Baseball / Ross Newhan : Bad Umpiring Hurts Twins and Cardinals

The passion and tension that flowered finally in Games 6 and 7 of the World Series should not be permitted to cloud its legacy.

The most vivid recollections are those of noise, Homer Hankies and free ads for Teflon.

Which is not to say it was without potentially meaningful impact.

The astonishing series of incorrect umpiring decisions in Game 7 should prompt Commissioner Peter Ueberroth to urge the use of instant replay during the playoffs and World Series.

Seldom has a game been riddled with worse officiating. The Minnesota Twins had one run taken away from them and one run given them. The St. Louis Cardinals were deprived of a baserunner when the game was tied.

The fact that St. Louis Manager Whitey Herzog--hurt by Series umpiring for the second time in three years--chose not to make an issue of it and that the victorious Twins didn’t care about anything except bathing in champagne doesn’t diminish the potential for repetition, controversy and injustice.

Of four debatable calls in Game 7, instant replay clearly showed that the umpires were wrong on three of them. The fourth seemed inconclusive to this viewer, though most others in the press box felt the umpire had blown it, too.

A review:

--With two runners on and no outs in the Minnesota second, Kent Hrbek had a two-ball, no-strike count when third base umpire John McSherry of the National League ruled that Hrbek had broken his wrists on a half swing, making the count 2 and 1. The angered Hrbek eventually struck out.

The replay showed McSherry to be wrong, that Hrbek had not swung through. Had the count gone to 3 and 0, putting Hrbek in an advantageous position to hit or walk, there is no telling how many runs the Twins would have scored, since there were two ensuing hits.

--The first of those was a single to left by Tim Laudner. Coach Rick Rennick attempted to bring Don Baylor in from second. Home plate umpire Dave Phillips of the American League called Baylor out, believing that Vince Coleman’s throw to catcher Steve Lake had beaten him. The replay showed that although the ball was there in time, Lake chose to go for the tag high and Baylor’s left foot was across the plate before Lake made it.

--In the Minnesota fifth, Greg Gagne squibbed a grounder to the right of the mound, where first baseman Jim Lindeman fielded it. Pitcher Joe Magrane covered the base and took the throw from Lindeman in an awkward position. Most replay viewers saw that Magrane dragged his left foot across the base just ahead of Gagne, but umpire Lee Weyer of the National League called Gagne safe, and he ultimately scored the run that tied the game, 2-2.

--In the St. Louis sixth, with the score tied and one out, pitcher Frank Viola picked Tom Herr off first on an aborted steal. A replay of the ensuing rundown showed Weyer blew two calls. He failed to cite Hrbek for interfering with Herr’s return to first and he then called Herr out, although Herr had clearly reached the base ahead of the tag by Viola, who was in foul territory when he took a throw from second baseman Steve Lombardozzi and attempted a reaching tag that Herr obviously beat.

Phillips and Weyer are respected umpires. They are human despite their occupation and subject to mistakes. Those who oppose replays as an umpiring adjunct, including the umpires union, cite the lack of enough cameras and angles, the delay that would be involved and the unnecessary cost considering that the umpire is right more than 90% of the time.

Those arguments have some validity during the regular season, when it would be an expensive proposition to provide the required number of cameras. There is no excuse, however, for failing to use a replay system in the playoffs and Series.

ABC quickly found the right angles Sunday night. The American and National leagues’ supervisors of umpires, Marty Springstead and Ed Vargo, were on hand and could have acted as replay judges. If the replays were inconclusive, the umpires decisions could have stood, as in the National Football League.

Postseason games already last three hours or more. What difference do a few more minutes make when the issue is an $85,000 share for each member of the winning team? What difference do a few more minutes make when the issue is right and wrong? There’s clearly more at stake than the umpires’ pride and ego. That’s obvious--even without a replay.

The most hilarious moment of the postseason occurred in the wake of Game 7 when a TV reporter asked Minnesota General Manager Andy MacPhail if he felt this was the start of a dynasty.

A dynasty? A team that won 85 regular-season games and had baseball’s ninth-best record, that was 31-56 on the road, that has only two proven starting pitchers, that threw out an opposing base stealer about every other week?

It is easier to think of the Cardinals, who won 95 games despite putting 12 players on the disabled list at various times during the regular season, as a potential dynasty--or a team that can continue to dominate its division when at full strength.

There is no certainty that the Twins can even repeat in the woeful American League West. They are the ninth different team to win a World Series in the nine years since the New York Yankees repeated in 1977 and ’78. A recent Times analysis offered reasons for what some call parity, others mediocrity. MacPhail, to his credit, scoffed at the dynasty suggestion, saying it’s too difficult now for one team to dominate.

He said that by retaining the team’s nucleus and filling in gaps with the acquisition of Jeff Reardon, Dan Gladden, Juan Berenguer and Don Baylor, the Twins are in position to continue that process.

“Reardon was the key,” he said. “We had to have that stopper in the bullpen and we were fortunate to be able to get him without giving up one of our regular position players.

“I don’t expect to stand pat, but I don’t see us being forced to make a major trade. We’re young throughout our regular lineup, and I don’t expect to have to break it up.

“In my mind there’s no such thing as a dynasty anymore. All I’ll say is that you’ll continue to see this team play hard, and I think it will be better on the basis of this experience alone.”

The Twins’ major need is starting pitching, but then, so is every other team’s. The likelihood of acquiring a proven pitcher without yielding a proven position player is slim, which leaves free agency. The Twins rejected Jack Morris’ overtures last winter, but could get a second chance since Morris, the St. Paul native, is eligible again.

The suspicion, however, is that what you see is what you’ll get from the Twins again. It was good enough amid baseball’s 1987 parity--or is that parody?--and could be again.