Jim Evans

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the Harlequins rugby union player, see Jim Evans (rugby player).

James Bremond Evans (born November 5, 1946 in Longview, Texas) is a former umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the American League from 1971 to 1999. He now operates one of baseball's two major umpiring schools. He wore uniform number 3 starting in 1980 when the AL adopted uniform numbers.

Evans began umpiring Little League games at age 14, where his playing experience as a catcher helped in judging balls and strikes. He graduated in 1968 with a degree in political science from the University of Texas, where he played baseball, was on the debating team, and served in the National Guard, and then worked as an umpire in college games and in the Florida State League. After graduating first in his class in the new Umpire Development Program in 1969, he worked in the Texas League (1969-70) and American Association (1971) before joining the AL staff in late 1971 at the age of 24. He became an AL crew chief in 1981.

He umpired in 4 World Series (1977, 1982, 1986 and 1996), and in 7 American League Championship Series (1975, 1979, 1983, 1985, 1990, 1993 and 1998), tying a record set by Larry Barnett. He also umpired in the All-Star Game in 1976, 1989 and 1999, calling balls and strikes in the last two contests. He worked in the American League Division Series in 1981, 1995 (Games 3-5) and 1996, and also in the single-game playoffs to determine the Eastern division champion in 1978 and the Western division champion in 1995.

Evans is one of seven umpires in history who have worked in two perfect games, having been the third base umpire for Mike Witt's perfect game on September 30, 1984, and the second base umpire for David Cone's perfect game on July 18, 1999. He was also the home plate umpire for the first of Nolan Ryan's record 7 no-hitters on May 15, 1973, and worked behind the plate for Don Sutton's 300th victory on June 18, 1986.

On May 8 and 9, 1984, he was the home plate umpire in the longest decided game in major league history, a 25-inning contest between the Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers which was played over two nights, lasting 8 hours and 6 minutes, with the White Sox prevailing 7-6.

In the 1977 World Series, Evans worked home plate during game 5 wearing an inside chest protector, which was unusual for AL umpires at the time. Prior to 1977, almost all AL umpires used the outside chest protector, but starting in 1977, all new umpires in the AL had to wear the inside protector, which had been standard in the National League for nearly 60 years, thanks to Hall of Fame umpire Bill Klem. Fellow AL umpire Larry McCoy wore the inside protector in Game 3, although crew chief Nestor Chylak wore the AL-tradition balloon protector in Game 1.