The Last Solo Umpire

Remembering 1923

The Last Solo Umpire

To my knowledge, the last time a major league baseball game was officiated by a solo umpire was 1923.

It was a doubleheader in Philadelphia. The Cincinnati Reds were in town. And there were actually two umpires scheduled to work the two games that afternoon.

Umpire Ernest Quigley, who was behind the plate, was struck in the side of the head by a foul tip in the top of the second inning of the first game. He was unconscious and was rushed to a hospital.

Quigley survived. In fact, he officiated his next game in early August, which is absolutely flabbergasting.

From The Cincinnati Enquirer, July 12, 1923, page 11

However, the rest of the first game, as well as the entire second game, was umpired by Cy Pfirman. Pfirman did it all alone.

From The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 12, 1923, page 14. Note that the Inquirer made no mention of the umpiring situation.

Actually, solo umpiring wasn’t all that rare in those days. It happened from time to time. My preliminary research shows that both leagues switched over to a two umpire system officially in 1909.

The really interesting bit, though, is the fact that the National League had experimented with the double umpire system as far back as 1888.

From The Sun (New York), February 5, 1888, page 3

It was heavily used in the National League through the 1890s.

From Meriden Daily Republican, July 9, 1897, page 8

And then, for whatever reason, the National League decided to abolish the two umpire system right before the 1900 season.

From The 1901 Reach Guide To Base Ball, page 50

This was a hugely unpopular decision throughout the country — and very well may have led directly to the formation of the American League.

In my personal opinion, it was the worst owner decision in the history of baseball. In the name of saving money, the owners made the game clearly worse, and it took them a decade to clean up the mess they made.

Much respect to Cy Pfirman and Ernest Quigley. As for those owners — well, I’m happy we’ve got more than one man in blue these days.