Former MLB umpire and El Segundo and El Camino graduate Derryl Cousins died Tuesday at 74 due to health complications, his brother Craig confirmed
Derryl Cousins was at his home in Bermuda Dunes when he died Monday morning.
Cousins was an umpire from 1979 and retired in 2012, he worked three World Series (1988, 1999 and 2005), three All-Star Games and seven league championship series. He served as crew chief for the 2012 season.
He was initially hired as a replacement umpire during the 1979 Major League umpires strike.
“He loved the lifestyle and he loved being around baseball,” his brother Craig said. “He was a football and baseball guy, but baseball was his No. 1 sport. When he wasn’t playing, the sport hadn’t left him and the only way to get back in it was to try and be an umpire and that’s the road he took.”
Cousins was on the job for several of baseball’s most memorable moments: Tom Seaver’s 300th career win in 1985, Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit home run in the 1988 World Series, Barry Bonds’ 755th career home run in 2007, Derek Jeter’s 3000th career hit in 2011 and the last game to be played at Yankee Stadium in 2008.
“He was a pitcher’s umpire, they loved him,” Craig said.
Cousins played minor league baseball before turning his attention toward umpiring.
At El Segundo, Cousins played baseball and football and was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2011. Cousins was the Daily Breeze all-area Co-baseball player of the year in 1964 and he went into the El Camino College Hall of Fame in 2004.
Both Derryl and his brother Craig played under legendary El Segundo coach John Stevenson. Craig also spent nearly 40 years as an assistant coach with Stevenson.
Craig said the plans will be for a memorial sometime in the Spring in El Segundo to honor his brother.
MLB is deeply saddened by the passing of 34-year Major League Umpire Derryl Cousins at 74. The Californian worked nearly 4,500 games & three World Series ('88, '99, '05). He was behind the plate for the White Sox clincher in '05 & the '08 ASG at Yankee Stadium (pictured below). pic.twitter.com/lSRd89ZsxW
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) October 20, 2020
