Tim McClelland
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Timothy Reid McClelland (born December 12, 1951 in Jackson, Michigan) is an umpire in Major League Baseball who has worked in the American League from 1983 to 1999 and throughout both leagues since 2000. He has called many important games, from postseason games to the George Brett "Pine Tar" game. More recently, he was the umpire at the Sammy Sosa corked bat game when the Chicago Cubs hosted the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Wrigley Field. He has worn uniform number 36 since his promotion to the AL, and kept the number when MLB merged the AL and NL umpiring staffs in 2000.
He is one of the tallest umpires in MLB at 6-foot-6. He is known for working in a kneeling position behind the plate and for his deliberate strike calls. He has consistently been rated among the top umpires in the majors by players, managers and executives. He is noted for having a small strike zone, but is praised even by pitchers for the consistency of that zone.
McClelland has officiated in numerous noteworthy baseball games. He has been a World Series umpire four times (1993, 2000, 2002 and 2006), and worked in three All-Star games (1986, 1998 and 2003), calling balls and strikes on the last occasion. He has also called five Division Series (1997, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006), serving as crew chief in 1997, 2004, and 2006 and in six League Championship Series (1988, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2005), serving as crew chief in 1999, 2003, and 2005. He was the third base umpire for Nolan Ryan's sixth career no-hitter on June 11, 1990.
In his first season in the AL, he was behind the plate in the infamous "Pine Tar" game at Yankee Stadium on July 24, 1983, in which George Brett of the Kansas City Royals hit a 2-run home run, which was immediately protested by New York Yankees manager Billy Martin due to an obscure equipment rule. McClelland inspected Brett's bat, which had pine tar 24 inches up the handle. Because of the rule stating that pine tar cannot extend more than 18 inches up a bat handle, McClelland called Brett out, which nullified the home run. AL president Lee MacPhail later overturned McClelland's decision, clarifying that any protest regarding equipment must be made prior to a play, and had the Yankees and Royals replay the inning.
Fifteen years later, McClelland was once again behind the plate at Yankee Stadium for a famous game, as David Wells pitched a perfect game against the Minnesota Twins on May 17, 1998. He also was the umpire during the 2003 game where famous slugger Sammy Sosa was caught with a corked bat at Wrigley Field during the interleague game between the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at the Chicago Cubs. Sosa broke his bat hitting a routine ground out, and upon inspection of the fragments of the bat, cork was found, leading to Sosa's ejection and subsequent eight game suspension (appealed down to seven games).
McClelland, a graduate of Michigan State University, is a major league crew chief, and is among the fifteen most senior active major league umpires. For the 2006 season, his crew includes Fieldin Culbreth, Marty Foster, and Bill Welke.
