NEW YORK (AP) — Longtime big league umpire Harry Wendelstedt has died after an extended illness. He was 73.
Major League Baseball said Wendelstedt died Friday in Ormond Beach, Fla. He had been diagnosed several years ago with a brain tumor.
Wendelstedt worked five World Series and four All-Star games during his career from 1966-98. His son, Hunter, is a big league umpire.
In 1968, Wendelstedt was involved in one of baseball’s most disputed plays. Don Drysdale was on his way to setting a record of 58 2-3 scoreless innings when he threw a pitch that hit San Francisco’s Dick Dietz with the bases loaded. Wendelstedt was the plate umpire and immediately ruled that Dietz made no attempt to get out of the way. Drysdale wound up pitching a shutout.
