Seth Buckminster

Seth Alan Buckminster

• Height 6' 4", Weight 210 lb.

• Born April 14, 1981 in Fort Worth, TX USA

Biographical Information

Seth Buckminster is an umpire who worked his first major league game on April 8, 2014. He was one of 12 umpires to work their first game that year, a situation caused by the appointment of two new full four-man crews in order to work the video replay booths in New York, NY, and by the passing of umpire Wally Bell and the retirement of two others because of injuries. He had begun his professional umpiring career in 2006 and was working in the International League since 2012.

Buckminster gained a measure of notoriety because he had the worst record of any umpire in the majors when it came to video review during the first half of the 2014 season: 11 of his calls were reversed upon review, in spite of only working part-time. He was reassigned to the minor league after that performance. He was involved in an unusual play on May 19th, when, working second base, he called interference on the San Diego Padres' Seth Smith when he slid into Colorado Rockies 2B D.J. LeMahieu; the call allowed the Rockies to turn a triple play, only the third in major league history to involve an interference call. The call was controversial as Smith's slide was on the bag, and while his arm dragged towards the second baseman's ankle, he barely touched him, and only after he had thrown late to 1B Justin Morneau. He worked 66 games in 2014, coming back to the majors in late September, but only one in 2015.

In spring training in 2013, he was working home plate during a Cactus League game on March 19th when he suffered a broken hand after being hit with a pitch by Wily Peralta of the Milwaukee Brewers that had deflected off the bat of Albert Pujols of the Los Angeles Angels. He had to leave the game, and veteran Tim McClelland was forced to call pitches while standing behind the pitcher's mound, something not usually seen at a caliber above that of Little League Baseball, until Anthony Johnson could put on the home plate umpire's gear. In a regular season game, the play would have been stopped long enough for Johnson to change and take over behind the catcher.

He worked the 2015 Premier 12.

Related Sites

• Seth Buckminster on Retrosheet.org