Cardinals nightmare flashback history

Over at ESPN, former St. Louis Cardinal closer Todd Worrell is interviewed for his role in arguably the worst officiating decision (outside of a bribe-induced call, at least) in professional sports (inside the U.S. at least).

Worrell beats Jorge Orta of the Kansas City Royals to first base, and gets the first out of the inning, Game 6, 1985 World Series. Except in the eyes of Don Denkinger, he didn't.

Yep, we're talking about the Don Denkinger blown call, Game 6, 1985 World Series. For your and my cringing, here's the ESPN story.

Here's Worrell:

"Plays like that, no matter how many years go by, they are always fresh in your mind," Worrell said. "You can recall and visualize in slow motion what took place real quick."

Worrell knew Orta was out. He remembers Orta stepping on his heel after he had caught the ball. But Denkinger was behind him, standing close to the first-base coaching box. "It took me a while to spin around, but obviously when I spun around, my first visual of him was his arms straight out for a safe call."

It took Worrell some time to process what he was seeing. "It seemed like everything just kind of stopped for a split-second when that play happened," he recalls.

That said, let's be honest.

That wouldn't have been the third out of the inning anyway, first of all. There were no outs when the play happened.

Second, the way the Cards' bats went to sleep after Game 4, they didn't deserve to win. This game was tied, after all; the Cards weren't ahead. And, it was in K.C.

On the other hand, if not so irate over the blown call, would Jack Clark had caught the Steve Balboni foul pop-up? Worrell thinks so, calling the blown call a "mental distraction."

So we have two out and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth. Dick Howser wouldn't have used all the pinch-hitters and pinch-runners he did. Dan Quisenberry would have stayed in the game for at least one more inning.

Advantage Royals in extra innings if they didn't close out in 9.

But, that "mental distraction" carried over to Game 7. So, who knows?

Other thoughts? Worrell has plenty.

Worrell opposes further expansion of instant replay in baseball. Like other players and managers with similar thoughts, he says it would remove the human element.

But, he does think this shows why umpires need to collaborate more.

In 1985, if Denkinger had told Herzog to wait a minute and if Denkinger had then called his crew over, Worrell believes they would have gotten the call right.

"They are not going to slow the game down any more," he said with a smile. He doesn't understand why they don't just ask each other if they didn't get a good look at a play. "Sometimes the farther away from the call the better perspective you have on it, because it happens slower."

Oh, and one other thing. Worrell thinks umps are getting bad training.

Denkinger was standing exactly where he was supposed to be on Oct. 26, 1985. "Well, you are training them wrong," is always Worrell's reply. "I contend that he was not in the right spot to make that call. He could stand where he was 50 times and never get the call right. He should have been with the ball; if he follows the ball he's out of the way. If he would have followed Jack Clark in he would have been right there to see the call and he would have got it right."

That said, Denkinger DOES favor instant replay. More so after Armando Galarraga lost his perfect game last year.

Reflecting on the team in general, I've always thought that, overall, 1985was the best of the three Whitey Herzog World Series teams, followed by 1987then 1982. Yet, 1982 was the only winner of the three. Chemistry? The newness of it all in 1982?

Also, yes, there was the "mental distraction" after the blown call. But, it shouldn't have carried over to Game 7. Mild-mannered John Tudor punching a fan in the clubhouse? Joaquin Andujar becoming "one nutbar Dominican"?

Is that a partial reflection on Herzog? That's tough to say, but ...