Bad Calls

Yeah, he blew the call, so did the first base umpire in game 6 of the 1985 World Series between the Cardinals and Royals. It happens, the game goes on, the series will go on (unless it happens in a deciding game), but it will never be forgotten.

Many people will argue that this proves instant replay is needed in baseball. Maybe so, but many people already think baseball is too long, instant replay will only add to that.

The only reason I made this a seperate post instead of a comment is because I wanted to tell a story about a wrong call made, which I wanted everyone to read.

As refs, we are taught that we never make a bad all, but sometimes do make the wrong call. It can't be a bad call, because it is what we see at that moment and how we interperate it at that moment. The game moves so fast, sometimes we anticipate (cardinal sin #1 for any referee or umpire) calls or interperate what we see the wrong way. No matter what call we make, we need to stand by it, any sense to the coach/manager/player that we may be wrong, and we have lost control of the game at that moment. In addition to that, we are taught to always back up our partner(s) on their calls as well, unless we are absolutely certain we saw it a different way. This is why even after replays are showing differently, the entire crew from the White Sox/ Angels game are standing by the call made. Here's the story I wanted to share:

During a girls basketball tournament last winter, my partner and I were reffing a game which came right down to the last shot with the offensive team down by only 3. There were 6 seconds on the clock and I was the trail official (the one at half court, who at the end of a period is the official in charge of noting when time expires) following the play as one of the offensive players pushed the ball up the court to the right wing, into a group of about 5 other players, was inside the three point line, shot the ball with about 1 second remaining as a whistle blew. It was the lead official (the one on the baseline and NOT in any way, shape, or form responsible for blowing a whistle to end a period) who blew his whistle, and then the horn sounded as the shot missed. I ran over to the lead official to get the call, I (and many others in the stand) expected a fould to be called, since a whistle blew before the clock ended. However, as I saw it (and turns out the lead official saw it) there was no fould, it was a clean play, he just blew the game dead. That's it, the game was over, no extra .7 seconds back on the clock, we were done. Both of us after the fact knew it was the wrong call, but we stood by the decision to end the game, because that's what happened on the court.

The point is, refs make mistakes, always have, and always will. The main thing to remember is that the game goes on. Hopefully, this doesn't happen in game 7, or there will be riots. Also, doesn't it always seem like the team who gets the break ends up winning the game? I mean really, who didn't think the Sox were going to win in that inning?

-Until next time...