The World Series was the scene of some of Major League Baseball’s greatest games and its most ignominious moments. From dropped balls to a blown referee call, here are 10 of the Fall Classic’s most notable mistakes.
1. Fred Snodgrass of the New York Giants, Game 8, 1912 World Series
With the New York Giants ahead by one point at the end of the deciding Game 8’s 10th inning (Game 2 ended in a tie), Boston Red Sox pinch hitter Clyde Engle started with a Lazy pop fly to the left center in Boston’s New Stadium, Fenway Park. Giants center fielder Fred Snodgrass positioned himself for routine play. The ball, however, bounced out of his glove, and a weak throw allowed Engle to reach second base.
While his mother reportedly passed out when news of the blunder passed through the telegraph wires, Snodgrass pulled out the next hitter, Harry Hooper, with a spectacular over-the-shoulder grip while running. After a walk, Tris Speaker chose Engle at home, and two batters later, Boston won the series with a long sacrifice fly.
Overlooking his game on Hooper, the press pinned the defeat on Snodgrass, who offered no excuse. “I was frozen to the core when I put out the fly,” he said. “He just fell out of the glove and that was all there was to it.”
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2. Hank Gowdy of the New York Giants, Game 7, 1924 World Series
The New York Giants were up two points and four strikeouts from a title when Washington Senators player-manager Bucky Harris slapped a base-laden ground player who hit a boulder and climbed to the- over the head of 18-year-old New York third baseman Freddie. Lindstrom, to even the score.
With the score tied at the end of the 12th inning, Washington’s Muddy Ruel skied a foul ball near home plate. Giants catcher Hank Gowdy threw his mask to the ground, but not far enough. Gowdy almost tripped when his foot got caught in the mask and the ball fell to the ground. “I thought my foot was caught in a bear trap,” he recalls.
With new life, Ruel doubled down and scored the winning point for Washington when another player on the ground jumped over Lindstrom’s shoulder. “The bullet hit a rock, maybe the same damn rock Harris’ bullet hit,” Lindstrom recalls decades later.
3. Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees, Game 7, 1926 World Series
After propelling the New York Yankees to a Game 4 victory with three home runs, Babe Ruth slammed a solo home run in Game 7 to give the home side a 1-0 lead. The St. Louis Cardinals, however, took a one point lead late in the ninth inning. After Ruth got a walkout with two strikeouts, he rushed to the second base as Grover Cleveland Alexander pitched to Bob Meusel, who had doubled and trebled the veteran Cardinals in Game 6. No Known for her speed, Ruth was called up on the pitch from Cardinals wide receiver Bob O’Farrell to second baseman Rogers Hornsby.
The game remains the only time a fall classic has ended with a player caught stealing. Le Bambino later said he decided to steal on his own because he believed the Yankees were unlikely to get back-to-back hits against Alexander.
READ MORE: 10 Things You May Not Know About Babe Ruth
4. Mickey Owen of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Game 4, 1941 World Series
Tommy Henrich of the New York Yankees walked over to the first one after Mickey Owen’s pass.
Getty Images
Although he struggled at plate in 1941, Brooklyn Dodgers wide receiver Mickey Owen won his first All-Star appearance thanks to a stellar defense, which included a National League record for consecutive chances without. error of a receiver. With a shot from the Dodgers after tying the World Series to two games apiece, Owen asked relief pitcher Hugh Casey to throw a curve ball to New York Yankees right fielder Tommy Henrich. The very rough ground deceived not only Henrich – who swung and missed – but also Owen.
As the pitch bounced off the heel of Owen’s glove towards the safety net, Henrich sprinted safely to the first goal. The Yankees capitalized on Owen’s first passed ball of the season and scored four points en route to a 7-4 victory.
The next day, the Ebbets Field crowd gave the Dodgers wide receiver a big standing ovation, but the Yankees won their fifth title in six years. When Owen returned to his Missouri farm for the off season, he sold his herd of goats, although he said it was “not because they reminded me of my role on the show.”
5. Willie Davis of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Game 2, 1966 World Series
In the fifth inning of a scoreless game on a sunny Los Angeles afternoon, Baltimore Orioles center fielder Paul Blair lifted a routine ball into center field. Blinded by the sun, Dodgers center fielder Willie Davis missed the catch. When Baltimore’s next hitter threw up a shallow volley to the center, Davis again dropped the ball and compounded the error with a wild pitch at third base, giving him an ignominious World Series record with three errors in a sleeve.
Davis then questioned the mistakes made on his drops. “You can’t grab what you can’t see,” he told media.
The blunders helped Baltimore score three runs and win Game 2 behind a shutout from 20-year-old Jim Palmer. Back at home, the Orioles swept the series with two more shutouts.
6. Referee Don Denkinger, Game 6, 1985 World Series
Hanging on to a 1-0 lead, the St. Louis Cardinals only needed three strikeouts to win their second title in four years. Kansas City Royals pinch hitter Jorge Orta started late in the ninth inning with a dribbler that Cardinals first baseman Jack Clark lined up and returned to pitcher Todd Worrell. Although the Cardinals relief pitcher clearly entered first base before the runner, referee Don Denkinger said Orta was safe.
After an unsuccessful fight, the edgy Cardinals allowed a runner to advance on a passed ball, and Clark failed to catch a foul before Royals pinch hitter Dane Iorg scored two runs for win the match.
“As far as I’m concerned, we won the damn World Series tonight,” said angry Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog, whose side was 91-0 when leading after eight innings this season. St. Louis never recovered from Denkinger’s call and lost the World Series the following night in an 11-0 blowout.
7. Boston Red Sox, Game 6, 1986 World Series
Boston first baseman Bill Buckner’s mistake in the 1986 World Series pissed off Red Sox fans.
Stan Grossfeld / The Boston Globe / Getty Images
Boston first baseman Bill Buckner’s mistake in Game 6 was one of the biggest blunders in MLB history. But the biggest collapse of the World Series has been a team effort.
With two strikeouts, empty goals and a two-point lead over the New York Mets late in the 10th inning, Boston was on the verge of his first title since 1918. After controversially lifting ace Roger Clemens after the seventh inning, Red Sox coach John McNamara allowed overworked reliever Calvin Schiraldi to pitch his third in a row and failed to replace the hampered Buckner with a better defensive first baseman.
After Schiraldi gave up three straight single that scored a run, reliever Bob Stanley uncorked a wild pitch that tackled the tying point before Mookie Wilson’s roll that split Buckner’s legs to win the game. Building on the rally in Game 6, the Mets won Game 7 and the Championship.
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8. Lonnie Smith of the Atlanta Braves, Game 7, 1991 World Series
With Minnesota’s Jack Morris and Atlanta’s John Smoltz locked in an epic pitching duel, Braves designated hitter Lonnie Smith scored to start the eighth inning of a scoreless 7. Terry Pendleton called with a drive away from the left center field that seemed almost certain to score the quick Smith, who had made a delayed flight. The Twins’ midfielder, however, claimed the ball was a player on the ground, and a confused Smith paused for several seconds at second base before seeing the ball in the outfield. He continued on to the third but no further. A weak groundout and double play ended Atlanta’s threat, and Minnesota won, 1-0, on a sacrificial end in the 10th inning as Morris went the distance for the shutout.
9. Tony Fernandez of the Cleveland Indians, Game 7, 1997 World Series
Veteran second baseman Tony Fernandez’s third-inning single gave Cleveland a 2-0 lead over the Florida Marlins and raised hopes for the struggling team’s first title since 1948. But the closest Indians Jose Mesa was unable to maintain the lead in the ninth inning.
With a strikeout and Bobby Bonilla on first base late in the 11th inning of a tied game, Marlins second baseman Craig Counsell knocked out four-time Gold Glove winner Fernandez. The ground ball should have resulted in one or even two outs. The ball, however, rolled under Fernandez’s glove into the outfield. Bonilla went on to third on the error. Three batters later, Marlins shortstop liner Edgar Renteria pinched the pitcher’s glove and continued into centerfield for a single to win the series.
“It doesn’t matter what you do in the past. It’s what you do in your last game that matters, ”Fernandez said afterward. “Tonight I was not good in my last room.”
10. Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees, Game 7, 2001 World Series
After a magical playoff series that rallied their city in the weeks following the 9/11 attacks, the New York Yankees led the Arizona Diamondbacks by a point late in the ninth inning of Game 7. At On the eve of the team’s fourth straight title, Yankees closest Mariano Rivera gave up a starting single and threw himself savagely into centerfield when the next batter attempted a sacrifice bunt. Prior to that, Rivera had made only one regular season mistake in his career.
Two batters later, Tony Womack doubled up to tie the game. After a hit hitter, Luis Gonzalez threw up a soft liner on an infield to mark Arizona’s series-winning run. It was Rivera’s first stop in the World Series.
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