John Hirschbeck Announces 2015 Return After Son's Death

MLB umpire John Hirschbeck announced his return to baseball in 2015, describing the great importance umpiring and baseball played throughout his and his late son Michael's life. After working MLB's opening week, John Hirschbeck took to umpiring's bereavement list with the death of son Michael at age 27. In 1993, 8-year-old John Drew Hirschbeck died of the rare inherited brain disease ALD.

2015 will be Hirschbeck's fourth return to baseball since missing the entire 2008 season recuperating from back surgery and, in his words, "much more important."

Hirschbeck was the UEFL's 2014 Honorable Umpire of the Year alongside veteran Ted Barrett.

Video: Hirschbeck announces his return to the game and remembers his son Michael (MLBAM)