Art Passarella

Arthur Matthew Passarella (December 23, 1909 – October 12, 1981) was an American major league baseball umpire and actor. He worked in the American League from 1941 to 1942, and again from 1945 to 1953. He missed two years due to military service in World War II. Passarella umpired 1,668 major league games in his career. He umpired in three World Series (1945, 1949 and 1952) and two All-Star Games (1947 and 1951). He appeared in several television shows, including The Streets of San Francisco, Home Run Derby, Ironside, and Sea Hunt, and in the movie That Touch of Mink.

Passarella's professional umpiring career began in the 1930s with the Cotton States League. After that league dissolved, Passarella moved on to the Texas League. He umpired there for eight years before signing on to the American League.

Passarella joined the American League in 1941, then missed the 1943 and 1944 seasons due to service in the Army during World War II. He served as a plans and training clerk for a medical training battalion during the war, receiving a promotion from private first class to technician fifth grade. Passarella ran what is thought to be the first military umpire training school; it was conducted for members of his medical unit. In January 1945, Passarella received an Army discharge. Holding seniority over newer umpires in the American League, he regained his umpiring job, which he held until his resignation in 1953.

Passarella acted in numerous television shows, including Home Run Derby, Ironside, and Sea Hunt. He also appeared in the movie That Touch of Mink. He is best known for portraying Sergeant Sekulovich, a legman for Detective Mike Stone, played by Karl Malden, the in-joke being that Sekulovich was Malden's real surname.

He also made numerous uncredited appearances in the 1960s gangster series The Untouchables, usually as a hood or henchman of Frank Nitti (Bruce Gordon) or other Chicago hoods.

Passarella died of a heart attack in Hemet, California in 1981. He was 71 years old.