Jim Honochick

Honochick was the crew chief who declared that the Washington Senators forfeit its last game in 1971, played at home at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. on September 30) because a mob, furious that the franchise was relocating to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex the next season, stormed the playing field with the team only one out away from victory. He was the only MLB umpire to travel with the Baltimore Orioles on its tour of Japan later that year in October and November.^[2]

During the mid-1970s, Honochick was one of the many professional sports-related celebrities who became spokespeople for Lite Beer from Miller. His first commercial played up the clichéd notion, usually bellowed out by hecklers, that umpires should get glasses because of questionable calls made on the field having been caused by poor eyesight. In it, he helped to promote the product without realizing who the other pitchman in the ad was. After putting on spectacles, he immediately noticed who it was, exclaiming, "Hey! You're Boog Powell!"^[3] This theme continued to be used in subsequent Miller Lite spots.

• Career statistics and umpire information from The Baseball Cube, or Retrosheet
• Jim Honochick at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
• Jim Honochick at Find a Grave
• Jim Honochick Obituary at Morning Call Newspapers, by Keith Groller
• Jim Honochick Oral History Interview (1 of 3) - National Baseball Hall of Fame Digital Collection Archived July 12, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
• Jim Honochick Oral History Interview (2 of 3) - National Baseball Hall of Fame Digital Collection Archived July 12, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
• Jim Honochick Oral History Interview (3 of 3) - National Baseball Hall of Fame Digital Collection Archived July 12, 2019, at the Wayback Machine