[Lefty Noob]

We've been talking over in the football forum - Worst call ever? - about the worst officiating calls of all time. It got me to wondering, what do you think are the worst calls ever by baseball umpires? Definitely a couple of them, in my book, have to belong to Bob Davidson in the WBC. I'm sure the Jeffery Maher incident will come up too. Any others?

[legend]

The obvious one is the Don Denkinger call of Jorge Orta being safe at first in the 1985 World Series Game Six. Cost the Cards the Series.

[ThePundit]

How about the ump in the '78 series NOT calling interference on Reggie Jackson when he stuck his butt out to stop a double play ball. The Yankees were down 2-1 in that series against LA and they were losing that game. The Yankees ended up winning that game in extra innings. That play spearheaded the comeback. So instead of being down 3 -1. It was 2-2. A huge difference. The Yankees probably don't win that series without that play,

[desertrat]

Last years call in the Angels-White Sox series also comes to mind. Strike 3, inning over, but the ump says the catcher didn't catch the ball. Instead of extra innings, Joe Crede comes up and hits a ball off the wall to bring in the winning run, who happened to be the guy that struck out. Angels had won game 1 of the series, this was game 2. Who knows what would have happened if Angels had pulled it out in extra innings? Momentum and home field for games 3 and 4 could have left the White Sox on the outside lookking in.

[legend]

The non-interference call on Ed Armbrister in the 1975 Reds-Red Sox World Series was a bad one.

[Wizard of Os]

Originally Posted by legend

The non-interference call on Ed Armbrister in the 1975 Reds-Red Sox World Series was a bad one.

Wow.

Great calls everyone (unlike those of the topic of discussion ha ha), but Legend wins this one. Some well-positioned photographer got a perfect shot of the interference. I first saw the picture when i was, what, ten years old, and i can still see it now.

Check out this page for a really extensive treatment of this subject in the post-season; it's pretty good and goes all the way back to "Merkle's Boner." (Get your minds out of the gutter...) And who remembers Jeffrey Maier, the guy who won a game for the Yankees without ever suiting up?

Cheers, all.

[EmpireWF]

That game either in the NLCS or WS in 1997 where the home plate umpire had a HUMONGOUS strike zone for Livan Hernandez, it was silly.

Originally Posted by legend

The obvious one is the Don Denkinger call of Jorge Orta being safe at first in the 1985 World Series Game Six. Cost the Cards the Series.

yeah, it's by far the only call I can honestly say changed a champion and was so bad, you had to wonder if he had money on the game. I've been watching sports for almost 30 years with a passion, but that was by far the worst. If that had happend to my Red Sox or a New York team, that guy probably would not be alive today. Even in mild St.Louis he got death threats. Someone should put a pic up or post it for those who don't know about it. But it was game 6, 9th inning one out. The cardinals were up 1 to nothing and had a 3 games to 2 lead. The Royals had no one on base. He was out by a step and a half. Yet the ump called him safe. How? I don't know. The only thing close I can come up with is the officials at the Colorado game, giving those guys 5 downs.

Mauer's stolen ground rule double. 10-09-09 vs Yanks. Why have foul ball umpires if you are going to all a ball that lands a foot in play foul? Disgusting.