Beloved Minor League Admin Lillian Patterson Dies

A welcoming face for all aspiring professional umpires, longtime Minor League Baseball administrative assistant Lillian Mary Patterson died in Florida at the age of 71. Patterson, reads her obituary, "was ejected, without any warnings, from the game of life and sent to the showers in heaven."

Patterson joined Major League Baseball Umpire Development in 1992 and transitioned to Minor League Baseball's Professional Baseball Umpire Corp (PBUC) in 1998, serving the organization until her retirement 20 years later, in 2017.

Major League umpires Dan Bellino and Manny Gonzalez both commented on Patterson's remembrance page, with Bellino recalling her genuine nature: "She looked at all of us umpires as her children, and she relished in our successes and she cried in our failures," and Gonzalez noting that, "Lillian was the first person to welcome me to this beautiful country that now I have the privilege to call home. Was to many of us a mother away from our homes, always in the other side of the phone caring about our travel and our wellness."

Both Holy Family Catholic Church and UmpsCare Charities are accepting donations in Lillian's name.

As her obituary concludes, "No good reason can be given for the ejection, and the game continued without further incident...but will never the be same without her."