KLEM, BILL

born Feb. 22, 1874, Rochester, N.Y., U.S. died Sept. 16, 1951, Coral Gables, Fla. byname of William Joseph Klem, original surname Klimm, also called The Old Arbitrator American professional National League baseball umpire who is considered by many the greatest umpire of all time. Klem is credited with introducing 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 for Hamilton (Ont.) 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 post-season in 1905 and thereafter until his retirement. He worked behind the plate exclusively for 16 years because his judgment was considered so good 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.