Dave Slickenmeyer

David W. Slickenmeyer

• Born February 23, 1945

Biographical Information

Dave Slickenmeyer began his professional umpiring career in the Western Carolinas League in 1972 and 1973. In 1974, he was in the Carolina League and in 1975 and 1976 in the Texas League. He then spent the 1977 season in the Southern League before being given his release.

However, his umpiring career was far from done at that point, as it seemed that every time the major leagues needed a replacement umpire, his name was on speed dial. During the umpires' strike in 1979, he worked games in both the National League and American League, all of them in Chicago, IL. One of the games he worked that year was the famous game in which the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Chicago Cubs 23-22 on May 17th - one day before the strike ended. When the umpires went on strike again before the League Championship Series in 1984, he worked the two games of the 1984 NLCS played in Wrigley Field. In 1991, he was the home plate umpire on Opening Day in Royals Stadium in Kansas City, MO when a threatened strike by the umpires was only resolved hours before the first games of the regular season were scheduled, prompting the need for replacements until the strikers could get to their assignments. Finally, he was at it again during the 1995 strike, working 5 AL games, 4 at the Metrodome in Bloomington, MN and 1 at the Skydome in Toronto, ON.

He also has an acting credit for playing - fittingly - an umpire in the 1993 film Rookie of the Year. He was described in a 1984 article as "selling steak and seafood to restaurants" in everyday life and as a resident of Des Plaines, IL who normally worked Big Ten Conference games as a college umpire.

Related Sites

• Dave Slickenmeyer at Retrosheet.org
• Sporting News umpire card