Jim Evans

James Bremond Evans

• Height 6' 0", Weight 185 lb.
• School Kilgore College, University of Texas at Austin

• Born November 5, 1946 in Longview, TX USA

Biographical Information

Jim Evans was a professional umpire from 1968 to 1999. He umpired in the Florida State League in 1968 and the Texas League in 1969-1970. From 1971 to 1999, he served as an American League umpire. During his career, he worked over 3,700 games. His service included eighteen years as a crew chief (1981-1999), seven American League Championship Series, the World Series in 1977, 1982, 1986, and 1996.

His career ended when he handed in his resignation as part of a failed negotiating ploy by the Major League Umpires Association when the 1999 season was winding down. Major League Baseball defeated the move by accepting the resignation of the umpires who went for the ploy, and then selectively deciding which ones it would bring back when it became clear the tactic had failed. In 2004, when a final settlement was finally reached to put an end to the sad episode, Evans decided to make his retirement permanent, receiving severance pay and benefits for the time missed instead of asking for reintegration into the ranks.

Evans was behind the plate for the longest game in major league history, a 25-inning affair between the Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers in 1983. An author, he wrote the Official Baseball Rules Annotated.

Evans currently runs clinics for prospective umpires. He was the president of an umpiring school until 2012, when its accreditation was revoked by MLB when word came out that students and instructors at the school had taken part in a bowling party dressed in KKK garb.

Records Held

• Longest Game, as home plate umpire, 8 hours, 6 minutes, 5/8-5/9/84

Related Sites

• Jim Evans on Retrosheet.org
• Sporting News umpire card