Whining about a call 35 years later...
 

Interesting article I saw today about Bruce Froemming and his "Ball 4 call" to negate a Perfect Game back in 1972.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3019597

Congrats Bruce on your 50 year professional umpiring career!

for those that don't feel like reading the whole thing, it basically says that bruce should have called the last batter of the game out on strikes cuz the guy wanted his perfect game. good reasoning. not.

Yeah, i seen this on outside the lines on espn today. what a bunch of BS! bruce was 100% right.

Hey all,

My interpretation of the disgruntled pitcher:

"WAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!! I only threw a NO HITTER because of Bruce Frumm...., Fremm...., that stupid umpire! He should have known that I wanted the perfect game and GAVE IT TO ME!!!! WWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"

35+ years later, and still a rat!

LomUmp:cool:

I don't care how fat or pudgy Bruce is, heck he's always been a big boneded kind of guy.

I don't care that he now flinches at damn near anything up and in, as he has taken a pounding back there.

Bruce is still one heck of an umpire who has had a career of which we should all be envious.

Happy retirement to Bruce!

Lighten up. It's a time-honored tradition.

Yogi still insists Robinson was out.

Dodger fans still whine about the non-call on Reggie. (I still think Russell dropped the ball on purpose).

Cardinal fans still whine about Denkinger.

Red Sox fans still whine about the Armbrister/Fisk play.

The Hrbek play still gets press.

Oriole fans still whine about Maier.

Dodger fans still insist the last pitch to Dale Mitchell was a ball.

Then there's the annual LL umpire bashing during the regionals and WS - done by other umpires, not the rats.

Yeah, but Pappas is still bitter about it. 35 years later.

WGN TV had Pappas on earlier this season to talk about the game. He spent 90% of the interview bashing and ripping Froemming.

It was embarrassing to watch.

I watched the game on TV. The pitch was close enough to go either way. If Froemming had any class, he would have called it a strike. The pitch was closer than the third strike called on Larsen's perfecto.

Bob

Lame opinion, zebra
 

Bruce has plenty of class. He called the pitch a ball. It was outside of the zone he had been calling all game. Why should he have changed his corner just to please a rat? Pretty lame to blame Froemming for that.

From the article to now, I'm still trying to figure out why this has any relevance to what Froemming should have called.

How does anyone claim to know exactly where Larsen's last pitch was? The only angle I've ever seen of it is the overhead shot up behind the plate. You can't tell from that.

But you can tell something else:

The pitch is on the way.
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/303...0517298_rs.jpg
Dale Mitchell was a fine hitter. Does it look as if he is swinging at high pitch?
http://aycu02.webshots.com/image/286...9923118_rs.jpg

http://aycu25.webshots.com/image/301...3667858_rs.jpg
Does Yogi Berra appear to be catching a high pitch?
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/302...9731200_rs.jpg

http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/281...1810734_rs.jpg
Hmmm. Did he go?
http://aycu09.webshots.com/image/264...0090611_rs.jpg

http://aycu32.webshots.com/image/295...0045206_rs.jpg

Strike 3.

We are calling pitches based on the level of class we have?

I will have to keep that in mind.

BTW, I saw the film of 3 pitches that he called balls and each pitch appeared to be outside. The angle was the same as the Larsen frames shown above. But the catcher had to reach for each of the pitches.

Peace

Thanks mule for posting those pics of Larsen...I agree w/ many of the posters on here...who cares where the pitch was...he swung.

Well....a few months ago it was announced that an almost complete copy of the TV kinescope had been found - maybe someday it will be put out on DVD/shown somewhere....

Aptly chosen handle, troll. Be gone.

If I were pitching a perfect game, I wouldn't want the umpire to give me a call. I'd want to know that I deserved the perfect game. (As a 15-year-old, I did get through 22 batters in a school game before the 23rd batter got a single. Of course, that was the dead ball era, but that ump wasn't giving me anything.)

As an umpire, I would call the pitch as I saw it. A gift to the pitcher cheapens the value of a perfect game, just as handing out diplomas to illiterates cheapens the value of a degree.

And I've heard worse anti-Semitic comments from my Jewish business partner.

OK, no more feeding the troll.

That call that my man Bruce just made in the Padres/Brewers game was the absolute most brutal missed call I have EVER seen, and I've seen plenty (made a few too).

Jim Porter, please get a video of this. The runner was out by more than half a step. Froemming wasn't watching, he just assumed the runner was going to beat it out. I guess it really is time for him to hang it up.

Okay, now I'm whining about a call...but not 35 years later.