James Gilbert McKean (May 26, 1945 – January 24, 2019) was a Canadian

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

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 ...

(AL) from 1974 to 1999, and in both major leagues in 2000 and 2001. He umpired 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 ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

and

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

. He also officiated in five

American League Championship Series The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the two winners of the American ...

(

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

) and three All-Star games (1980, 1982, 1993), calling balls and strikes for the last game, as well as the

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

and

1999 American League Division Series The 1999 American League Division Series (ALDS), the opening round of the 1999 American League playoffs, began on Tuesday, October 5, and ended on Monday, October 11, with the champions of the three AL divisions—along with a " wild card" team� ...

. He wore uniform number 8 after the AL adopted uniform numbers in 1980. After his retirement from active umpiring, McKean entered television as an umpiring consultant for ESPN.

Early career

After a high school football career as a star quarterback, McKean received athletic scholarship offers to 35 U.S. schools. Instead, he played junior football with the NDG Maple Leafs and then professionally with the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

and the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 1 ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

. Though McKean desired to make it as a quarterback, he was forced into the punter role when he was traded to Saskatchewan in 1967; the Roughriders were quarterbacked by CFL standout

Ron Lancaster Ronald Lancaster (October 14, 1938 – September 18, 2008) was an American-Canadian professional football player and coach in the Canadian Football League (CFL). As the starting quarterback for the Saskatchewan Roughriders for 16 seasons, he ...

. That would be his last year in the CFL. McKean had attended NHL referee school and worked as a college hockey referee during the football offseasons. McKean attended baseball umpire school in 1970, then worked in the minor leagues before joining the American League. His minor league service included work in the

Florida State League The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...

, the

Florida Instructional League The Florida Instructional League (FIL), sometimes known informally as "instructs", is an American professional baseball league. The league was founded in 1958. Young major league prospects hone their skills in the FIL, while experienced players may ...

, the Eastern League, the Puerto Rico Winter League and the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

MLB umpiring career

On the field

McKean made it to the major leagues as an umpire in 1974. By 1976, AL umpire supervisor Dick Butler said, "I'll go out on a limb and say that, in my opinion, McKean is the best of our 24 umpires. He has the perfect temperament. He can listen, he can dish it out, he can be serious and he can be humorous. He's 6-foot-2, 225 pounds, no fat and he has the kind of presence that commands respect." He was the third base umpire for

Len Barker's perfect game On Friday, May 15, 1981, Len Barker of the Cleveland Indians threw a Perfect game (baseball), perfect game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Cleveland Stadium, the 10th perfect game in Major League Baseball history. The Indians defeated the Blue Ja ...

on May 15, 1981. In 1993, he umpired in his tenth

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 ...

, tying a record shared by

Silk O'Loughlin Francis H. "Silk" O'Loughlin (August 15, 1872 – December 20, 1918) was an American umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the American League from 1902 to 1918. He umpired in the World Series in 1906, 1909, 1912, 1915 and 1917, serving a ...

and

Paul Pryor John Paul Pryor (July 10, 1927 – December 15, 1995) was a professional baseball umpire who worked in the National League from 1961 to 1981. Pryor wore uniform number 13 for most of his career. Pryor umpired 3,094 major league games in his 21-ye ...

. Also that year, on May 22, he was involved in a rare incident where he ejected

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 ...

mascot

BJ Birdy Over the years, the Toronto Blue Jays have created three full-time mascots, all of which portray the bird for which the team was named. BJ Birdy was the team mascot from 1979 to 1999. For the 2000 season, BJ was replaced by Ace and Diamond, two ...

for trying to influence one of his calls. On April 7, 1997, McKean was the crew chief for a Rangers-Brewers game at Milwaukee when play was halted three times by fans who threw baseballs onto the field; McKean and Milwaukee manager

Phil Garner Philip Mason Garner (born April 30, 1949) is an American former professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as an infielder with the Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers and ...

both used microphones to admonish fans to behave. He was also the home plate umpire for the first interleague game in Major League Baseball history between the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

and Texas Rangers on June 12, 1997.

Later career

McKean served as an MLB umpire supervisor from 2002 until he was fired (along with fellow supervisors

Rich Garcia Richard Raul Garcia (born May 22, 1942) is a former umpire in Major League Baseball (MLB) who worked in the American League (AL) from 1975 to 1999. Garcia wore uniform number 19 when the AL adopted numbers for its umpires in 1980. Umpiring ca ...

and

Marty Springstead Martin John Springstead (July 9, 1937 – January 17, 2012) was an umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the American League from 1966 to 1985 and had since worked as an umpire supervisor. He was the youngest umpire ever to serve as crew c ...

) in January 2010. MLB did not cite specific reasons for the firings, but Springstead said the actions were related to a series of missed calls by the umpires who worked the 2009 baseball postseason.

Rob Manfred Robert Dean Manfred Jr. (born September 28, 1958) is an American lawyer and business executive who is serving as the tenth Commissioner of Baseball, commissioner of Major League Baseball. He previously served as MLB's chief operating officer. Man ...

, executive vice president for MLB, said, "The change in supervisors is part of our ongoing effort to make our organization as strong as possible." By 2011, McKean was working as an umpiring consultant to

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Personal life

McKean's wife Ann, a breast cancer survivor, died three weeks after a diagnosis of

liver cancer Liver cancer (also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy) is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary (starts in liver) or secondary (meaning cancer which has spread from elsewhere to th ...

in 2007. McKean's sons Jamie and Brett each won a Division II

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

while playing for the

University of Tampa The University of Tampa (UT) is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UT offers more than 200 programs of study, including 22 master's degrees and a broad variety of majors, ...

. Jamie went on to attend law school. McKean graduated from Monklands High School in Montreal, Quebec. He was inducted into 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. His ...

in the Class of 2004. McKean died on January 23, 2019, at age 73.

References

External links

Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKean, Jim 1945 births 2019 deaths Anglophone Quebec people Baseball people from Quebec Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Canadian expatriate baseball people in the United States Canadian football quarterbacks Major League Baseball umpires Montreal Alouettes players Players of Canadian football from Quebec Saskatchewan Roughriders players Sportspeople from Montreal