Edwin William Hickox (born July 31, 1962) is an American umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the American League from 1990 to 1999 and throughout both major leagues beginning in 2005. He wears uniform number 15 (he wore uniform number 39 during his American League tenure). Hickox has officiated the Division Series in 2007, 2010, 2012, and 2019 and 2020, as well as the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. He was rated the worst home plate umpire in MLB for balls and strikes in 2021. Early life Hickox became an Eagle Scout in 1979. He graduated from DeLand High School and St. Johns River Community College, where he played baseball. He completed training at the Harry Wendelstedt Umpire School in 1983. Career Hickox went on to umpire for several of baseball's minor leagues, and worked regularly as a substitute in the AL before his formal promotion to the league's staff in 1999. He resigned his position following the 1999 season as part of a failed union bargaining strategy; he worked in the minor leagues before becoming an MLB reserve umpire in 2005 following the adoption of a new union contract. He returned as a full member of the major league staff in 2007. Hickox worked the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006. He also worked the 2009 and 2013 World Baseball Classics. Hickox is known for wearing his plate coat over his chest protector when he works the plate, forgoing the pullover shirt or pullover jacket. He also wears the new hockey-style mask, and is one of the only two MLB umpires to wear a hat underneath it (the other being Kerwin Danley). A Hardball Times report listed Hickox as having one of the smallest strike zones in baseball during the 2011 season. As of 2018, Hickox had umpired 2,418 MLB regular season games (593 of which were plate appearances) and 12 MLB playoff games (0 plate). Injuries Hickox sustained several significant injuries throughout his career, notably while serving as a home plate umpire. On May 14, 2005, Hickox suffered an "inner ear injury including concussion and several broken [facial] bones" while wearing a Wilson-manufactured "sample" mask that Hickox alleged was defective, filing a lawsuit against the manufacturer for failing to inform Hickox that his product had not been tested with the same stringency given to other hockey style face masks. Hickox won the lawsuit against Wilson