Ed Sudol, 84; Umpire in Several Historic Baseball Games

Ed Sudol, 84, a major league baseball umpire for 20 years who worked a number of historic games, died Friday at a nursing home in Daytona Beach, Fla. The cause of death was not reported, but Sudol was known to have been battling Alzheimer’s disease.

Sudol was the home plate umpire on April 8, 1974, when Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run off Dodgers pitcher Al Downing to break the career record set by Babe Ruth.

Sudol also was behind the plate when Phillies pitcher Jim Bunning, now a U.S. senator from Kentucky, threw a perfect game against the New York Mets in 1964. He also umpired in the World Series in 1965, 1971 and 1977.

A native of Passaic, N.J., Sudol turned to umpiring after spending more than a decade as a minor league first baseman. He rose through the ranks and was hired as a National League umpire -- in his day each league had its own umpiring crew -- within four years.

“He was very much in control on the field,” former umpire Harry Weldelstedt told the Daytona Beach News Journal last year. “He was respected by managers and players.”