Dave Righetti's no-hitter against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. Palermo was one of the umpires who caught Minnesota Twin pitcher Joe Niekro in the act of scuffing a baseball on August 3, 1987 in a game at Anaheim Stadium. Steve Palermo provided the umpire's voice in Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball, a 1994 Super NES baseball video game. Palermo was frequently the target of fiery Baltimore Orioles' manager Earl Weaver's wrath. Jim Palmer, Hall of Fame Oriole pitcher, remembered that Weaver "second-, third-, and fourth-guessed every call Steve Palermo ever made in his whole career, which, by the law of averages seems a little harsh, since he had a one out of two chance on every pitch." 1991 shooting and recovery On July 7, 1991, he and several friends, including fellow umpire Rich Garcia, were dining after a Texas Rangers game when they were alerted that two waitresses were being mugged in the parking lot. In an attempt to apprehend the assailants, he suffered a bullet wound to his spinal cord, resulting in instant paralysis from the waist down. Palermo's umpiring career ended, and doctors told Palermo and his wife, Debbie, that he would probably never walk again. Through rehabilitation and determination, Palermo managed to recover, walking with the use of one small leg brace and a cane. He subsequently threw the ceremonial first pitch in Game 1 of the 1991 World Series, only three months after suffering his injury. Later life Bud Selig hired Palermo as a special assistant in 1994 and, in 2000, elevated him as a supervisor of umpiring for the league. From 1995 to 1997, Palermo worked part-time as an analyst for Yankees games on MSG Network. Palermo died on May 14, 2017, in Overland Park, Kansas at the age of 67, following a battle with lung cancer. Honors In 2003, Palermo began serving as the Honorary Chairman of Assurant Employee Benefits' WillReturn Council. The Council annually presents the Shining Star of Perseverance Award to individuals who overcome disabilities. Palermo was also an honorary inductee into the Perseverance Hall of Fame. In 1994, he won the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. Palermo served as honorary commissioner for the Tee Ball game at the White House on July 24, 2005, in which children with physical disabilities participated; the game was part of President George W. Bush's White House Tee Ball Initiative. At the 2012 All-Star