Ken Kaiser, 72; colorful former MLB umpire

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — Former major league umpire Ken Kaiser, a colorful figure between the lines who briefly moonlighted as a professional wrestler to make ends meet while working in the minor leagues, has died. He was 72.

The World Umpires Association said Thursday he died in his hometown of Rochester, New York, on Tuesday. Kaiser had diabetes for years.

An American League umpire from 1977- 99, Kaiser umpired two World Series, one All-Star Game and several playoff series.

The 6-foot-3 Kaiser, who wrote in his book, "Planet of the Umps: A Baseball Life from Behind the Plate," that when he graduated from high school in 1964 his "long- range plan was lunch." He weighed just under 300 pounds and often was criticized for that portly physique during the more than 3,000 big-league games he umpired.

Former Chicago White Sox announcer Jimmy Piersall once called him "a gutless, lazy whale," while fellow former umpire and mentor Ron Luciano described him as "like a barrel on which two arms had been stuck on backwards."

In his 2003 book, Kaiser wrote of his decade in the minor leagues and off-season jobs that included bar bouncer, bank teller, and that short stint as the wrestler dubbed "Hatchet Man."

In 1986, Kaiser was voted most colorful umpire in the American League in a poll from The Sporting News.

He is survived by two adult children. Funeral plans are incomplete.