In yesterday’s column, I wrote about some pretty brutal calls made by umpires this season, which have in some cases greatly affected the outcomes of games. I wonder, will these blown calls be so bad that they join the group of stinkers I am about to share with you? Well, read on and judge for yourself with some of Major League Baseballs worst calls by its umpires…
We first look at game six of the World Series in 1985 between the St Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals. In the bottom of the 9th the Royals were losing 1-0 and the Cardinals were a few outs away from winning the World Series. Jorge Orta hit a routine ground ball that was an easy out. The problem was the first base umpire, Don Denkinger, called Orta safe even though every camera angle shown during the game proved he was clearly out and that Cards pitcher Todd Worrell had beaten him to the bag. There were many arguments to no avail as Denkinger did not change the call. Denkinger only admitted that he erred after the Commissioner at the time, Peter Ueberroth, showed him he was wrong. The Royals scored two runs and won the game tying the series 3-3, and ultimately won it all in game seven.
Game 1 of the 1996 American League Championship Series was one of those games where everyone who was not a New York Yankees fan wished instant replay was around! The Yankees were down 4-3 to the Baltimore Orioles in the bottom of the 8th when a rookie shortstop at the time named Derek Jeter hit a ball to the right field fence. A young fan, Jeffrey Maier, reached over the fence and caught the ball, which was clearly fan interference. Replays showed that had Maier not interfered it was likely that Orioles Outfielder Tony Torasco would make the catch. Unfortunately, right field Umpire Rich Garcia felt it was not fan interference and called it a homerun, which of course tied the game. The Yankees wound up winning the game in extra innings and went on to win the series 4 games to 1.
In 1983, a game that pitted the Yankees versus the Royals had a very unique end, which of course was affect by the umpire. This ump was Tim McClelland, a name you should not forget too quickly. The Royals were down 4-3 to the Yanks, and there was a man on first for the Royals with two outs in the top of the 9th. George Brett hit a two run homerun giving the Royals the lead, 5-4. The manager of the Yankees was Billy Martin, who seemed to notice that Brett had too much pine tar on his bat (which was used to give the batter a better grip on the bat). The rule of course was that the bat should be taken away from the batter because if there was too much pine tar and it hits the ball, the ball will not be allowed to be pitched again. Martin argued with McClelland to look at the bat, which he did and in the end agreed there was too much pine tar. McClelland nullified the homerun and called Brett out – game over, a win in favor of the Yankees. This would not be the end of the pine tar incident, as the Royals protested the call and won the case. The game was replayed (from the moment of Brett’s Homer, and counting the HR), and in the end the Royals won 5-4 over the Yankees.
Tim McClelland would cause more controversy in 2007 in a game between the Colorado Rockies and the San Diego Padres. The two teams finished tied for the National League Wild Card , and the Game was the 163rd game of the season – a tie-breaker between the clubs. Colorado was losing 8-6 in the bottom of the 13th inning, but the game was tied thanks to a Matt Holliday triple, tying it 8-8 with Holiday on third. After the Padres walked Todd Helton, Jamey Carroll was at bat and hit a line drive to Brian Giles, which was caught. Holliday made a run for it to home to win the game. Catcher Michael Barrett was blocking the plate as the ball landed right in front of him. Holliday slid home and after a bit of a delay, McClelland called him safe. The problem was he never touched home plate and even Holliday thought he had missed the plate. The Rockies of course won the game 9-8 in the end. Another blown call by McClelland, and this was also the year the Rockies made it all the way to the World Series.
Blue Jays fans will remember the triple play that never was in the 1992 World Series Game 3 between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Atlanta Braves. The Jays almost made it in the history books by getting a triple play in the World Series – they didn’t get it but they would be in the history books for this. In the fourth inning with Deion Sanders and Terry Pendleton on with nobody out in the inning, David Justice hit a ball deep into the outfield. Devon White made a leaping catch to record the out. While White crashed into the wall during the catch, Pendleton ran past Sanders leading to an automatic out. Two outs down and one more to go, Sanders got stuck between third and second base, Jays’ Kelly Gruber had the ball and started to chase Sanders lunging at him and tagging him with the ball. Bob Davidson, the umpire, called Sanders safe at second, which was ridiculous because every camera proved it was the wrong call and that Sanders should have been out. The Jays won that game and the World Series in the end. That missed call is one of the most historical World Series blown calls as it took away the a triple play in the World Series, something that was only accomplished once, in 1920*. (thanks to reader Josh for bringing it up)
The final blown umpire blown call will probably be the most famous blown call in the last few seasons – the imperfect game. June 2nd, 2010 Armando Galarraga was on his way to perfection against the Cleveland Indians. The Detroit Tigers were leading 3-0 in the top with 26 batters faced and retired, and Galarraga had one more batter to face – Jason Donald. He hit a routine ground ball, which was thrown to Miguel Cabrera and was clearly the final out of the game, but of course as we all know Jim Joyce called Donald safe, conseqently ruining the kid’s shot at a perfect game. Joyce tearfully acknowledged the fact that he was wrong and asked for forgiveness, which Galarraga was kind enough to give. Right now Galarraga is a relief pitcher in Houston and has not had a storybook career, but his name and Jim Joyce will be in the history books for decades.
There you have it ladies and gentlemen, some of the worst calls made by major league umpires. There are tonnes of other bad calls that have happened in the Majors, but these are some of the worst. Blown calls like these and the ones I mentioned from the last article prove that if instant replay was actually expanded, maybe just maybe more of the right calls could be made and the umpires could be treated a lot better. If not that, then at least with more instant replay the only real complaints from fans and players will be balls and strikes. Let us see what Major League officials will do; I personally believe when a new commissioner comes in, then things might actually change, but that is down the road of course.
Feel Free to leave comments below. You can follow me on twitter @NVincelli, and follow the site @lastwordonsport.
Interested in writing for LastWordOnSports? Find more info at our “Join Our Team” page.
