Bucknor, Cuzzi pay the price

[jkumpire]

This is a shame IMO.

After the regular season body of work that gets an umpire into the playoffs, it seems pretty rough to dump as guy because he made a bad call or two on TV. Even if the call is awful, one call does not a season make.

Some or most of the stuff going on around around these gross misses by MLB umpires is very justified. But if umpire X is good enough for a playoff series, he should be good enough for a WS assignment, even if he blows a call in the DS.

Now, I was too busy working games to see a lot of the DS's, but my impression is that none of these blown calls meant one team lost a game or a series. Even the misses in game 4 of the ALCS meant nothing to the game's ultimate outcome. If Tim C gets both calls right is the score 11-1 instead of 10-1? So what?

Don Denkinger's famous miss at 1B in game 6 of the 85 WS for the Royals is the only gross missed call that cost a team a game in a playoff or WS I can remember. Please pass along others if you remember them.

I get the feeling these two MLB umpires got dumped because MLB is trying to get the press off its back about the calls. If they were dumped from the WS crew because they were graded lower than other guys in the DS's, fine. But it sounds like from what I read, these guys are the people MLB is throwing into the jaws of the "gator" so MLB is the last one eaten alive by the press.

But having said all that, it is discouraging that the guys at the top of the profession are making themselves look bad in front of millions of people.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by jkumpire

Don Denkinger's famous miss at 1B in game 6 of the 85 WS for the Royals is the only gross missed call that cost a team a game in a playoff or WS I can remember.

Wrong. The Cardinals' piss-poor performance cost them game 6 and 7. Not the call.

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by Matt

Wrong. The Cardinals' piss-poor performance cost them game 6 and 7. Not the call.

His call in game 6 caused the Cards total collapse in game 7?

WOW!

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Rich Ives

His call in game 6 caused the Cards total collapse in game 7?

WOW!

Don't you know? Denkinger put on Joaquin Andujar's uniform and smashed a urinal after getting pulled down 11-0 in the fifth inning. Or was he Bret Saberhagen tossing a 5-hitter?

[Fan10]

Originally Posted by jkumpire

Don Denkinger's famous miss at 1B in game 6 of the 85 WS for the Royals is the only gross missed call that cost a team a game in a playoff or WS I can remember. Please pass along others if you remember them.

Rich Garcia not calling fan interference on Jeter's fly ball that was turned into a home run.

[grunewar]

Originally Posted by Fan10

Rich Garcia not calling fan interference on Jeter's fly ball that was turned into a home run.

and the Baltimore Orioles were never the same after that 1996 incident......and it still stands to this day......

An interesting update on Mr. Jeffrey Maier from Wikipedia

In 2006, he became Wesleyan University's career hits leader and was featured on ESPN. The New York Times reported that Maier hoped for a career in baseball. That spring, the Washington Post and MLB.com reported that, ironically, the Baltimore Orioles might draft him----though the team denied ever having an interest in him. [7] Maier was also invited to a tryout for a number of prospects, held by the New York Yankees. However, he was not selected by any team in the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by jkumpire

After the regular season body of work that gets an umpire into the playoffs, it seems pretty rough to dump as guy because he made a bad call or two on TV. Even if the call is awful, one call does not a season make.

Some or most of the stuff going on around around these gross misses by MLB umpires is very justified. But if umpire X is good enough for a playoff series, he should be good enough for a WS assignment, even if he blows a call in the DS.

And for the teams too. Just because they got beaten in the first round is no reason to ban them from the second round. Right?

Basketball and football officials have to earn their way to the next round. Why should MLB do it differently?

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by jkumpire

....but my impression is that none of these blown calls meant one team lost a game or a series. ...

How can you say that? Cuzzi's blown call cost the Twins the chance to stage a comeback from a piss-poor performance! It was all Cuzzi's fault!

Seriously, though, whether or not this is a PR move by MLB, it was needed, IMO. So far, the post season is being remembered more for the umpires' blown calls than the players' great plays.

[UMP25]

Originally Posted by jkumpire

But if umpire X is good enough for a playoff series, he should be good enough for a WS assignment, even if he blows a call in the DS.

Bucknor isn't unfit for just the division series or the World Series, he's unfit for MLB period.

He is truly an awful, awful umpire, and if anyone thinks he got to the majors because he was better than Umpire X in MiLB, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. CB is one of the few umpires who should actually be fired.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by UMP25

He is truly an awful, awful umpire... CB is one of the few umpires who should actually be fired.

People said the same about Hernandez a couple years ago. Look at what he's been able to do.

[UMP25]

What's that ole saying about a person rising to a level of his own incompetence?

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by UMP25

What's that ole saying about a person rising to a level of his own incompetence?

I don't know if it's an ole (or olé?) saying, but you might be referring to the Peter Principle. I don't see how that's relevant to my point, which was that an apparently awful umpire can sometimes turn things around when suitably motivated.

I would also say that if Hernandez had the chance to turn it around, then in fairness Bucknor deserves the same chance. If he can't do it, then he should go. Unlike federal judges, lifetime tenure is not a condition of their doing their job properly.

[jkumpire]

Originally Posted by UMP25

Bucknor isn't unfit for just the division series or the World Series, he's unfit for MLB period.

He is truly an awful, awful umpire, and if anyone thinks he got to the majors because he was better than Umpire X in MiLB, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. CB is one of the few umpires who should actually be fired.

You may well be right, but you and I are not the ones who put him MLB, nor are we the people who evaluate him every year. He is considered by the people who hire the umpires one of the best in the world, or he wouldn't be there.

Like or not, that's the bottom line, and the other bottom line is that he may well have been on the WS crew until the MLB office got scared (my opinion) of all the bad pub they were getting.

[UMP25]

Originally Posted by jkumpire

He is considered by the people who hire the umpires one of the best in the world, or he wouldn't be there.

If you think he made it to MLB because he was "one of the best in the world," or that he still retains his position because he's "one of the best in the world," you're rather naive, with all due respect.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by UMP25

If you think he made it to MLB because he was "one of the best in the world," or that he still retains his position because he's "one of the best in the world," you're rather naive, with all due respect.

Go ahead, tell him why....go ahead, it's okay.