Harry Wendelstedt, 73, was an umpire in 5 World Series

By Bruce Weber / New York Times News Service

Published: March 10. 2012 4:00AM PST

Harry Wendelstedt, who was an umpire in five World Series during a 33-year major league career and who taught hundreds of aspiring professional umpires at his Florida school, died Friday in Daytona Beach, Fla., not far from Ormond Beach, Fla., where the school is based and where he lived. He was 73.

His son, Hunter, in confirming the death, said his father had been treated for a brain tumor.

Since 1960, Wendelstedt was one of only a handful of umpires to have worked as many as five World Series, and his resume includes two of the most memorable. In 1986, he was at third base in the sixth game when the New York Mets staged their scintillating two-out 10th-inning rally to tie the Series with the Boston Red Sox, and he was at second when they won it in Game 7. In 1991, he was at first base in the 10th inning of the seventh game when the Minnesota Twins scored the only run of the game to defeat the Atlanta Braves.

Wendelstedt also umpired in four All-Star games, seven NL Championship Series and three divisional series.

Only one umpire, Silk O’Loughlin, who worked in the early 20th century, was behind the plate for more no-hitters than Wendelstedt.

Wendelstedt spent his entire big league career in the National League, retiring in 1998, two seasons before umpires began working in both leagues. He arrived in 1966, when the National League staff was supervised by Cal Hubbard, a former football lineman who preferred his umpires to be over 6 feet and burly. Wendelstedt was. He was also one of the game’s most unassailable on-field authorities.