Bill Klem

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William Joseph Klem (born Klimm; February 22, 1874 – September 16, 1951), known as "the Old Arbitrator", was an American baseball umpire who worked in Major League Baseball from 1905 to 1941, spending his entire career in the National League (NL). He worked 18 World Series, which is a major league record. Klem retired after 37 seasons as an umpire and spent ten years in retirement before dying in 1951 at the age of 77. After his death, Klem was posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953 and was notably one of the first two umpires ever inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame alongside Tom Connolly. Klem was born on February 22, 1874, in the "Dutchtown" area of Rochester, New York. He had changed the spelling of his last name from "Klimm" to "Klem" because he thought it had a better sound. Klem pursued a professional baseball career as a catcher until he suffered a career ending arm injury. He then worked as a bartender and traveled through the Northeast building bridges. He decided to pursue umpiring after reading a newspaper article about major league umpire Silk O'Loughlin. His umpiring career began in the Connecticut League in 1902.