It’s an end of an era for baseball in Estevan and southeast Saskatchewan.
Bob Burns has announced he is retiring from his umpiring commitments in the region. Burns was an umpire from 1951 to 2013. He has lived in Estevan since 1957 and the vast majority of the games he officiated were in the southeast region.
A back injury forced him to step away from active umpiring in 2013.
But he had remained active as a mentor and a leader for umpires. He was the umpire-in-chief for Estevan Minor Baseball and the Zone 1 representative for officials with Baseball Sask. since 1993.
Burns helped organize annual clinics in Estevan and other communities to make sure officials were trained and certified. He was also tasked with scheduling officials for Estevan Minor Baseball.
He recently announced his retirement from both Estevan Minor Baseball and Baseball Sask.
“I wanted to spend a little more time with the family and see the great-grandkids and grandkids,” he said. “I’ve put a lot of years in on the ball field helping kids.”
Burns was also a coach in Estevan for many years.
He was inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.
