Klem, Bill

Bill Klem, in full William Joseph Klem, original surname Klimm, also called The Old Arbitrator, (born February 22, 1874, Rochester, New York, U.S.—died September 16, 1951, Coral Gables, Florida), American professional baseball umpire of the National League who is considered by many the greatest umpire of all time. Klem is credited with the introduction of hand and arm signals to indicate calls of pitched balls and strikes and foul and fair batted balls. He was also famous for his practice of drawing a line in the dirt with his shoe and ejecting any player or manager who crossed it while protesting a call. He was one of the first umpires to leave his position behind home plate (in the days of only two umpires) to race to third base, make a call there, and run back to home plate for another call if necessary.

Klem was a catcher in Ontario for Hamilton in the Canadian League in 1896. After his arm went bad, he turned to umpiring, in the Connecticut State League (1902), the New York State League (1903), and the American Association (1904). He changed his name to Klem and worked in the National League postseason in 1905 and thereafter until his retirement. He worked behind the plate exclusively for 16 years because of his excellent judgment in calling balls and strikes. He umpired 18 World Series, a record. He retired from game duty in 1941 but was chief of the league’s umpire staff until his death. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953.