Jim McKean Inducted into FSL Hall of Fame

The Florida State League inducted alumnus and 28-year AL and MLB umpire Jim McKean into its Hall of Fame. McKean umpired in the FSL from 1970 to 1971 and eventually joined the American League staff in 1973.

A member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the Quebec native also worked as a junior hockey referee and played in the Canadian Football League as a quarterback and punter (Montreal Alouettes, 1965-65; Saskatchewan Roughriders, 1966 [won the CFL's Grey Cup {championship}]) before his MiLB career, and joined the MLB league office in 2002 as an umpire supervisor. After leaving that post, McKean took a job with ESPN as an umpire consultant.

Jim McKean adds FSL to his awards repertoire.

As a Major Leaguer, McKean officiated three American League Division Series (1981, 95, 99), five American League Championship Series (1977, 83, 87, 91, 98), and three World Series (1979, 85, 95), in addition to three All-Star Games (1980, 82, 93).

NDG Baseball (Little League affiliate in Montreal) previously honoured McKean with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.

McKean was the last full-time umpire from Canada until Stu Scheurwater (Saskatchewan) joined the staff prior to the 2018 season.

McKean joins fellow FSL Hall of Famer umpires Phil Cuzzi (inducted 2009), Harry Wendelstedt (2009), Ed Hickox (2010), Jeff Nelson (2011), Brian Gorman (2012), Jerry Layne (2013), Randy Marsh (2014), Richie Garcia (2015), John Hirschbeck (2016), and Jerry Crawford (2017); FSL has selected an umpire every year since the Hall of Fame was founded in 2009.