Onetime nightclub comedian Stello first got interested in umpiring when he attended the George Barr umpiring clinic in Tokyo while he was in the Air Force. Ten years later, in 1963, he became a professional umpire in the Georgia-Florida League. He rose rapidly, reaching the NL in 1968. He was the second base umpire on September 10, 1974, when the Cardinals Lou Brock broke Maury Wills‘s single-season base stealing record by swiping number 105 against the Phillies.
