{"id":507473,"date":"2026-02-27T11:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/507473\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T11:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:59:13","slug":"bruce-froemming-longtime-mlb-umpire-dead-at-86","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/507473\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Froemming, longtime MLB umpire, dead at 86"},"content":{"rendered":"

Longtime MLB umpire Bruce Froemming, who worked the third-most games in league history and a record 11 no-hitters, died Wednesday in Milwaukee, his son Steven confirmed to the Associated Press<\/a>. <\/p>\n

He was 86.<\/p>\n

Froemming struck his head during a fall at his Mequon, Wisc., home on Tuesday night, and doctors failed to stop the bleeding in his brain due to blood thinners he was taking, according to his son.<\/p>\n

Known for his loud, distinctive strike call, Froemming umpired 37 consecutive seasons from 1971-2007 in the majors, working a total of 5,163 games, trailing only Bill Klem (5,373) and Joe West (5,460).<\/p>\n

Longtime MLB umpire Bruce Froemming has died at the age of 86. UPI<\/p>\n

Froemming briefly pursued a semi-professional playing career, but ultimately started umpiring at age 18, working his way through the minor leagues, at times making $250 a month<\/a>, before reaching the National League in 1971.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery game to me is important,\u201d Froemming told NPR<\/a> after he umpired his 5,000th career contest in 2006. \u201cYou know and I learned early on it\u2019s not the level of play that you\u2019re umpiring or officiating, it\u2019s how you attack the sport as an official. And every game is important. It\u2019s important to somebody. It\u2019s important to the people that are playing, no matter at what level. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou may think you\u2019ve got a B game or a game that\u2019s not important. To those kids or people that are playing it, it is important. So every game that you work you have to work at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Rodriguez yells at Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek while home plate Umpire Bruce Froemming tries to separate them. EPA<\/p>\n

During his nearly four-decade career, Froemming often found himself at the forefront of some of the most memorable moments and skirmishes in MLB history.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 2, 1972, Froemming was behind the plate for an afternoon Cubs-Padres game at Wrigley Field as three-time All-Star pitcher Milt Pappas closed in on a perfect game. With pinch-hitter Larry Stahl representing the final out, Froemming called a close 3-2 pitch ball four, ending Pappas\u2019 bid for perfection.<\/p>\n

While Pappas retired the next hitter to complete a no-hitter, the right-handed pitcher was upset by Froemming\u2019s call, which remained a source of controversy.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe word \u2018close\u2019 came in,\u201d Froemming told MLB.com<\/a> in 2016 about the call, shortly after Pappas\u2019 passing. \u201cThe pitches were \u2018close.\u2019 I said: \u2018To me, this is my perception about umpiring. It\u2019s a ball or a strike; it\u2019s not \u201cclose.\u201d I\u2019ve got it a ball or a strike.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that came up the next day \u2014 \u2018You could have given it to him, it was close\u2019 \u2014 I said, \u2018I\u2019m an umpire, not a fan. I called what I saw.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Froemming worked 10 more no-hitters during his career, and was behind home plate for three of them: Ed Halicki (1975), Nolan Ryan (1981) and Jos\u00e9 Jim\u00e9nez (1999).<\/p>\n

Umpire Bruce Froemming has words with Jorge Posada after the Yankees catcher was called out on strikes. New York Post<\/p>\n

The Milwaukee native was involved in a bevy of melees during his career, including working as the second base umpire during Game 3 of the 1973 National League Championship series at Shea Stadium when Bud Harrelson and Pete Rose fought near the bag<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More than three decades later, Froemming was working the plate at Fenway Park on July 24, 2004, when Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek shoved his glove into Yankees\u2019 third baseman Alex Rodriguez\u2019s face, inciting a brawl.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Not shy about giving anyone the hook, Froemming also recorded 125 career ejections, good for the 13th most all-time. Perhaps none were as memorable as him ejecting Yankees manager Billy Martin in Game 4 of the 1976 World Series.<\/p>\n

The Yankees skipper chucked a baseball toward home plate in the ninth inning with Froemming at first base during first of five Fall Classics he\u2019d work in his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you think you\u2019re doing?\u201d Froemming asked Martin, according to a 1985 Los Angeles Times story.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of your f\u2013king business!\u201d Martin reportedly shot back before his ejection.<\/p>\n

Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella, center, kicks his hat as he argues with third base umpire Mark Wegner, left, and home plate umpire Bruce Froemming watches during the eighth inning of a baseball game against Atlanta Braves, Saturday, June 2, 2007. AP<\/p>\n

During his final season in 2007, Froemming drew the ire of then-Yankees owner George Steinbrenner<\/a> for not delaying Game 2 of the ALDS between the Yankees and Indians after midges swarmed inside Jacobs Field.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe umpire was full of [expletive],\u201d Steinbrenner said of Froemming, who served as the crew chief. \u201cHe won\u2019t umpire our games anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

MLB stood by Froemming, who said Steinbrenner was \u201centitled\u201d to his opinion, as the Yankees dropped the series to Cleveland in four games.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loved the fact that baseball was like a fraternity,\u201d his son Steven told The Athletic<\/a>. \u201cYou argued like hell on the field, and after the game was over, you left it at the stadium, and it was a new day tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

After his retirement, Froemming worked as a special assistant to MLB\u2019s vice president on umpiring.<\/p>\n

Froemming is survived by his wife, Rosemarie, whom he married in 1957; two sons, Steven and Kevin; sister Cathy Seizer; half-brother Johnny Froemming; and two grandchildren, Nicolas and Christopher.<\/p>\n

With Post wires<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Longtime MLB umpire Bruce Froemming, who worked the third-most games in league history and a record 11 no-hitters,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[138799,64,63,254696,5158,62177,591,2704,85,70773],"class_list":{"0":"post-507473","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-alex-rodriguez","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-billy-martin","12":"tag-chicago-cubs","13":"tag-george-steinbrenner","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-new-york-yankees","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-umpires"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}