The St. Louis Cardinals believe retired umpire Don Denkinger cost them the 1985 World Series. Denkinger called Kansas City's Jorge Orta safe at first base in the bottom of the eighth inning with the Cardinals leading 1-0 and 3-2 in games. Orta hit a slow-rolling ground ball that the Cardinals first baseman Jack Clark flipped to pitcher Todd Worrell covering the bag. Video replays showed Orta was out by at least a step. The Cardinals complained bitterly. But the call stood. The Royals rallied to score two runs, winning the game and forcing a Game 7 the following night.

Denkinger believed he had made the right call. He said he was "listening for the ball to hit Worrel's glove before Orta touched the base." Unfortunately, the deafening crowd noise blocked out that umpiring procedure.

Denkinger, who was the umpire Crew Chief for the series, did not know he made a mistake until watching the video with baseball commissioner Peter Ueberoth.

Denkinger was scheduled to work home plate in Game 7, much to the dismay of an angry St. Louis manager Whitey Herzog, his players and Cardinals fans.

Kansas City won Game 7 11-0. But still hacked about the previous night and believing the series was stolen from them, Herzog was thrown out of the game after Cardinals pitcher Joaquin Andujar was ejected for arguing balls and strikes with Denkinger.

Denkinger admitted he made a mistake and regularly autographs pictures of the play for baseball fans, including those in St. Louis.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org