October 26, 1985

Umpiring controversies are nothing new to baseball. Twenty-four years ago, one bad call in the sixth game turned a Series around and lit a fuse that caused an explosion the following night.

The 1985 World Series pitted the St. Louis Cardinals against the Kansas City Royals, and was dubbed “the I-70 Series” after the highway that runs between the two Missouri cities. Manager Whitey Herzog’s Cardinals won the first two games in K.C., took the middle game of three back home, and held a 1-0 lead as Game Six moved to the bottom of the ninth inning. Rookie closer Todd Worrell – not even a rookie yet, really, having pitched so little in the majors that he won the Rookie of the Year Award the next year – got leadoff hitter Jorge Orta to bounce weakly to the right side of the infield. First baseman Jack Clark flipped quickly to Worrell, who had to reach back for the throw but kept his foot on the base. Replays showed the throw beating the runner by two feet, but umpire Don Denkinger called Orta safe. Steve Balboni singled, the next hitter bunted into a forceout at third, but then a passed ball advanced the runners to second and third anyway. Hal McRae was walked intentionally, and pinch-hitter Dane Iorg singled home the tying and winning runs.

Herzog blasted the umpiring after the game. “We haven’t gotten one call from the three American League umpires in this thing,” he told reporters. (Until 2000, each umpire worked in one league or the other.) “And we got that guy [Denkinger] behind the plate tomorrow. We got about as much chance of winning as a monkey.”

Sans simians, the Cardinals trailed 9-0 in the fifth inning of Game Seven. Herzog brought in his fiery starter Joaquin Andujar, who barked at Denkinger after two close pitches were called balls. Herzog came out, ostensibly to protect Andujar, mostly to jaw at the umpire at close range and get thrown out of the game. Denkinger obliged, and one pitch later Andujar was also ejected and had to be restrained by a Cardinals coach after another ball was called. (All three pitches looked like balls to more objective viewers.) The final score was 11-0. Denkinger’s name still draws shudders on the eastern half of I-70.

Photo Courtesy: Sports Illustrated