Tim McLelland, the umpire famous for having a delayed strike call and being involved in the original pine tar incident with George Brett has called it a career after 32 seasons.
McLelland, 63, would let the pitch pass, and sometimes three or four seconds later, would raise his hand to call a strike. It irritated batters, coaches and fans alike. Having him replaced with a more decisive umpire should help speed up the game a bit as well.
Now, I am not saying McLelland was a bad umpire, in fact, quite the contrary. He’s been a part of many memorable moments in the history of baseball. Here’s the most famous one, involving Kansas City Royal George Brett.
McLelland worked in the American League from 1983 to 1999 and throughout both leagues from 2000 until 2014. He has worn uniform number 36 since his promotion to the AL, and kept the number when Major League Baseball merged the American and National League umpiring staffs in 2000.
He was also behind the plate when Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs got caught with cork in his bat. Here’s the video.
He has been a World Series umpire four times (1993, 2000, 2002 and 2006), and worked in three All-Star games (1986, 1998 and 2003), calling balls and strikes on the last occasion.
We at the Daily Stache wish “Rain Delay” McLelland the best in his future endeavors. We will leave you with a Tweet from former Yankee Bernie Williams with his thoughts on McLelland and a video of McLelland tricking Mets announcer Gary Cohen with a delayed call.
Only thing a player asks of an umpire is to be fair that was “Big Man” Tim McClelland. TY for what you gave to this game @SportsCenter
— Bernie Williams (@bw51official) February 21, 2015
