Wally Bell, a Major League Baseball umpire since 1993, died Monday at a Youngstown, Ohio, hospital after suffering a massive heart attack last weekend, according to multiple media reports. He was 48.
Last week, Bell was part of the umpiring crew in the National League Division Series as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in five games.
Fellow umpire John Hirschbeck told WFJM-TV in Youngstown that Bell was one on his dearest friends.
“We worked together for 11 years,” Hirschbeck said. “He was like to a son to me, my wife Denise, very dear friend. It’s devastating. Wally was one of the first to call me and congratulate me on working the World Series.”
Bell was on the World Series umpiring crew in 2006, and he worked the 1997 and 2000 All-Star Games. In nine other seasons, including 2013, he worked in a league championship series or a division series.
He had open-heart surgery in 1999 and subsequently volunteered for the American Heart Association, according to multiple media reports.