| Tim Tschida | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 4, 1960 St. Paul, Minnesota |
| Occupation | Major League Baseball umpire |
| Spouse | Barbara Herzan (1992 – present) |
| Children | Alicia, Alexandra, Carter |
Timothy Joseph Tschida ( /ˈʃiːdə/ shee-də; born May 4, 1960 in St. Paul, Minnesota) is an umpire in Major League Baseball. He joined the American League's full-time staff in 1986, and has worked in both major leagues since 2000.
Prior to pursuing professional umpiring, he attended St. Thomas University. His professional umpiring career began after he attended the Joe Brinkman Umpire School in 1981. He was elevated to the AL for the 1986 season. In 2000, the American and National Leagues combined umpiring staffs. He has worn uniform number 4 throughout his career.
He has worked in ten postseasons, including the World Series in 1998, 2002 and 2008; the League Championship Series in 1993, 1999, 2000, and 2001; and the Division Series in 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2007. He worked the All-Star Game in 1992 and 2002. He was the second base umpire for the single-game playoff to decide the NL's 2007 wild card team. He was also the third base umpire for Kenny Rogers's perfect game on July 28, 1994, and the home plate umpire for Nolan Ryan's seventh no-hitter on May 1, 1991 and Carlos Zambrano's no-hitter on September 14, 2008.
In the offseason, Tschida is involved in charity work including Meals on Wheels and other Catholic charities.
Tschida is known for his quality work and is a well-respected umpire, but is probably best known for a widely disputed call in the 1999 ALCS in which Chuck Knoblauch applied a "phantom tag" to Jose Offerman. The call was ranked the worst call in sports history by readers of ESPN.com.
For the 2007 season, Tschida was promoted to a crew chief position, and his crew included Jim Joyce, Jeff Nelson and Jim Wolf. His crew in 2011 includes Jeff Nelson, Marty Foster and Bill Welke.
On June 28, 2007, Tschida made the controversial decision to allow New York Yankees' Derek Jeter to bat in the 7th inning of a then-tied game against the Baltimore Orioles. Despite rain coming down so hard that Orioles third baseman Melvin Mora was unable to even see the ball, Tschida allowed the at bat to continue until Jeter drove in two runs on a double that was aided by field conditions. According to Mora, Tschida then cursed Mora repeatedly as Mora asked why the at-bat was allowed to occur under such unsafe conditions. "He just tried to make Jeter hit so they can score one run and they can get out of here. That's what I think," said Mora.[1] The game was scheduled to be resumed on July 27 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Tschida is one of the only MLB umpires that uses his fingers to show the current count after almost every pitch. On July 7th, 2010 Tschida was the crew chief when a fan fell 30 feet trying to catch a foul ball.