He had the base and he had the ball, man, what else is there? That’s the rule, isn’t it? – Jack Buck
Don Denkinger was born to Marie (Hay) and Anton Denkinger in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Both parents were immigrants from Germany, Anton arriving in 1924 and Marie in 1927. Don was the third child and first son, and at least 2 brothers and a sister followed.
The Denkinger family is split between two pages on the 1950 census of Cedar Falls. Don and his two sisters live with their parents at 1016 College Street. Anton is working as a janitor in a hospital. Both parents are naturalized citizens. They are the only two immigrants on the street save one gentleman from Denmark. Occupations on the two census pages cover employment such as saleslady, sheet metal worker, teacher, laborer, and Chief of Police.
Later Life
Don wrestled at Wartburg College. He served in the army from 1957-1959. He began umpiring in 1960 and made the majors in 1969, becoming a crew chief in 1977.
He umpired in 4 World Series and was behind the plate for game 7 of the 1991 series when Jack Morris of the Twins shutout the Braves 1-0 in 10 innings. Many consider this to be the greatest World Series game of all time.
He worked 2nd base during Len Barker’s perfect game in 1981, and first base for Kenny Roger’s perfect game in 1994. He was behind the plate for Nolan Ryan’s 6th no-hitter in 1990.
He is most famous for “The Call” in game 6 of the 1985 World Series. With the Cardinals leading the Royals, 1-0 in the bottom of the 9th, 3 outs away from winning the World Series, Denkinger called the leadoff hitter, Jorge Orta, safe on a groundball to first baseman Jack Clark. Clark had fielded the ball and tossed it to pitcher Todd Worrel who was covering first base. Replays showed Orta was out by half a step. Baseball did not use instant replay at the time, so the play stood. The Cardinals fell apart, dropping a pop-up, allowing a passed ball, and a walk-off 2-run single to win the game forcing game 7 of the series. Game 7 was anticlimactic as the Royals blew the Cards away 11-0.
In an article called “Throwback Thursday: Don Denkinger Blows the Call,” David Tankelfsky wrote “Denkinger walked off the field still thinking he had made the right call. After the game, he ran into MLB commissioner Peter Ueberroth by the umpire’s locker room. “Did I get it right?” Denkinger asked. The commissioner just shook his head.
Denkinger suffered through several years of hate mail and death threats, (including one in which the FBI confronted the writer) but went on to umpire until retiring in 1998. After retiring, he regularly appeared at sports shows, autographing pictures of the call. He had a painting of the call hung in a restaurant he owned. He died on May 12, 2023.
Other happenings on August 28, 1936:
- The Battle of Monte Pelado was fought, resulting in a Republican victory.
- Nationalist forces bombed Madrid for the first time.
- German War Minister Werner von Blomberg approved the deployment of combat aircraft in Spain.
- Italy prohibited the export of munitions to Spain.
- Derbyshire won the County Championship of cricket for the first time since 1874.
Tomorrow – A Bullet Leads to a Law
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Sources
- Wikipedia.org
- Ancestry.com
- Onthisday.com
- Picryl.com
- Youtube.com
Famous People and Their First Census 