On This Date in Sports August 10, 1998: Father and Son in Blue

It is a special day for longtime National League Umpire Harry Wendelstedt in his final season as he works behind home plate in a game between the San Diego Padres and Atlanta Braves at Qualcomm Stadium. The second base umpire for the game is his son Hunter Wendelstedt, a minor league umpire serving as vacation relief. Father and son worked as umpires together for the first time in baseball history.

Harry Wendelstedt was known for his umpiring school in Ormond Beach, Florida. The school was founded and run by Bill McGowan in 1938. After McGowan passed away, it was run by Al Somers, who mentored Wendelstedt, who took over the school in 1977. The school has trained more umpires who have worked in the majors than any other umpiring schools combined. Among the umpires trained was Harry Hunter Wendelstedt III, born June 22, 1971, and followed in his father’s footsteps.

Assigned mainly to the Pacific Coast League in 1998, Hunter Wendelstedt was one of several vacation relief umpires that would be called up during the season. In a Tuesday Night Game in San Diego, he got to work on his father’s crew as the Padres beat the Braves 3-1 in what would be a preview of that October’s NLCS. It was the first time in the history of Major League Baseball that father and son were on the same umpiring crew. The historic familial moment came not too soon, as Harry Wendelstedt Sr., the patriarch of the Wendelstedt family, died a few days later after seeing his son and grandson make history.

The 1998 season would be the final for Harry Wendelstedt, who retired after 33 years to run his school full time, while Hunter Wendelstedt has served as an umpire in MLB ever since, as umpires have been under the control of MLB since 2000 after being under the control of the leagues. In his 20 years in blue, Hunter Wendelstedt has worked the 2011 All-Star Game, the 2014 World Series, and four League Championship Series in 2006, 2015, 2017, and 2018.

Hunter Wendelstedt has taken over his father’s famous umpiring school, running it since he passed away in 2012.