Charles H. "Cy" Pfirman (February 27, 1889 – May 16, 1937) was a professional
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
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'', ...
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 ...
from 1922 to 1936. Pfirman umpired 2,241
major league games in his 15-year career. He also umpired in three
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 ...
(
1928
Events January
* January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA.
* January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...
,
1933 and
1936
Events
January–February
* January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...
) and the
1934 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
Early life and career
Pfirman was born in Cincinnati. As a young boy, he served as a bat boy for a minor league baseball team in the
Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League
The Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League was a Minor League Baseball organization that operated for the better part of 60 seasons, with teams based in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin. The league began pla ...
. He never played professional baseball, but he became an umpire in the
Kentucky–Indiana–Tennessee League by the age of 19. Before making it as a major league umpire, Pfirman worked in the Missouri-Illinois League,
Central League
The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consist ...
,
Central Association The Central Association was an American minor league baseball league. It began operations in 1908, as it was essentially renamed from the 1907 Iowa State League. The Central Association ran continuously through 1917. It was reorganized thirty year ...
,
Ohio State League
The Ohio State League was a minor league baseball league that operated in numerous seasons between 1887 and 1947, predominantly as a Class D level league. League franchises were based in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia.
Histo ...
,
New York State League
The New York State League was an independent baseball league that played six seasons between 2007 and 2012 in New York State and the New York City metro area. Over 500 NYSL players have been signed by professional teams. Players from forty-eight ...
, International League, Texas League and Southern League.
Major league umpiring career
In 1922, Pfirman was promoted to the National League. At one point he umpired 1,710 consecutive major league games.
[ He was the plate umpire in the 1934 All-Star Game when Carl Hubbell struck out ]Babe Ruth
George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...
, Lou Gehrig
Henry Louis Gehrig (born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941) was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned f ...
, Jimmie Foxx
James Emory Foxx (October 22, 1907 – July 21, 1967), nicknamed "Double X" and "The Beast", was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox, ...
, Al Simmons
Aloysius Harry Simmons (May 22, 1902 – May 26, 1956), born Alois Szymanski, was an American professional baseball player. Nicknamed "Bucketfoot Al", he played for two decades in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder and had his best year ...
and Joe Cronin
Joseph Edward Cronin (October 12, 1906 – September 7, 1984) was an American professional baseball player, manager and executive. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop, most notably as a member of the Boston Red Sox. Cronin spe ...
one after another.
Personal life
Pfirman's son Dwight umpired in the minor leagues.
Death
Pfirman became ill with kidney problems during spring training in 1937, which would have been his sixteenth major league season. He died in May of that year after spending several weeks at a New Orleans hospital.[
]
See also
*List of Major League Baseball umpires
The following is a list of major league baseball umpires. The list includes umpires who worked in any of four 19th century major leagues (American Association, National Association, Players' League, Union Association), one defunct 20th century m ...
References
External links
*
1889 births
1937 deaths
Major League Baseball umpires
Sportspeople from Cincinnati
{{US-baseball-umpire-stub