NEW YORK (AP) — Stu Scheurwater has been hired by Major League Baseball to fill the opening on its umpire staff created by Dale Scott's retirement.
The 34-year-old Scheurwater had been a minor league umpire since 2007, worked big league spring training for the first time in 2013 and has appeared in 268 regular-season big league games as a call-up.
Scheurwater is from Regina, Saskatchewan, and becomes the first Canadian umpire on the full-time staff since Jim McKean from 1974-2001.
Mark Wegner, a 19-year veteran, replaces Scott as a crew chief, the commissioner's office said Friday.
Scott said in December he was retiring rather than risk another concussion. He missed nearly all of last season after a foul ball off the bat of Baltimore's Mark Trumbo caught him hard in the mask on April 14, causing Scott's second concussion in nine months and fourth in five years.
FILE - In this Sept. 21, 2015, file photo, umpire Stu Scheurwater signals during the eighth inning of the first game of a baseball doubleheader between the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago White Sox, Monday, Sept. 21, 2015, in Detroit. Scheurwater has been hired by Major League Baseball to fill the opening on its umpire staff created by Dale Scott's retirement. The 34-year-old Scheurwater had been a minor league umpire since 2007, worked big league spring training for the first time in 2013 and has appeared in 268 regular-season big league games as a call-up. Scheurwater is from Regina, Saskatchewan, and becomes the first Canadian umpire on the full-time staff since Jim McKean from 1974-2001. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
Scott, who worked three World Series among 91 postseason games, came out as gay after the 2014 season.
___
More MLB baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.