Bob Emslie
| Bob Emslie | |||
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| Pitcher/Umpire | |||
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Born: January 27, 1859 Guelph, Ontario |
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Died: April 26, 1943 (aged 84) St. Thomas, Ontario |
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| MLB debut | |||
| July 25, 1883, for the Baltimore Orioles | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| July 16, 1885, for the Philadelphia Athletics | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Win–loss record | 44–44 | ||
| Earned run average | 3.19 | ||
| Strikeouts | 362 | ||
| Teams | |||
Robert Daniel Emslie (January 27, 1859 – April 26, 1943) was a Canadian pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) who went on to set numerous records for longevity as an umpire. Born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, Emslie had a brief professional playing career with the Baltimore and Philadelphia clubs in the American Association.
His professional umpiring career began in 1888, and after spending a couple of seasons in the minor leagues, he was promoted to the major leagues as an umpire in 1890. Emslie was nicknamed "Wig" due to his premature receding hairline, which was a result of the stress of umpiring games single-handedly in the rough-and-tumble 1890s; he was derisively called "Blind Bob" by the New York Giants following his role in the infamous "Merkle's Boner" play during the 1908 National League pennant race. The play involved a force out when a Giants player stopped running to second base upon seeing that the game's winning run would score.
When "Merkle's boner" occurred, Emslie had already worked more major league games than any umpire in MLB history, then later served as the National League's chief of umpires upon retiring from active umpiring. He retired to St. Thomas, Ontario and died there on Monday, April 26, 1943. In 1986 he was named to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
Emslie began his professional career playing for several semi-professional teams in Ontario until signing on with the Camden, New Jersey team of an early version of the Interstate League for the 1882 season. He pitched for them until middle of the 1883 season when he joined the Baltimore Orioles of the American Association. The first season with the Orioles, he had a 9–13 record, with 3.17 earned run average (ERA), 21 complete games, and one shutout. His best season was in 1884, when he had a 32–17 record, completed all 50 of his starts, and had a 2.75 ERA.
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