Don Denkinger, who worked as major league umpire for nearly 30 years, he died Friday at the age of 86.
Denise Hanson, one of Denkinger’s three daughters, said she died at Cedar Valley Hospice in Waterloo, Iowa.
Umpire Don Denkinger watches the action during an MLB game on June 24, 1995. Denkinger was an American League umpire from 1968 to 1998. (Rich Pilling/MLB via Getty Images)
«Today MLB remembers a long time American League umpire Don Denkinger, who has passed away at 86,” MLB Communications posted on Twitter Friday. “The great Denkinger was on the field from 1969 to 1998 and worked in four World Series, the last of which included plate duties for the epic Game 7 Morris-Smoltz. in 1991. Rest in peace, Don.»
CEDRIC MULLINS OF THE ORIOLES HIT FOR THE CYCLE AFTER DESTROYING THE GAME CHANGING HOMER IN THE 8TH INNING
While Denkinger worked four world series, Unfortunately, he is notorious for a call that went wrong in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series.
In the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 6 between the Kansas City Royals and the St. Louis CardinalsDenkinger called Royals pinch-hitter Jorge Orta safe at first after a slow rebound past first base.
The replay showed that Orta was clearly out.
St. Louis Cardinals’ Todd Worrell (38) is upset with umpire Don Denkinger (11) after he called a Kansas City Royals running back to safety at first base in Game 6 of the World Series in Kansas City, Mo., October 26, 2019. 1985. (Richard Mackson/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
With the Cardinals leading 1-0, the royals gathered after the missed call, he ultimately won on Dane Iorg’s two-run single.
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Kansas City’s win forced a Game 7, which the Royals won 11-0 for the World Series title.
«Nobody wants to get the call I made in the World Series,» Denkinger told The Associated Press in 2014. «But I did. And now it’s part of history.»
Replay rules did not exist in MLB in 1985.
St. Louis Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog, left, is ejected by home plate umpire Don Denkinger, center, during Game 7 of the World Series against the Kansas City Royals in Kansas City, Missouri on October 27, 1985. (AP Photo/Joe Ledford)
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«I’m not tired of talking about it. I mean, it happened,» Denkinger said. «I just know that if the same thing happened now, they would do well on the replay and it would be over.»
Denkinger is one of seven umpires to have worked two perfect games and called his last game on June 2, 1998 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
Associated Press contributed to this report