Obituary: Former top ump Palermo, 67, cheated death after 1991 shooting
Steve Palermo, a major-league umpire whose career was ended when he was shot in the back while attempting to break up a mugging in 1991, has died, Major League Baseball announced on Sunday.
Palermo, a Kansas City, Mo., resident, made his major-league debut in 1976 and was a full-time member of the American League staff from 1977 to 1991. He worked the 1983 World Series, the 1986 all-star game and four American League Championship Series. Palermo was 67. “I remember when he came up,” hall of fame third baseman George Brett said. “It didn’t take him long to become one of the finest umpires in the game.”
His on-field career ended on July 7, 1991, when he was shot in the back while coming to the aid of a robbery victim in the parking lot of a Dallas restaurant.
Two waitresses were being mugged across the street. Palermo and two friends rushed out the door. Two muggers took off in a car. Palermo and another man chased the third mugger down on foot. They had him on the ground. Then the car came back. Gunfire blasted out, and five shots were fired.
One bullet missed. Palermo’s friends took three, including one in the jaw. One bullet sliced into Palermo’s waist, bounced off a kidney and went through his abdomen, breaking bone and pushing into the spinal cord. It missed killing him by one millimetre.
Doctors told Palermo he wouldn’t walk again. His umpiring career was over, but Palmero recovered, walking with the use of a cane.
He threw out the first pitch of Game 1 of the 1991 World Series and remained active in baseball.
He was recognized at the 2012 all-star game in Kansas City, Mo., his adopted hometown.
“I was determined to get back as much of my health as possible,” Palermo told the Kansas City Star before the all-star game. “That’s important. To be determined and have determination. If I can inspire (some people) with that, then great.”