Who's To Blame?
Any umpire's decision which involves judgment, such as, but not limited to, whether a batted ball is fair or foul, whether a pitch is a strike or a ball, or whether a runner is safe or out, is final. No player, manager, coach or substitute shall object to any such judgment decisions.
This comes directly from section 9.02(a) of Major League Baseball's rule book. It seems black and white enough on its face. However, something got lost in the interpretation.
Of course, I suppose we should be thankful for the misinterpretation; after all, were it not for Lou Piniella, Larry Bowa, Lloyd McClendon and others kicking dirt, throwing bases, and firing hats, baseball might not be the enjoyable game it is. This is the fun part of disagreement.
What I saw last night on ESPN is not.
I'm sure many of you remember the 1985 World Series between the Cardinals and Royals, and the highly-disputed play at first base involving Jorge Orta, Todd Worrell, and umpire Don Denkinger. There was a piece run on SportsCenter about this play, and it chronicled Denkinger's life in the days and years after its occurrence. The main aspects of the piece were Denkinger's belief that he made the right call, the doubt that crept in after he handled the argument and then met with then-commissioner Peter Ueberroth after the game, and the threats and hate mail that ensued shortly after. Denkinger's life was even threatened by an unidentified person who was ostensibly a St. Louis fan.
To say that officials in sport are beyond reproach is, quite literally, laughable. Many of the officials are denied access to the media, and are not made directly accountable for a missed call. The main exceptions to this are the NFL (and, to a lesser degree, the Big 10) and the NHL, where questionable calls can be reviewed. Coaches are forced to answer to fans and media if they make a decision with which fans do not agree, and it is only fair that an official receive the same treatment.
With that said, today's fan tends to put too much stock in an official's ruling. The fans of a particular team far too often fail to see the forest for the trees in a lost game, and instead of pinning the loss on the real circumstances that precipitated the defeat, they tend to feel that an objectionable call or incident was the sole cause. It is also the case with non-official rulings, as fans of the Chicago Cubs want to demonize Steve Bartman for his attempted catch in the stands, without placing the blame on the eight-run inning the team allowed. The Boston Red Sox fan wants to blame Bill Buckner for his swinging-door treatment at first base in 1986, and completely ignore the fact that the club choked away game 7. And, in the case of the Cardinals-Royals in 1985, the Cardinals completely imploded after that call, as they lost the next game 11-0.
In an article from the Contra Costa Times, SEC director of officials Bobby Gaston indicated that the officials made an error with regard to the game clock. The admission of this error is laudable; however, the suggestion that this particular error gave Tennessee the win, as some have asserted, is ridiculous.
Going back to Denkinger's case, the interview conducted with him was nothing short of powerful. He appears visibly shaken even now when discussing the play, and it casts a black cloud over what was otherwise a very distinguished career in baseball that spanned four decades. A player can succeed three of every 10 times he comes to the plate, and he is a Hall of Famer. A manager or coach can win 7 of 10, and he is mentioned among the all-time greats. All it takes is one arguable call to make an umpire perceived as a failure for the remainder of his days. Denkinger has been cast unfairly in this light.
Looking further in the rules, MLB Rule 9.04(a) states that an umpire "take full charge of, and be responsible for, the proper conduct of the game". It's high time for the fan to realize that he needs to take full charge of, and be responsible for, his own proper conduct, and put the blame for a loss in its correct place.
File last modified October 24, 2004
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