Quote:
Originally posted by Ump20
One of the victims when the Board was sanitized is the following situation. Although I am in agreement with Warren and ascribe to a certain umpire's List of Five Exceptions this play seems to be a case where a jusgement call was changed after it was final.
I came across the following situation in Baseball By The Rules Pine Tar, Spitballs, and Midgets "..The score was 1-0 Boston in the bottom of the fourth. Oil Can Boyd was doing the pitching honors for the Red Sox, and the Angels had two out and two men on: outfielder Brian Downing on first and first baseman Wally Joyner on second. Third baseman Doug DeCinces came to the plate and hit what Jim Palmer called a pool cue shot the ball meandered down the first baseline and bounded off the bag into fair territory. By the time Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner caught up with the bouncing ball, his play was at the plate, where Wally Joyner was preparing to score. Buckner fired the ball to catcher Rich Gedman. It was a close call, but plate umpire Terry Cooney made it: safe.
Red Sox Manager John McNamara argued the call, and Oil Can was predictably perturbed, but its unlikely that even they could have predicted what happened next: Terry Cooney had second thoughts, conferred with third base ump Richie Garcia, and changed his call. Joyner was out.
This time Angels manager Gene Mauch argued the call and then some, but he didnt get a new call for his trouble. He got thrown out of the game. (However, he did get some satisfaction later, when the Angels won the game, 5-3.)
Interviewed after the eventful game, umpires Cooney and Garcia explained what happened. Cooney said that because hed gone to cover the play at first, he was able to see that Gedman had the ball in time, but he wasnt sure Gedman had actually tagged Joyner. He called the runner safe. When McNamara and virtually the entire Red Sox bench came at him, Cooney decided to check with Garcia.
Garcia said that Cooney didnt ask him to make a call or to decide whether Joyner had beaten the tag; Cooney simply wanted to know whether or not there had been [EMPHASIS] a tag. Garcia answered in no uncertain terms-there had definitely been a tag. The umpiring teamwork resulted in a reversed call
. (pg 204-205 book by Glen Waggoner, Kathleen Moloney, and Hugh Howard).
I do not recall the play that well. I was not yet an umpire. I do remember many thought Oil Can should have been ejected albeit it was a league playoff game. Heaven forbid but this seems to support the EWS crew in that the call was made after a final judgment and based upon a managers complaint. I also know that a year or two ago a MLB ump [Frank Pulli] went on his own to a video replay on I think was a homerun call so MLB umps are not infallible or without mistake. Jim Simms/NY
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Having been a lifelong Red Sox fan (feel for me, fellas,) I
do remember this game, this call, and this situation.
"Oil Can" Boyd was a big celebrity around here back then, having been promoted directly from the Pawtucket Red Sox at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, RI, where I saw him pitch on several occasions, just 20 minutes from my home.
The call should never have been changed.
I remember getting the feeling from this play that the Red Sox got away with one. The replays did not conclusively show whether Joyner had been tagged in time or not.
As to whether or not this changed call was legal, no one was able to find out. The Angels
did protest, but since they eventually won the game, the protest never made it to the Commissioner's Office.
By the way, this series was one of the highlights of my childhood relationship with Major League Baseball. It was a good one.
Oh, how I wish now, looking back on it, that Bill Buckner had pulled a hammie or something in this game.
Concerning Buckner's infamous misplay in Game 6 of the World Series against the New York Mets in this same year, rumor has it that he was so distraught over making that error, immediately following the game he walked out onto Yawkey Way and stepped in front of a bus.
The bus went right through his legs.