Quote Originally Posted by gingi79 View Post
I want to know which team was cheated in a way that even Jesus can't atone for. My question is simple, what team got shafted the worst?

I agree with the 1972 US Olympic basketball team and the 1985 Cardinals.

Here's another one: Hank O'Day suddenly deciding to enforce a technicality which had not been enforced before, in calling Fred Merkle out at second in a late-season game with the Cubs in 1908. The game was over, as so many games had ended that season and in prior years, but O'Day decided he was going to call Merkle out for failing to touch second base after a single by his teammate. Merkle bolted for the clubhouse for good reason-- fans were swarming the field and the game was over, as far as everyone was concerned (except Johnny Evers O'Day.)

But, Hank O'Day decided he was going to show the country how smart he was, and he took that win away from the Giants, who then went on a losing skid and were forced to replay that game with the pennant on the line. And, they lost.

O'Day was technically correct, but he shouldn't have suddenly and arbitrarily enforced it for the first time at the end of a season, in a game between teams in a hot pennant race. It wasn't just a missed call; it was a deliberate decision. O'Day should've discussed it with the league after the season, and a general announcement could've been made regarding the rule being enforced beginning in 1909.

Umpires should never think they are bigger than the game, or decide pennant races based on their ego.