Christopher Blake Bucknor (born August 23, 1962) is a Jamaican

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'', ...

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 worked in 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 s ...

(NL) from 1996 to 1999 and has worked in both major leagues since 2000.

Umpiring career

Bucknor was a member of the umpiring crew for the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and 2021 All-Star Games, and also for the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

and

2020 American League Division Series The 2020 American League Division Series were two best-of-five-games series in Major League Baseball (MLB) to determine participating teams in the 2020 American League Championship Series. Those matchups were: * (1) Tampa Bay Rays (East Division ...

. In 2003 and in 2006, ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' surveys of active major league players voted Bucknor as the worst umpire in MLB. In a 2010 ESPN survey of 100 active players, Bucknor was again named the worst umpire in MLB. Bucknor was the first base umpire for

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 ...

pitcher Justin Verlander's second

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

, thrown on May 7, , against the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

. Bucknor was the home plate umpire for

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

pitcher Lucas Giolito’s no-hitter, thrown on August 25, 2020, against 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 ...

Injuries

On May 1, 2012, Bucknor suffered an undisclosed injury during a game between the

and St. Louis Cardinals and was forced to leave the contest. He was listed as "day-to-day" following the injury and was replaced by minor league call-up umpire D.J. Reyburn the following day. On July 12, 2013, Bucknor was injured and left an Oakland A's/

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 ...

game when he was hit in the facemask by a 92-mile per hour pitch thrown by

Jarrod Parker Jarrod Parker (born November 24, 1988) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks as the 9th overall pick in the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft from Norwell High School in Ossian, Indiana. H ...

after it grazed

Daniel Nava Daniel James Nava (born February 22, 1983) is an American former professional baseball left fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Angels, Kansas City Royals, and Philadelphia Phillie ...

Personal life

Bucknor moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1973. He attended State University of New York at Cortland, where he played

center field A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the Baseball positions, baseball and softball fielding position between Left fielder, left field and Right fielder, right field. In the numberi ...

, and received a B.S. in Recreation Therapy in 1984. Bucknor resides in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. He works with the Bonnie Youth Club in Brooklyn and was inducted into the Bonnies Hall of Fame in 2000 as well as the Cortland Athletic Hall of Fame in October 2002. Bucknor is actively involved in teaching baseball to children in Jamaica. He also collects toys and helps to organize an annual "Treat Day"—a holiday party, featuring athletic events, video games, and picnics—for over 300 children in Jamaica. In 2008, he was inducted into the Brooklyn Parade Ground Baseball League Hall of Fame.UEFL Profile of MLB Umpire: CB Bucknor
" ''Close Call Sports and the Umpire Ejection Fantasy League''. October 1, 2013.

References

External links

Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bucknor, C. B. 1962 births Living people People from Westmoreland Parish Major League Baseball umpires Sportspeople from Brooklyn Jamaican emigrants to the United States Cortland Red Dragons baseball players

Umpiring career

Injuries

Personal life

See also

References

External links