Fans like to blame umpires for anything. A missed call, a bad strike zone, you name it. If an umpire has an off night, fans will be there to remind him. But usually, a missed call isn’t the deciding factor in a sporting event.
Tell that to the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals. This year marks the 40th anniversary of an incident the members of the 1985 Cardinals and their fans wish they could forget. In the World Series that year, a missed call (a very bad missed call) opened the floodgates and led to one of baseball’s most amazing comebacks. As a result, the World Series may have hinged on that one bad call by a first base umpire.
Setting the Stage for Game 6 Rally by the Royals
The 1985 World Series was three outs away from being over. The Cardinals were up 3-2 in the series, with a 1-0 lead in Game Six. The Royals were playing at home, trying to finally win their first championship following several postseason disappointments in the previous decade.
The controversial play opened the bottom of the ninth: when veteran Jorge Orta led off for Kansas City. Orta bounced a routine grounder to first base, which was fielded by Jack Clark, who shuffled the baseball to pitcher Todd Worrell covering the bag. The ball landed in Worrell’s glove before Orta’s foot hit the bag. He was out, by a full step. But…and this is the biggest BUT in Kansas City baseball history…umpire Don Denkinger called Orta safe. Which is really the only reason anyone remembers Denkinger.
Worrell was incensed, naturally. So too was the fiery White Rat, manager Whitey Herzog of the Cardinals. A former KC skipper, Herzog was furious at Denkinger. But this was nearly three decades before…………….. MLB instituted replay for calls such as this. There was nothing Herzog could do, other than throw a tantrum.
The Royals proceeded to rally. Steve Balboni singled. Jim Sundberg bunted, attempting to nudge the runners over. But Orta was forced at third. A passed ball set up an intentional walk. The bases were loaded with one out. But a double play ball could still end the game and the series in favor of the Cardinals. Or a strikeout could squeeze more pressure into the Royals. But that’s not what happened. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this article.
Dane Iorg was a rather ordinary big league ballplayer. He was an outfielder without a real position. He wasn’t very big, he wasn’t a power hitter. He gained a reputation for being able to hit right-handed pitching. He had a brother who also played in the major leagues. Iorg had a last name that was difficult to pronounce. That was essentially all anyone knew about Dane Iorg.
Iorg came to the plate as the fifth batter facing Worrell in the ninth. The Royals still trailed by a run. If he failed, it was likely the Royals would lose the World Series. But, somehow at the time, in that moment, it felt like the odds were all on Iorg’s side.
On the second pitch from Worrell, Iorg got a fastball on the inside of the plate, a pitch he was notorious for being able to damage. He got the bat on it, and blooped a single to right field. Two runs scored. Game over.
Watch the entire rally below.
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