in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for several MLB teams, most notably the New York Giants from 1908 to 1911, when the team was managed by John McGraw. ...

smashed a

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to drive home McCormick with the apparent winning run, but Merkle failed to touch second base. Cubs second baseman

Johnny Evers John Joseph Evers (July 21, 1881 – March 28, 1947) was an American professional baseball second baseman and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1902 through 1917 for the Chicago Cubs, Boston Braves, and Philadelphia Phillies. ...

noticed this error, and tagged second base and appealed to Emslie. Emslie claimed that he had to duck out of the way of Bridwell's line drive and did not see the play, and home plate umpire

Hank O'Day Henry M. O'Day (July 8, 1859 – July 2, 1935), nicknamed "The Reverend", was an American right-handed pitcher and later an umpire and manager in Major League Baseball. After a seven-year major league playing career, he worked as a National ...

declared Merkle out and the game a tie. New York manager

John McGraw John Joseph McGraw (April 7, 1873 – February 25, 1934) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager who was for almost thirty years manager of the New York Giants. He was also the third baseman of the pennant-winning 1890 ...

, with whom Bob had a long and tempestuous history, bestowed upon Emslie his nickname "Blind Bob" after the controversy. The incident is often referred to as "Merkle's Boner." Notably, Emslie and O'Day were the two most experienced umpires in Major League Baseball history at that point, with Emslie having worked nearly 2,500 games and O'Day nearly 1,700. Later, Emslie showed up at a Giants' practice with a rifle, placed a dime on the pitching mound and shot it from behind home plate, sending the coin spinning into the outfield. Reportedly, McGraw never again challenged his eyesight.

Other activities

Emslie was also president of the Canadian Grand International Trap Shoot, notably in charge of a large meet in St. Thomas, Ontario in December 1916.

Post-career

He retired to St. Thomas, Ontario, where he coached youth baseball and enjoyed

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns slidi ...

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), thou ...

, and

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

. Emslie died at age 84 in St. Thomas, Ontario, and was interred at the St. Thomas West Avenue Cemetery. He was inducted into the

in . Emslie Field in St. Thomas is named in his honor.

References

External links

Bob Emslie's Obituary
– ''The New York Times'', April 27, 1943 {{DEFAULTSORT:Emslie, Bob 1859 births 1943 deaths 19th-century baseball players 19th-century baseball umpires 19th-century Canadian people (post-Confederation) Baltimore Orioles (AA) players Baseball people from Ontario Baseball pitchers Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Canadian expatriate baseball players in the United States Canadian referees and umpires Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from Canada Sportspeople from Guelph Philadelphia Athletics (AA) players Major League Baseball umpires Camden Merritts players Newark Domestics players Syracuse Stars (minor league baseball) players Toronto Canucks players Savannah (minor league baseball) players