One of the most famous umpires, O’Day spent most of his playing career as a pitcher, suffering three 20-loss seasons. His best year was his last, when he had a 23-15 season for New York of the of the Player’s league in 1890. He umpired for 35 years in the NL, only two fewer than Bill Klem. Only Klem worked in more WS games than O’Day’s ten. Tom Connolly and O’Day were chosen to umpire the first WS in 1903. In a career that spanned five decades, perhaps O’Day’s two most memorable incidents occurred in 1908, when he was the senior umpire who called Fred Merkle‘s blunder, and in 1920, when he was the second-base umpire as Bill Wambsganss executed the only unassisted triple play in WS history.
