Bill Haller

William Edward Haller (born February 28, 1935 in Joliet, Illinois) is a retired Major League Baseball umpire. Haller officiated 3,068 regular season games in the American League from 1961 and from 1963 to 1982. He also worked 15 American League Championship Series games in four series (1970, 1973, 1976 and 1980), 27 World Series contests in four different years (1968, 1972, 1978 and 1982) and four All-Star games (1963, 1970, 1975 and 1981).[1]

Career highlights

In 1980, Haller was wearing a microphone as part of a documentary on umpires. After Haller called a balk on Baltimore pitcher Mike Flanagan, the microphone captured an animated tirade directed from Earl Weaver to Haller.[2]

Haller was the home plate umpire when Carl Yastrzemski had his 3000th major league hit on September 12, 1979.[3]

Haller wore uniform number 1 from 1980 through 1982 after the American League adopted uniform numbers. He retired after the 1982 World Series. He was the last umpire to wear the balloon-style chest protector in a Fall Classic game, calling balls and strikes for Game 2 between the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals.

Upon retirement, Haller served as a supervisor of American League umpires until he was fired shortly after the 1985 season ended.[4] He also worked for the Baseball Umpire Development program as a supervisor until the 1994 season.[5]

Bill Haller is the older brother of former Major League catcher Tom Haller.

See also

References
  1. "Bill Haller umpiring record". Retrosheet. Retrieved November 2, 2010.
  2. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QQAtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qc0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1238,4517258&dq=bill+haller+earl+weaver&hl=en
  3. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1979/B09120BOS1979.htm
  4. Ump Supervisor Ejected By Al
  5. "Budget axe chops Umpire Development". Referee, April, 1994. p. 13


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