William Reed Summers (November 10, 1895 - September 12, 1966) was an American umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the American League from 1933 to 1959. November 10 is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 51 days remaining. ... 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... September 12 is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years). ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... Home plate umpire Gary Darling signals that the last pitch was a strike In baseball, the umpire is the person charged with officiating the game, including beginning and ending the game, enforcing the rules of the game and the grounds, making judgment calls on plays, and meting out discipline. ... Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in professional baseball in the world. ... American League The American League (or formally the American League of Professional Baseball Clubs) is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States of America and Canada. ...

Born in Harrison, New Jersey, Summers was raised in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. He left school in the seventh grade, and began working under his father, a mill foreman; he also began boxing as a lightweight, with moderate success in the ring. At age 17, he was employed as a road worker when he stopped to watch a high school baseball game. The umpire who was supposed to officiate never arrived, however, and Summers was asked by Woonsocket high school coach Frank Keaney – who would go on to an extraordinary collegiate coaching career – to fill in. Summers accepted, even though he had never played baseball and was unfamiliar with the rules; Keaney told him that as long as he kept track of balls and strikes, it shouldn't prove difficult. Summers proved adept at the task, and regularly officiated high school, semi-pro and industrial games for the next eight years. Harrison is a town located in Hudson County, New Jersey. ... Location of Woonsocket, Rhode Island. ... Professional boxing bout featuring Ricardo Dominguez (left) vs. ... Frank W. Keaney (June 5, 1886 – October 10, 1967) was a college mens basketball coach and known as the architect of modern run-and-shoot basketball. ...

In 1921 he got his first chance at the professional ranks when he was hired by the Eastern League, and he continued in the minor leagues through 1932. He joined the American League staff in 1933, during the period when the major leagues were expanding standard umpiring crews from two men per game to three. Over his career, the firmly authoritative Summers proved adept at handling arguments, using his stocky build (5' 8" and over 200 pounds (91 kg)) to maximum advantage in defusing potentially explosive situations; he had a "slow thumb", rarely ejecting anyone from a game without a warning.

Summers umpired in 8 World Series (1936, 1939, 1942, 1945, 1948, 1951, 1955 and 1959), tying the AL record shared by three other arbiters. He was also the first base umpire for the 1948 playoff game to decide the AL pennant, and he worked in 7 All-Star Games, setting a record (later tied by Al Barlick): 1936, 1941, 1946, 1949, 1952, 1955 and 1959 (second game). He called balls and strikes in all 7 of the All-Star contests, a mark unmatched by any other umpire. He was the home plate umpire on July 27, 1946, when Rudy York hit two grand slams, and again on June 10, 1959, when Rocky Colavito hit four home runs. For other events named World Series, see World Series (disambiguation). ... The 1936 World Series matched the New York Yankees against the New York Giants, with the Yankees winning in 6 games to earn their fifth championship. ... The 1939 World Series featured the three-time defending champion New York Yankees against the Cincinnati Reds, who were making their first Series appearance since the scandal-tainted 1919 World Series. ... The 1942 World Series featured the defending champion New York Yankees against the St. ... The 1945 World Series matched the American League Detroit Tigers against the National League Chicago Cubs. ... The 1948 World Series matched the Cleveland Indians, who had won the American League pennant in a one-game playoff against the Boston Red Sox, and the Boston Braves, who had won the National League pennant for the first time since the Miracle Braves team of 1914. ... The 1951 World Series matched the two-time defending champion New York Yankees against the New York Giants, who had won the National League pennant in a thrilling three-game playoff with the Brooklyn Dodgers on a legendary home run by Bobby Thomson. ... The 1955 World Series matched the Brooklyn Dodgers against the New York Yankees, with the Dodgers winning the Series in 7 games to capture the first championship in franchise history. ... The 1959 World Series featured the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had won their first pennant since moving from Brooklyn in 1958 by defeating the Milwaukee Braves 2-0 in a three-game playoff, and the Chicago White Sox, who had earned their first pennant in the 40 years since the... The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also popularly known as the Midsummer Classic, is an annual exhibition baseball game between players from the National League and the American League, currently selected by fan vote for the position players and by the manager for pitchers. ... Umpire Al Barlick Albert Joseph Barlick (April 2, 1915 - December 27, 1995) was an American umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the National League for 28 seasons (1940-43, 1946-55, 1958-71). ... Preston Rudolph York (August 17, 1913 - February 5, 1970) was a Major League Baseball first baseman who played for the Detroit Tigers (1934, 1937-45), Boston Red Sox (1946-47), Chicago White Sox (1947) and Philadelphia Athletics (1948). ... Rocky Colavito on the cover of Time in 1959 Rocco Domenico Rocky Colavito (born August 10, 1933 in New York, NY) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder (primarily playing right field, but also at the other outfield positions, as well as a small number of games as a pitcher...

Late in his career, during his long tenure on baseball's Rules Committee, that body completed a major overhaul of the rule book, revising it entirely into a greatly improved version which organized the rules by logical subsections. In 1955, Summers became the major leagues' senior umpire in service time; he retired following the 1959 World Series, at age 63 the oldest umpire ever to serve on the AL staff, and later gave clinics and lectures at military bases throughout the world.

Summers died at age 70 at his home in Upton, Massachusetts. Upton is a town located in Worcester County, Massachusetts. ...

Quote

• "I wasn't much of an umpire, at first; but I could keep the peace. And that's an umpire's most important and toughest job."

External link

• BaseballLibrary.com - biography and career highlights