all observers. The following year, Gaffney was selected by the NL as one of the two umpires to work the 1887 series, along with Kick Kelly, who was regarded as the best umpire in the American Association from 1883 to 1886 before managing that league's Louisville team in 1887. The two worked out a system whereby one umpire would work behind home plate, calling balls and strikes, while the other positioned himself in the field to make calls on the bases. This format was a decided success, and although it was not until almost 1910 that two umpires per game became standard, it formed the basis for the multiple umpire systems which followed. Gaffney later umpired in the 1888 and 1889 championship series, and again for three games in the 1892 NL championship series, for a total of 37 postseason games – a 19th-century record. After the 1887 series, Gaffney and Kelly both returned to umpiring, although they switched leagues in the process – Kelly moved to the NL for the 1888 season, while Gaffney switched to the American Association for 1888–89, where he received a salary of $2,500 plus road expenses, making him easily the best-paid umpire. In the American Association, Gaffney pioneered the practice of moving from behind the catcher to behind the pitcher when a batter reached first base, a crucial move in the days of solitary umpires. He made other innovations, including calling balls fair or foul depending on where they cleared the fence rather than where they landed, and creating a shirt in which extra baseballs could be stored. After each season, he reported omissions and inadequacies in the rules to the league, and many of his suggested revisions were enacted. Mack, who was a rookie catcher for Gaffney's 1887 team and later caught for 5 years in which Gaffney umpired, described him as the perfect umpire; umpiring legend Bill Klem noted that he was the first to be widely called "King of Umpires". Gaffney moved to the Players' League for its sole season in 1890 before returning to the NL in September 1891. The stress of 19th century umpiring, when players and fans demonstrated tremendous abusiveness and hostility toward the lone umpires, began to take its toll, however, and Gaffney was released by the NL after the 1893 season due to his increasing drinking. After beginning 1894 in the Eastern League, he returned to