MLB History: A Familiar Conflict of Interest

Baseball, umpires, conflicts of interest and July 14—all are related, but how?

From Jim Joyce's removal from pitcher Armando Galarraga's games following their co-authoring of Nobody's Perfect: Two Men, One Call and a Game for Baseball History in 2011 to PBUC Executive Director Justin Klemm's controversial banishment of the competing Jim Evans Academy for Professional Umpiring for a bowling party-gone horribly wrong in February 2012, the umpiring conflict of interest is real and plainly apparent—and all sports officials know of and detest hearing about the biggest officiating conflict of interest in professional sports history, basketball's Tim Donaghy fiasco.

Who wants a bobblehead? I do!

Yet of all conflicts of interest, none is as familiar as the famous umpire-player brotherly relationship of Jim and Randy Wolf. Though officially barred from working the plate for his brother's games, Jim served as home plate umpire during a Spring Training contest in 2008 that featured brother Randy on the mound. It didn't help, though, as Randy's Padres lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-2. Randy himself surrendered three runs in as many innings pitched.

In 2003, Jim, then a Triple-A call-up umpire, officiated a Marlins-Dodgers series while brother Randy was on the Philadelphia Phillies, who were competing with the Marlins for the NL wild card. Succinctly, the Phillies were rooting for Florida to lose and Los Angeles to win.

Marlins lefty Mark Redman used this fact to imply an ulterior motive behind some of Jim's California calls while Randy was in Philly: "I guarantee that crosses every player's mind." Crew chief Larry Young defended Jim: "He doesn't perceive it to be a problem, and I do not, either."

Good news, too, considering—again—Jim was working a game 3,000 miles away from his brother, Randy.

Why the discussion? Well, July 14 is a landmark day in the world of family umpiring, for on July 14, 1972, umpire Bill Haller and brother Tom made history. A catcher with the Detroit Tigers, Tom worked in front of Bill during a Tigers-Royals game in what would be the first and only brother ump-catcher game in MLB history.

And if you're wondering about Bill Haller, he is the first base umpire featured and mic-ed up for a classic Earl Weaver argument and ejection during a late-season game—in the top of the first inning, nonetheless.


The following Bill Haller photographs were graciously submitted to the UEFL