Exclusive: Umpire John Hirschbeck to the Disabled List

According to a source, MLB umpire John Hirschbeck will miss the 2012 season—and potentially more—due to illness.

Hirschbeck was one of several umpires who suffered injury or illness and missed significant time during the 2011 season. After Hirschbeck worked first base during the Nationals-Padres game on June 12, he did not return to action until July 8's Pirates-Cubs contest. He also suffered through a few painful deflections while a plate umpire, once on April 12 and again on July 24. Prior to deflection, the second pitch had been clocked at 95 MPH.

While most full-time crew chiefs worked between 127 and 136 regular season games in 2011, Hirschbeck worked just 112 due to back pain. Only Tim Tschida (81 games) worked fewer.

Hirschbeck previously missed the entire 2008 MLB season due to back surgery to repair a ruptured disk, while Hirschbeck was diagnosed with testicular cancer in mid-2009. August 2 was his last game that season and oncological surgery shortly followed.

The offending tumor was removed and doctors at the time predicted a 10 percent chance of the cancer returning.

At the time, Hirschbeck had predicted a retirement in the near future: "I'm 55 and I don't plan on working a whole lot longer."

Hirschbeck was the first president of the World Umpires Association and concluded the 2011 UEFL season with zero ejections and zero points. His younger brother, former MLB umpire Mark Hirschbeck, was also bitten by the injury bug, suffering a career-ending injury when his artificial hip shattered during a game. In April, Hirschbeck settled his lawsuit with Wright Medical Technology of Arlington, Tenn. for several millions of dollars.

Umpire Bill Hohn was on MLB's Disabled List in 2011 before retiring prior to 2012.