Your call decided the game, Blue!

[Dakota]

I know we've all have heard about the umpire being blamed for the outcome of the game; in fact, I would guess most of us have been accused of a game-deciding call. But this one takes the cake. I was googling for something else when this book came up in the search:
The Worst Call Ever!
The Most Infamous Calls Ever Blown by Referees, Umpires, and Other Blind Officials
By Kyle Garlett, Patrick O'Neal

So I had to check it out. I didn't buy it, but I found an exerpt on the publisher's web site. Note that a call in the 9th inning of game 6 of a World Series between the Royals and the Cardinals is blamed for deciding the series!!!

I've highlighted several things in their exerpt that would seem to me to have actually decided the series...

Read at your own amusement...

And after Kansas City dropped the series' first two games at home (no team in World Series history had ever rallied from such a fate to take the title), it was a foregone conclusion that St. Louis would be raising its tenth championship banner. In fact, it was a surprise to most that the Cardinals failed to close the door at Busch Stadium—dropping two of three games—and were forced to go back to Kansas City to finally pop their champagne.

But the moment for bubbly was finally at hand in Game 6, as the Cardinals entered the bottom of the ninth inning up 1-0 and a perfect 88-0 on the season when leading after eight innings. Rookie closer Todd Worrell, who struck out a World Series record-tying six consecutive Royals in Game 5, was on the mound to nail it down. And just three outs separated St. Louis from their second World Championship in four years, and the I-70 Series win.

Just three outs—and first base umpire Don Denkinger.

Pinch hitter Jorge Orta led off the inning with an innocent ground ball to first baseman Jack Clark, who then flipped the ball to the covering Worrell, who beat Orta to the bag by a full step—as seen by everyone in the stadium but the one and only man who really mattered, Don Denkinger.

His call was "safe," and despite a series of rapid-fire reenactments by Worrell, protests from Clark, and what looked to be a steady stream of obscenities from manager Whitey Herzog, Denkinger didn't budge.

The next batter, Steve Balboni, popped up along the first base dugout—only to be given new life when the still-fuming Clark misplayed the ball. Balboni then got a single, and a pinch runner, a bunt out, and a passed ball later, the Royals had runners at second and third and a chance to win with Dane Iorg at the plate.

Iorg, who hit .529 in the Cardinals' 1982 World Series win, came up clutch for K.C., lining a single to right field that chased home Onix Concepcion and Jim Sundberg for the 2-1 comeback victory.

The following day in Game 7, with Denkinger now behind home plate, the demoralized Cardinals disgraced their way to an 11-0 loss, handing Kansas City its first and only World Series crown.

It'd be easy to point to World Series MVP Bret Saberhagen's two complete games and 0.50 ERA as the reason for the Royals' win. Or the Cardinals' .185 series batting average and just two stolen bases, following a regular season where they led the National League in both categories at .264 and 314 respectively.

The foregoing is excerpted from The Worst Call Ever! by Kyle Garlett, and Patrick O'Neal. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission from HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022

Sigh...

If the rest of the book is similar, I'm not at all tempted to waste my money.

[Steve M]

Originally Posted by Dakota

Sigh...

If the rest of the book is similar, I'm not at all tempted to waste my money.

Yup, me neither.

[NCASAUmp]

It's crap like this that makes it no wonder why so many people hate us. Makes me want to kick the author AND the publisher.

[mcrowder]

No worries. I cost a team a game last night.

2nd inning, catcher reaches out to catch the ball and the batter hits her glove, apparently striking out for the 3rd out with runners on 2nd and 3rd. I send her to first, visitors fans HATE me, especially after finding out that the bat hurt their catcher's hand. "How can you call that on her, she was clearly hurt." And also, "Where's her warning!!!"

They were down 11-4 in what turned out to be the last inning. 1 out, no one on. Catcher from above, now batter starts to swing, stops, nub of the bat facing the pitcher when the ball hits the bat (PING!!!! - that everyone but visitors fans heard), and bounces up the bat to hit her on the OTHER hand. She starts to go, I keep her in the box and call foul ball. Strikes out on the next pitch.

I get 10 minutes of "You took the bat right out of her hands, blue." "That's a worse call than the other one, blue." "What have you got in for her, blue, she's only 12!" "You may have broken BOTH of her wrists, blue!" And my favorite - "You cost us the game, blue!"

Yes, I scored 13 runs for the other team in your 17-4 loss. Sorry about that. Sorry that I broke her wrists too.

[Steve M]

Originally Posted by mcrowder

No worries. I cost a team a game last night.

Yes, I scored 13 runs for the other team in your 17-4 loss. Sorry about that. Sorry that I broke her wrists too.

Well, no question that she swung - since she broke her wrists..........

[NCASAUmp]

I had a SP semifinals game where I, indeed, cost them the game. Bottom of the 7th, home team is down by 1 or 2, one out. R1 on 3rd, R2 on 1st. I'm BU.

The batter hits the ball to the shortstop, who easily flips it to the F4 for the force out at 2nd. F4 turns and throws to F3 to go for the double play, but the throw was off and bounces off the fence. R2, who was already out, is about 10' off 2nd base, looking like he's still in the game (best way to describe it was that it looked like he was surfing). F3, confused, throws back to F4. R2 dives back into 2nd.

"DEAD BALL!"

R1, who never advanced from (edited from "left from") 3rd, is now out. By the way, that's 3 outs. Ball game.

Boy did I catch hell for that one. Home team protested, but they lost. For those who want me to cite rules, in ASA, it's 8-7-P. I don't even have my book on me today. That game will never leave me.

[bkbjones]

Originally Posted by mcrowder

Yes, I scored 13 runs for the other team in your 17-4 loss. Sorry about that. Sorry that I broke her wrists too.

For pity's sake, did you at least sign her casts?

[Blu_IN]

A sports channel. . . can't remember which, might have been ESPN Classic, not too long ago did a Top 5 Reasons you can't blame Don Denkinger for the Cardinals losing that series. However, still many people certainly blame him.

Umpires make mistakes, you just hope that you get alittle umpire luck and that it doesn't have a game deciding impact.

[tribefan1952]

According to a coach who "used to play softball, so I know the rules... " I, too, cost his team the game... Bottom of 7th, tie game, winning run on 3rd base. Batter swings and hits the ball straight down. It ends up in the batters box. I had time to get a good look at it... it was definitely fair by at least 4 inches. I signal fair ball... the catcher makes a bad throw to 1st base, runner scores from 3rd. Game over. This genius coach comes out screaming that the ball was in the batters box. He got his moron fans riled up. too. It was getting ugly. I said something like, "Yes, it was in the batter's box. It was also a fair ball. This game's over."

As I left the field, I heard the coach (who had played softball, so he knew the rules) telling his team that they hadn't really lost that game. the plate ump lost it for them. I kept walking.

[Welpe]

I'm afraid, I too am guilty of costing a team not only the game, but the whole entire tournament.

I was plate umpire for an ASA 14U fastpitch semi-final game. The game was pretty ugly, with both teams committing multiple errors. It was the bottom of the 7th, with the visiting team leading by 6 runs. The home team manages to get a one out rally started and has narrowed the margin to one run with a runner on second and third. The runner on third steps off when the pitcher is ready to pitch and is called out. Two out, runner on second. The batter hits a base hit to left center, the runner from second rounds third and is trying for home as the throw is coming in. I realize this is going to be a huge play and make sure I am positioned properly for the play at the plate.

The ball beats the runner by a couple steps, the runner slides, the F2 catches the ball cleanly, mostly blocks off the plate with her body and lays a perfect tag on the runner. An eerie silence falls over the field and I am preparing the ring up the runner to end the game. I hesitate a second to be sure, and as the dust is settling, the runner is laying on the plate, the catcher on top of her and I notice the ball is on the ground. The catcher dropped the ball!!

The catcher quickly scoops up the ball and shows it to me, but too late, I call the runner safe and yell "She dropped the ball!!" You'd think the world had just ended. The visting team went from being estatic to unbridled fury in 2 seconds flat. Coaches are storming out of the dugout, players are crying ...cats and dogs living together...it was pandemonium.

The batter-runner gets to second during the play. Visiting coach is screaming for time (from the foul line). Satisfied that the play is over, I grant the coach time. "HOW CAN YOU CALL THAT BLUE!!!?! YOU MUST GET HELP...GET HELP!" After calmly explaining that I saw the whole thing, the coach slowly retreats to the dugout. Now with two outs, the game is tied and a runner is on second. The next batter hits a screaming double, easily scoring the runner and the game is over.

The visiting coach runs up to me screaming "YOU COST US THIS GAME BLUE, THIS IS ON YOU! SHE DIDN'T DROP THE BALL. THIS WAS OUR TOURNAMENT!! @$#%@)(*%@@"

My partner and I exit stage left and leave the team to finish coming unglued. So there you have it, I have personally cost a team the tournament. Never mind those seven runs they gave up in the bottom of the 7th....

I apologize for this being so long, but this is the closest, most dramatic play I've had to make a call on in my umpiring career. Fortunately, the tournament director and UIC had my back the entire time.

Then there was the baseball game that I balked in the winning run after the pitcher made a fake to 1B from the rubber...

[Hoosier_Dave]

Originally Posted by NCASAUmp

I had a SP semifinals game where I, indeed, cost them the game. Bottom of the 7th, home team is down by 1 or 2, one out. R1 on 3rd, R2 on 1st. I'm BU.

The batter hits the ball to the shortstop, who easily flips it to the F4 for the force out at 2nd. F4 turns and throws to F3 to go for the double play, but the throw was off and bounces off the fence. R2, who was already out, is about 10' off 2nd base, looking like he's still in the game (best way to describe it was that it looked like he was surfing). F3, confused, throws back to F4. R2 dives back into 2nd.

"DEAD BALL!"

R1, who never advanced from (edited from "left from") 3rd, is now out. By the way, that's 3 outs. Ball game.

Boy did I catch hell for that one. Home team protested, but they lost. For those who want me to cite rules, in ASA, it's 8-7-P. I don't even have my book on me today. That game will never leave me.

I'm confused. You called interference on a non-player (R2) which made R1 out because he was the lead runner. Where was the interference? Seems to me that F3 made a judgement error.

[NCASAUmp]

Originally Posted by Hoosier_Dave

I'm confused. You called interference on a non-player (R2) which made R1 out because he was the lead runner. Where was the interference? Seems to me that F3 made a judgement error.

A runner who was already put out who draws a throw is an example of interference. F3 made the judgment error because R2 was behaving like he was still a runner in the game. Thus, the runner closest to home (R1) is out. Again, 8-7-P. Read the note below it.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by NCASAUmp

A runner who was already put out who draws a throw is an example of interference. F3 made the judgment error because R2 was behaving like he was still a runner in the game. Thus, the runner closest to home (R1) is out. Again, 8-7-P. Read the note below it.

I believe what Dave is asking is, was there actually a play with which the act caused interference.

The rule note states that drawing a throw MAY be INT, not that it actually is INT. The rule states the the act has to INT with the defense's ability to make a play on another runner. If there were no other runner's moving, or in jeopardy, there was no play with which to INT.

Modified to change reference

[NCASAUmp]

R1 (originally at 3rd) had advanced off the bag enough that a play could have been made on him.

[Skahtboi]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

I believe what Tom is asking is, was there actually a play with which the act caused interference.

Now I am confused. I see a Dave asking a question, not a Tom.