Klem was born on February 22, 1874 in the "Dutchtown" area of Rochester, New York. He had changed the spelling of his last name from "Klimm" to "Klem" because he thought it had a better sound. Klem pursued a baseball career as a catcher until he sustained an arm injury. He then worked as a bartender and traveled through the Northeast building bridges. He decided to pursue umpiring after reading a newspaper article about major league umpire Silk O\'Loughlin.\n', '

His umpiring career began in the Connecticut League in 1902. That year, Klem had a run-in with league secretary and team manager Jim O\'Rourke after Klem ejected one of the manager\'s players. O\'Rourke threatened that Klem would not umpire another game in the league, but Klem responded, "Maybe so, but I\'ll umpire this one."\n', '

He worked in the New York State League the following year. Klem spent the 1904 season in the American Association before joining the NL in 1905.\n', '

Return to Bill Klem Autograph Profile