Joe Sawchuk

Joseph William Sawchuk

• Height 5' 8½", Weight 196 lb.

• Born April 7, 1938 in Toronto, ON CAN
• Died February 27, 2021 in Brampton, ON CAN

Biographical Information

Joe Sawchuk was a fill-in umpire in the American League in 1978 and 1979. He worked home plate in a game in his native Toronto, ON on August 25, 1978, when the regular umpires staged a one-day strike. However, the league was only able to line up three umpires for the next day's game, after the strike had ended, and he got to work third base alongside three veteran umpires in that game as well. In the first game, there were only three replacement umpires available, so both the Toronto Blue Jays and Minnesota Twins designated a coach to complete what became a five-man crew: Don Leppert of the Jays worked second base and Jerry Zimmerman of the Twins was at third base, and in a very rare instance, replacement umpire Rich Panas worked in left field, something not usually seen outside of postseason games or the All-Star Game. That was because he had arrived late at the game, and the teams had taken the special measure to ensure the game was played with a full crew.

In 1979, the umpires staged a much longer strike at the start of the season, and Sawchuk was called upon again. He ended up working 17 games in April and May, all of them in Toronto.

In regular life, Sawchuk was an illustrator working for Ontario Hydro, the province's public utility company. In his spare time he had played and coached amateur baseball, worked amateur games and even worked for the Jays as an official scorer.

Further Reading

• Scott Langdon: "Sawchuk came off the sandlots to work Jays games", CanadianBaseballNetwork.com, March 16, 2016. [1]

Related Sites

• Joe Sawchuk at Retrosheet.org