MLB Prime 9: Biggest Gaffes

[Music] welcome to prime nine the countdown show that covers the very best in baseball guaranteed to start arguments not empty this week it's the nine biggest gaffes of all time why nine that's baseball nine players nine innings prime nine everybody loves bloopers especially baseball bloopers in fact some folks say that baseball invented bloopers and no matter how often you see them oh you're gonna see that a million times i'll tell you they always make you laugh but bloopers are one thing [Applause] gaffs are a whole nother ball game and are usually no laughing matter [Music] we define gaffes as mind-boggling decisions you cannot butcher up a play any worse huge mistake or just plain errors some that have arguably changed the course of baseball history gaffes leave you feeling like you just got punched in the gut i don't believe i just saw that and they can come from anywhere players of course make the most gaps but fans make them too and we probably don't have to tell you that umpires also make gas and what happens here he contends that a fan reaches up and touches it now your top nine gaffs might not jive with ours oh come on but that's what makes this show so much fun so here we go with the nine biggest gaffs of all time starting with number nine on prime9 during the course of the season you're going to have guys make all kinds of mental mistakes but chuck knoblock what he did during the league championship series it stands out because of the magnitude of the postseason it was game two of the 1998 alcs the yankees who had won 114 games that year were up one game to none over cleveland but then in the 12th inning with the score tied at one knob block had a brain lock indians have a run around first base and the bunt gets dropped ryman squares to bun and gets it down nicely the throw hits the runner and chuck nonblock is arguing with the umpire that the runner was out of the running lane and should have been called out now the yankees are going to contend as the ball rolls away we were just yelling at him get rid of the ball or or to look or to do something but he was just infuriated enrique wilson has that famous stretch between third and home where he begins to lose his balance and practically swims to home plate finally at that time knoblach had decided oh there is a runner on base that is the go ahead run in a playoff game i better go get it and by then it's too late and wilson scores and the indians win the game you have to go after the ball you can't let the ball roll 10 feet down the right field line why are you waiting for an umpire to make a decision clearly in chuck's mind there was something wrong with the play but he looks back on the play i think he probably would handle it a little bit differently i screwed up screwed up to play and i feel terrible about that um you know i should have went and got the ball the yankees would overcome knobloch's gaff and go on to capture their 24th world series title but chuck would later contend with a bizarre throwing disorder one that would prematurely end the career of this former gold glove fielder the most surprising thing to me about chuck knoblock is that he was a terrifically smart baseball player head always in the game always knowing the right play to make and this was never more evident than when chuck was a rookie with minnesota and found himself on the good side of a gaffe that ranks number eight on our list most folks remember the 91 world series between the twins and the braves for the classic game seven duel between pitchers john smoltz and jack morris they forget the play where speedster lonnie smith got caught in neutral lonnie smith was a remarkable athlete but lonnie was also prone to sometimes blanking out game seven was scoreless in the top of the eighth but it looked like the braves were about to get to morris lonnie smith is on first base nobody's out terry pendleton hits a double to left field handled it into left center field fights off the wall lonnie smith had incredible speed you assume that smith is going to score from first base chuck knoblock was the second baseman for the twins he made a little decoy move and lonnie just sort of got caught sleeping at the switch for an instant he came close to a dead stop seemed to not know exactly what to do and ended up not scoring lonnie smith has held up at third and he didn't do very good base running that was terrible by lottie the braves were unable to score in that inning the twins went on to win in the 10th inning one to nothing and no one will ever forget that big blunder by lonnie smith when he couldn't score from first base on a double smith clearly could have scored on the ball had he been running all the way the decoy of knob lock hell smith at third base if you want to hear mccarver's version if you want to hear everybody else's version not black fake me out you may see me glance at him at no time do you see me stop but people refuse to believe that the one thing i did wrong was when i ran i didn't look in it's a lesson in baseball the very fact that lonnie didn't take two steps and look toward the hitter get the ball off the back that was one game one play one nine look that cost the atlanta it's a world championship [Music] every game there's potentially one call that can change that game big time consider the 77 nlcs the phillies were one out away from a 5-4 win that would put them up two games to one on the dodgers and they got the ground ball that would end it the dodgers have a man on third and the batter is davey lopes here's davey lopes game on the line ground ball off spit it hit mike smith in the knee and it went directly to the shortstop larry boa boa got it through the first unbelievable play bang bang play bruce roman goes safe yes no not in time this game is tied danny ozark was the manager comes out to argue he was emphatic and everything and he wanted to play but i told him that's the way it was that's the way i saw it in replays over and over again it was shown that froming blew the call davey lopes was indeed out oh so close oh so close i didn't think he was out i thought he was safe and he did call the right play my supervisor fred flagg he said bruce we looked at the tapes 14 times in the trailer and he said we still couldn't tell and i said fred i had one shot at it that's the way i saw it this is exciting baseball a base hit for davey lopes this game is tied in the ninth inning five to five all i know is this i was extremely happy that we still had life the dodgers would pounce on the momentum to win the game in the next day the series it's forever known as black friday in philly the day the crucial call did not go their way we're one out two strikes away from winning the game and the roof caves in there's enough told legend that when a billy goat was banned from a game at wrigley field during the 1945 world series a curse was cast in the cups sound crazy well consider this play in the 84 lcs between the padres and the cups it might make you a believer at that time was just the best of five series and the series was all equal at two games a piece and it looks as though the cubs are going to win they're up three to two and just eight hours away from advancing to the world series for the first time since the curse of 45 but then tim flannery came up with a man on second tim flannery hits a ball to first base i think more than anything i was frustrated that i had seen leon make that play many many times if he feels that baldy gets the out it's a man on third that's two outs instead of a run in in the game being tied even if he didn't make the play just to have knocked it down not have a chance to hold a lead on his knee or his glove and it misses everything when that ball went through durham's leg the pressure's lifted because you're even and now we get an extra out and when you get an extra out you're supposed to cash it in and that's what we did san diego and then the padres go on to win the game and walk off and go to the world series against detroit a two-time all-star durham will forever be remembered for the ball that went through his legs as for the cubs the curse endured for their legacy of heartbreaking losses would continue number five it was 1941 and the mighty yankees were back in the world series having won four times in the last five years they were facing the brooklyn dodgers who hadn't been there in more than two decades but brooklyn was now one strike away from evening the series game four yankees are up two games to one ninth inning nobody on tommy hendrick is the batter the hugh casey's got me three and two two men out you casey was known every so often to load the ball up by that i mean with towards football and this was really a spot for him to do it i gave him the curveball sign and this one broke it was toned down like that turns out to be the sharpest breaking curve ball that hugh casey has ever thrown so as i'm going through i'm trying to hold the ball bat up too late but at the same time i'm looking behind me and there goes the ball [Music] i couldn't believe that i missed it and i couldn't believe what was happening the alert tommy hendrick reached first base and if you gave the 1941 yankees any bit of extra life you were in serious trouble and the yankees went on to win the game seven to four the dodgers never recovered and the yankees would go on to win their fifth world championship in six years a lot of people feel if they'd gotten that out if owen had been able to hold that ball and not let it go by him and the dodgers had won that game it would have been a different world series the blame has always gone to owen and owen never blasted casey he's such a great pitcher and pitch such a good game and here a goof like me missing it [Music] the year was 1985 and the cardinals were three outs away from a title ninth inning one to nothing cardinals we had a one run lead going into the ninth inning and i was all geared up i think we all will get up herzog wants the right-hander herzog did what had worked for him for the last month or so of the season he brought in the rookie todd warrell to close it today was automatic he'd come in and we knew he was going to get the job done and so that meant that george order would come off the bench george will pitch it from oddly i remember george order hitting a ball a little swimmer to the right side being fielded by clark he fit to todd warrell don denkenger who was one of the best umpires of his era misses the call i don't think there's any doubt about it is clearly out we couldn't believe the call it wasn't even close with their feathers ruffled by the call in the ensuing past ball the cardinals imploded kansas city had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and though we'll never know if the cardinals would have won the fact is the royals got an extra out one that changed everything the game turned our way we took advantage of that new life our guys rebounded we won that game and went on the next day the kansas city royals are the 1985 world champions that one play really dictated why we did not win the world series cardinal fans will tell you that is the most galling defeat [Music] in the 2003 nlcs the cubs needed just five outs to advance to the world series where they hoped to put to rest all that talk of a goat and a curse [Applause] it was three nothing luis castillo had a great at batman it's his pop flight on the line and you know we're all thinking there's out number two and you know something happened but we saw a guy's hand go out there and a lou was mad i was so upset because i knew i had it 100 i had a great job i timed the ball real well and i had it until the fan interfered with me doom was coming at wrigley field you know something will ultimately happen to sabotage the cubs and on that night you're wondering i think this is it was it ever as the florida marlins got the cubs goat by scoring eight runs that inning it's safe to say that every cub fan has to be wondering is the curse of the billy goat alive and well but the scapegoat this night was a fan named steve bartman here at wrigley when the opposing team hits a home run they throw the ball back onto the field i'm surprised someone hasn't thrown that fan onto the field i felt sorry for bartman here's a guy left his house that morning happy his head going to the ball game not knowing that when he got home that night his whole life was going to be changed it could have happened to anybody what he did was a complete natural reaction but in that situation because five outs away from going to the world series people needed someone to blame and steve bartman was the one to blame the cubs lost that game and it sure didn't help when they lost game seven too the florida the cubs haven't gotten that close since and the loss still hurts today you don't know how bad i wanted to win not only for us but for the city but for bartman too i was gonna put him next to me in the car going down michigan avenue you just figure sometimes these things aren't meant to be [Music] we now return to prime nine where this week we're focusing on the nine biggest gaps in the history of baseball these are moments in games that come flying out of nowhere changing the course of that game in the process while reminding us that we're all human so now it's time for the biggest gaffes of all the ones that are firmly entrenched in baseball lore we begin with number two [Music] in 1908 the giants were in a furious pennant race with two other teams including their arch rivals the cubs those were raucous times when they came down to the wire with the chicago cubs those last few games of the season carried an awful lot of emotion none more so than the infamous merkel's boner game at the polo grounds bottom of the ninth it was a tie game and the giants had men on first and third and al bridwell lying to be set as the giant scored the winning run thousands of fans streamed under the field to celebrate the win but hold on fred merkel who was on first base when the game-winning single was struck instead of proceeding to second base and touching it veered off the base path toward the center field clubhouse at the polar grounds and by not touching second he started a chain of events that changed baseball history cubs second baseman johnny evers noticed a rules infraction on the part of merkel you were supposed to touch second base evans called for the ball there was a lot of confusion nobody knows which baseball evers got into his hands whether it was the actual ball or some teammate tossed him a baseball ever stepped on second merkel was called out and the winning run was taken off the books because of the conditions the game could not be resumed the fans would not be returned to their seats umpire hank o'day declared the game a tie and the game had to be replayed from the start this game might not have mattered but at the end of the regular season the giants and the cubs were tied and although the giant sent the great christy matheson to the mound and what amounted to a one-game playoff they lost so in effect the merkel blunder cost the giants a penance merkel went on to have a long career both as a player and as a minor league manager and a distinguished reputation as a great baseball mind but what fred merkel did is the greatest base running error committed in the history of the game [Applause] [Music] hoogie walsh is still hoping to win it for new york three and two of the count and the pitch by stanley at a ground ball trickling i watched the tape of bill buckner a hundred times and i'm not just saying this every time i watch it there's a tiny part of me that thinks he's gonna catch a ball because it sets an easy play and it's so basic we've seen it eight thousand times it's such a big moment um and he doesn't do it it is a fair ball gets five bucks there rounding third night gonna win they win it's savvy literally a you know second time changes everything the mets would go on of course to win the world series but it certainly wasn't all buckner's fault you know he made a mistake i mean the ball went under his glove but if you go back and look at that play by play you will see that the game was out of line and out of control when that happened indeed it took a whole series of events to set the stage for our number one gaffe all right so here are the red sox 1986 and they still haven't won a world series since 1918 and they've had all these close calls cincinnati has won the world championship beating the boston red sox four to three heartbreaking reversals and now it appears that it's finally gonna happen it is five to three red sox calvin cerrone trying to finish off the mets and the 1986 baseball season we were down to our last out and i remember everybody all of a sudden they grabbed a bat and said well i'm not making the last out lined into left field and then comes the wild pitch [Applause] [Applause] and what people forget about buckner is he was beaten up dave stapleton was supposed to be out there dave stapler was a backup first baseman for the red sox he was younger than bill buckner he was healthier than bill buckner he was a better defensive player than buckner but out of respect for his spectacular season in 86 the red sox kept buckner at first in the ninth so he could be there for the championship moment second of all people say what are you beating mookie rose into the bag hey move were you gonna beat buckner into the bag on that play it was questionable come on dude mookie was gonna beat him hands down i don't think billy buckner with his legs at that particular time was going to beat mookie wilson to the bag but for all these vindications one fact remains got to make the play no matter how you look at it you know we can look at 10 different ways here is it hits slow or will it take a bad hop one thing any player tell you if you don't make the play you don't make to play before we go we'd like to set the record straight buckner will always be remembered for a ball that went through his legs but the man played 22 seasons had more than 2 700 hits won a batting title and as one of just five players with 200 hit seasons in both the american and national leagues [Applause] it just goes to show how one moment in baseball can cast a cloud on an outstanding career you know his kids who were harassed he eventually moved out of boston in fact he moved all the way to boise idaho but after the red sox won it all in oh four and oh seven all was forgiven when billy bucks came back please welcome back to boston number six bill buckner you've got a standing ovation walking all the way in from left field and acknowledged the crowd and bill is crying like a baby it seems like he's been forgiven i hope people are a little happy for bill bockner having a little of that weight taken off of him because he's a good guy he was a great player who deserved a lot more respect than it got who knew that a gaff could have such a great ending well that's our prime nine what's yours

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Views: 14,360

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Id: CA_QtjffwMs

Length: 24min 0sec (1440 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 28 2020