Hirschbeck World Series crew chief; Vanover has plate in opener

John Hirschbeck will be the umpire crew chief for the World Series and Larry Vanover will call balls and strikes for Game 1 (Lynne Sladky/AP)

CLEVELAND — John Hirschbeck will be the umpire crew chief for the World Series and Larry Vanover will call balls and strikes for Game 1.

Major League Baseball announced the seven-man crew Monday. The Series between the Chicago Cubs and Indians opens Tuesday night in Cleveland.

Four umpires will work the World Series for the first time — Vanover, Chris Guccione, Marvin Hudson and Tony Randazzo.

Joe West, in his record 39th straight year in the majors, and Sam Holbrook also are on the crew.

Holbrook will be the replay official for the first two games, then switch places with Vanover. Todd Tichenor will assist in the replay room.

This will be the sixth World Series for West and fifth for Hirschbeck, including three as crew chief. Holbrook is working his second Series.

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.