Dolly Stark (umpire)
American baseball umpire (1897–1968)
Albert D. "Dolly" Stark (November 4, 1897 – August 24, 1968) was an American umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the National League from 1928 to 1935 and from 1937 to 1940. Stark was the first Jewish umpire in modern baseball.
Early life
Stark was born to a working-class Jewish family in Manhattan's Lower East Side. Stark's father died when he was young and his mother became blind, and Stark was taken into a home for homeless children after being found sleeping on the street by a policeman. After leaving the home, Stark attempted to earn money for his family through playing baseball, and was nicknamed "Dolly" in a reference to Monroe "Dolly" Stark, an unrelated player for the Brooklyn Superbas. He was childhood friends with future Major League player Al Schacht.
Stark played second base for several semipro and minor league teams, including the Newark Bears, Kitchener Beavers, Dallas Submarines and Jersey City Skeeters. He attended tryouts for the New York Yankees and Washington Senators, but failed both, in part due to his weight of only 115 pounds (52 kg).
Clyde Engle was the athletic director at the University of Vermont in 1921 when the baseball team needed an umpire for the season. Engle wrote his friend Stark and invited him to take the position.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Dolly Stark (umpire)” as american baseball umpire (1897–1968). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as american baseball umpire (1897–1968). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 20, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q5289357. The first chronological checks are 1897, 1968, 1928 and 1935.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Dolly Stark (umpire)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Dolly Stark (umpire) primary sources, Dolly Stark (umpire) archive and Dolly research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Dolly Stark (umpire)”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Dolly Stark (umpire)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.