Inductee was Well-Respected

   Nestor Chylak was well-respected during his career as a major league umpire as Baltimore Sun columnist Bob Maisel described when Chylak died in 1982.

   Maisel wrote:

   "If you're like I am, so often when you hear of someone's death, you sit there and wonder why you didn't tell him when he was still alive how, great you thought he was at his profession.

   "That happened to me again Wednesday, when the sports wire carried the story that Nestor Chylak had died of a heart attack at age 59.

   "In my time around baseball, Nestor Chylak was the best umpire I ever saw, and I regret not having told him so.   He is the kind of guy who would have appreciated it, even coming from a mere sports writer.

   "Chylak was an umpire's umpire, a player's umpire, and a management's umpire in one package.  He knew his job and was good at it, and had tremendous confidence in his ability to handle whatever came up.   What he had that a lot of other umpires lack was common sense, an appreciation of what he was out there for.  He didn't try to be the show.  All he wanted to do was call the plays right, keep the game moving and handle the situations as they arose so that others could furnish the show."