Paul Edward Nauert () (born July 7, 1963) is an American retired professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

umpire. He worked for the

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from 1995 to 1999 and for

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

from 2002 until his retirement in 2022. Nauert worked the

2017 World Series The 2017 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2017 season. The 113th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National League (NL) champion Los Angeles Dodgers and th ...

. Nauert graduated from the Harry Wendelstedt Umpires School in 1988, finishing at the top of his class. He later taught at the school. He also attended Jefferson Community College. Nauert worked in minor leagues in the

Appalachian League The Appalachian League is a Collegiate summer baseball, collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wooden ...

(1988),

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

(1989–1990),

Florida Instructional League The Florida Instructional League (FIL), sometimes known informally as "instructs", is an American professional baseball league. The league was founded in 1958. Young major league prospects hone their skills in the FIL, while experienced players may ...

(1988–1990), Southern League (1991–1992), and

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major ...

(1993–1998). He was the base umpire during the 27-inning, eight-hour-and-15-minute, Bluefield at Burlington game of June 24, 1988, that ended at 3:27 am the next morning. Nauert umpired his first

game on May 19, 1995. His father attended the game, sitting next to an empty seat reserved for Nauert's deceased mother. Nauert was one of 22 umpires whose resignations were accepted in 1999 as part of a failed union negotiating strategy. He later said the incident was personally devastating and almost led to him getting divorced. On being rehired in 2002, he became part of the Major League Baseball umpire staff. Nauert has worked the 2020 American League Wild Card Series, the

2004 American League Division Series The 2004 American League Division Series (ALDS), the opening round of the 2004 American League playoffs in Major League Baseball’s (MLB) 2004 postseason, began on Tuesday, October 5, and ended on Saturday, October 9, with the champions of the ...

(ALDS), the

2008 National League Division Series The 2008 National League Division Series (NLDS), the opening round of the 2008 National League playoffs, began on Wednesday, October 1 and ended on Sunday, October 5, with the champions of the three NL divisions and one wild card team participat ...

(NLDS), the 2010 NLDS, the 2013 NLDS, the 2014 ALDS, the 2016 National League Championship Series, and the 2017 NLDS. He was a part of the crew that worked both the MLB China Series, the first MLB games ever played in China, and the 2008 Japan Opening Series. Nauert also worked the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Nauert was known for having a large

strike zone In baseball, the strike zone is the area of space through which a pitch must pass in order to be called a strike even if the batter does not swing. The strike zone is defined as the volume of space above home plate and between the batter's kne ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

professor Mark T. Williams ranked Nauert the ninth worst umpire at calling balls and strikes in 2019. In 2020, Nauert's final year umpiring games, Williams' website UmpScores.com ranked Nauert the 11th worst umpire in the majors. Nauert is married with four children. He is a member of the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

References

External links

*Career umpiring information fro
MLB
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The Baseball Cube
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nauert, Paul 1963 births Living people Sportspeople from Louisville, Kentucky Major League Baseball umpires National League umpires

See also

References

External links