Longtime MLB umpire Jim McKean remembered by family, friends, former colleagues

ST. PETERSBURG — Jim McKean was at the very start of his nearly 30-year career as a big-league umpire when he showed the quick mind and affable nature that made him so well-liked throughout the game.

Behind the plate with big-league players for one of the first times, the specifics fuzzy of what likely was an early 1970s spring exhibition, he knew enough to know that having Bob Gibson, the notoriously cranky star Cardinals pitcher on the mound, wasn’t going to be good for him.

Instead, he turned to veteran St. Louis catcher Joe Torre for help. “He asked Joe to tell him if the pitches were balls or strikes,” son Jamie McKean said. “And he did.”

That story was one of many shared during funeral services Monday, and a Sunday viewing, for Mr. McKean, the longtime St. Petersburg resident who died Thursday at age 73.

“Dad lived a pretty incredible life,” Jamie said during the mass at the Holy Family Catholic Church. “It was the perfect career for him.”

Family, friends and a six-man crew of former major-league umpires were among several hundred who gathered. Among them, former umpiring colleagues Joe Brinkman, Jerry Crawford, Richie Garcia, Charlie Reliford, Steve Rippley and Larry Young, as well as current umpire Vic Carapazza, who is Garcia’s son-in-law. Also, former big-league player and manager Buck Martinez. Legendary hockey coach Scott Bowman, a good buddy, visited with the family on Sunday.

Stories were told about some of the big games and events Mr. McKean was part of on the field including three World Series and three All-Star games, as well as the odder moments, such as when he ejected the Blue Jays mascot from a game, in a carreer that ended in 2001.

But also of Mr. McKean’s devotion to his family, his kindness and generosity.

How he would take Jamie and brother Brett on the road during summers, fly home between series to see them, get big-leaguers to help them (unsuccessfully) with their skills.

How on a rare off night at home he would visit with umps working minor-league games at Al Lang Stadium, giving them advice, encouragement and some money for a good meal.

Laughs were plentiful, too, going over the steady stream of teasing Mr. McKean and the boys engaged in until the end, his rather interesting sense of fashion, his fascination with, of all things, pro wrestling.

Holy Family Rev. Craig Morley said the measure of a person is how many people they affected, and he looked out over the pews filled with doctors, lawyers, police officers, baseball personnel and more to make his point obvious.

Jamie gave a more personal example. When he and Brett were kids and went to doctors for shots, their dad would squeeze their hand so they were distracted from the discomfort.

In trying to find reason for Mr. McKean’s unexpected passing, Jamie shared Monday that he recently was diagnosed with a form of cancer, and had had surgery the day before his father died.