MLB Umpire Ed Hickox Retires From 28-Year Career

28-year MLB umpire Ed Hickox has retired from on-field officiating after 28 years of baseball in the American and unified major leagues, capping a career interrupted by a 5 years away from the game due to labor dispute and litigation related to injuries sustained on the field.

Hickox's big league career began with a 1990 AL debut and he was one of the 22 AL and NL umpires whose resignations were accepted during an ill-fated bargaining strategy when MLB sought to consolidate umpiring staffs. Hickox returned to the minor leagues as a brand-new Wendelstedt Umpire School recruit in 2002, working his way up the chain until reaching the now-unified MLB staff in 2005.

Litigation of a different variety struck Hickox after returning to the big league staff when he suffered concussion and ear injuries in 2005 and again in 2009, filing a lawsuit again Wilson Sporting Goods, whom Hickox alleged had given him a defective helmet he wore when he suffered the injuries.

A District of Columbia Superior Court jury ordered Wilson pay Hickox $775,000 for damages (this award was ultimately appealed and affirmed).

In addition to full-time major league umpiring, Hickox worked part-time as a Daytona Beach Shores detective.

Hickox retires after 28 years and 2,707 major league games, alongside 5 Division Series and 36 ejections.

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Alternate Link: Ed Hickox retires from MLB service after bifuracted big league career