Bill Summers (umpire)

At age 17, he was employed as a road worker when he stopped to watch a high school baseball game.

Summers accepted, even though he had never played baseball and was unfamiliar with the rules; Keaney told him that as long as he kept track of balls and strikes, it shouldn't prove difficult.

Summers proved adept at the task, and regularly officiated high school, semi-pro and industrial games for the next eight years.

Over his career, the firmly authoritative Summers proved adept at handling arguments, using his stocky build (5'8" and 208 pounds (94 kg))[1] to maximum advantage in defusing potentially explosive situations; he had a "slow thumb", rarely ejecting anyone from a game without a warning.

[citation needed] Summers umpired in 8 World Series (1936, 1939, 1942, 1945, 1948, 1951, 1955 and 1959),[2] tying the American League record shared by three other arbiters.