Lon Warneke

Who was Lon Warneke?

Lonnie Warneke, nicknamed the "The Arkansas Hummingbird", was a Major League Baseball player, Major League umpire, county judge, U.S. military serviceman, and businessman from Montgomery County, Arkansas, whose career won-loss record as a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals was 192–121.

Warneke pitched for the National League in the first Major League Baseball All-Star Game in 1933, hitting the first triple and scoring the first National League run in All-Star game history. He pitched in two other All-Star Games and was also selected in 1939 and 1941.

Warneke pitched in two World Series for the Cubs, compiling a record of 2–1, 2.63. He pitched a no-hitter for the Cardinals on August 30, 1941; opened the 1934 season with back to back one-hitters; and set a Major League Baseball fielding record for pitchers of 221 consecutive chances without an error, covering 154 games. After retiring as a player in 1945, Warneke was an umpire in the Pacific Coast League for three years and then in the National League from 1949 to 1955. Warneke is the only major leaguer who has both played and umpired in an All-Star Game and a World Series.