THE WORST UMPIRE'S CALL IN CARDINALS HISTORY

Adam writes...

Wow, Jim. That was incredible. No, that was Jim-credible.

So Jim, tell me something else. In game 2 of the ALCS, home plate umpire Doug Eddings made a bad call, allowing Chicago batter AJ Pierzynski to take first base. The bad call clearly changed the outcome of the game: it was the bottom of the ninth, tie score, and pinch runner Pablo Ozuna was able to make his way to third and then score the winning run off a hit by Joe Crede three pitches later.

Can you think of any other time in baseball where an umpire's bad call has changed the outcome of a game, league championship series, or worst of all, the WORLD SERIES?


Ah-ha-ha! A thinly veiled request for the 1985 World Series rant. Well okay, if you insist.

The 1980's was one of those banner decades for the Cardinals with 3 trips to the World Series. and one win. 1985 was right in the middle of the Whitey Herzog era. Whitey had spent five years with Kansas City and brought 3 AL Western Division titles. When he got to St. Louis, he took over not only as manager but as general manager for the first year. At the time Busch was a big cookie cutter stadium with Astroturf. The fences were more that 10 feet further out than they are today. Whitey built a team around this park. He assembled a team of fast runners (Vince Colman, Tommy Herr ), great fielders (Ozzie Smith, Willy McGee) and an ace pitching staff (Andujar, Tudor, Cox and Forsch). They played classic National League small ball (called Whitey ball at the time). They had won the 1982 World Series and they were heavy favorites to win the '85 as well.

The Cardinals took the first two games from Kansas City in Royals Stadium. "No team has ever lost the first two games at home and won the World Series" could be heard time and time again. The teams moved to St. Louis where KC took their first win, then St. Louis took their third win in game 4. The Cards had to win only one of the next three. After dropping game 5, the teams went back to KC for the final confrontations.

Game 6 was a pitchers duel. Leibrant for the Royals shut out the Cards for 7 innings but in the 8th, with two outs, a single, a walk, and another single brought in a run for the Cards. In the mean time Cox pitched seven shut out innings for the Cards and Daley came in and pitched another one in the 8th. "The Cardinals have not lost a game in the 9th inning all season" says one announcer. "If the Cardinals go on to win, they will have the lowest number of runs scored (14) for a World Series winner" says another.

Now the chess game begins. Howser sent in Darryl Motley (a right handed pinch-batter) to face the left handed Daley. Herzog called for right-hander Todd Worrell. Howser countered with Jorge Orta in place of Motley. The lefty responded with a hot grounder towards first baseman Jack Clark who fielded it and tossed it to the covering pitcher. Umpire Don Denkinger called Orta safe although everyone else in the park knew he was out by a step. Television replays showed Denkinger was wrong, but the contested runner remained on first. An argument ensued but fell on deaf ears. That moment, that one call, set in motion a ridiculous turn of events. The Cards simply fell apart. Steve Balboni followed Orta with a textbook pop-out, but Clarke (out of position because he was covering the runner at first that should have been called out) was unable to field the ball. Balboni then singled. Jim Sundberg bunted into a force out at third. Hal McRae stepped to the plate (for Buddy Biancalana) and after Darrell Porter committed a passed ball that advanced both runners, he was intentionally walked. Dane Iorg brought Concepcion home with a single to right followed closly by Sundberg who avoided Porter's tag at home and the Royals tied the Series with the 2-1 victory.


That was it. Game seven started with Tudor for StL., Saberhagen for K.C. and Denkinger behind the plate. Saberhagen was untouchable, Tudor was flat. After having victories for games 1 and 4, Herzog had gone to the Tudor well once too often. The Royals teed off on Tudor as they did with Andujar who came in for relief. When the "one tough Dominican" thought he was being squeezed in the strike zone, he lost it, Denkinger lost it, Herzog lost it, words were said and when Whitey told Denkinger "If you had done your job last night we wouldn't have to be here tonight", Herzog was ejected. A few pitches later, Andujar joined him. Meanwhile, Tudor was so ticked off that when he got back to the clubhouse, he punched an electric fan, slicing his hand open and needed to be taken to the hospital for stitches. It was an eleven run shut out. It was ugly and it was excruitiating to watch. No Cardinal fans have ever been that miserable until the Cards met the Red Sox in 2004.

To give Denkinger credit, he has always been considered a very good umpire. He has taken endless heat for the call and he has faced it like a man. He admits the mistake and probably feels worse about it than anyone. He has even been on sports talk shows several time in St. Louis to answer questions.

It's a game, that's the rules and as the A's manager, Mike Sciosia aptly put it, "Anyone who blames the outcome of the game on one bad call is just giving his players an excuse to lose". For as great as I think Whitey is, to this day, I think he should have done a better job of inspiring his men to forget about game 6 and take care of the business of winning game seven. That's my rant and I'm sticking to it!