Thursday, October 23, 2008

Charles Hum, Baseball Scout Worked for Browns and Phillies

Charles Hum scoured ball yards in Chicago and throughout the Midwest in search of baseball talent as a scout for major-league teams, starting with the old St. Louis Browns.

Mr. Hum, 90, died, apparently of a heart attack, Sunday, Oct. 19, in the home in Chicago's Northwest Side Dunning neighborhood where he had lived since 1926, said his son Patrick.

He started umpiring for $2.50 a game, double that if his partner didn't show up, and in 1949 became a scout for the hapless Browns in the American League.