Gerald William Meals (born October 20, 1961) is an American retired Major League Baseball umpire. After serving as an NL reserve umpire from 1992 to 1997, he became a full-time umpire in 1998. Meals was promoted to crew chief in 2015, and worked the World Series in 2014 and 2020. He retired following the 2022 season. Early life and career Meals was a 1979 graduate of Salem High School, where he played second base and briefly competed on the wrestling team. After umpiring local baseball for four years, Meals graduated from the Joe Brinkman Umpire School in 1983. At age 21, Meals received his first minor league umpiring assignment in the Class A Appalachian League. By 1985, Meals had moved to the South Atlantic League, where he was partnered with 20-year-old future MLB umpire Wally Bell. While working in the Southern League in 1989, Meals was featured in an ESPN documentary on minor league umpires. His family and fellow umpires Chris Jaksa and Fieldin Culbreth also appeared in the film. Meals worked in Triple-A baseball (Triple-A Alliance and the International League) from 1990 to 1997 before receiving a full-time promotion to the major leagues. Meals spent the 2014 season as an interim crew chief while regular crew chief Gary Darling was on the Disabled List. Meals was officially promoted to permanent crew chief upon Darling's retirement. Notable games In his first full-time MLB season, Meals was the home plate umpire when Kerry Wood tied a major league record with 20 strikeouts in a 1998 game. Meals was struck in the mask by a Wood fastball on his first pitch of the game, but was not injured. In Game 2 of the 2010 American League Division Series between the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays, Meals was involved in a controversial call of a checked swing by Michael Young. Replays on television appeared to show that Young had gone around on his swing, but when asked for an appeal, Meals ruled that Young had held up, and Young's at bat stayed alive. One pitch later, Young hit a 3-run home run to put Texas ahead 5–0. The Rangers won the game 6–0, and won the series 3 games to 2, ending Tampa Bay's season. Rays manager Joe Maddon came out to argue the play and was ejected from the game. On May 7, 2011, Meals worked behind the plate for Justin