![]() ![]() In the bottom of the ninth, with two outs and the Yankees trailing, 3-2, the ultimate man you’d want up came to the plate: Babe Ruth. That had nothing to do with the game’s end. Yeah, but that happened way back in the seventh. ![]() It has maybe the most famous strikeout in World Series history, when Pete Alexander came out of the bullpen to fan Yankees slugger Tony Lazzeri with the bases loaded. It’s Sultan of Swat, not Sultan of Steal: Oct. A game with a controversial non-interference call certainly qualifies as extremely unconventional, but it wasn’t the last play of the game, and so it ends up here. The run later came around to score a few minutes later for a walk-off Reds win. However, the umpire didn’t call interference, and Fisk made an error on the throw. With a runner on first and no outs in the bottom of the 10th, Reds pinch hitter Ed Armbrister laid down a sacrifice bunt and then rather clearly interfered with Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk as he tried to field it. That other weird Red Sox loss on a controversial call: Oct. ![]() And the blown call began the ending of the game, but there were still a few at-bats left before the game actually ended. So this one qualifies as an extremely unconventional ending.īut umpires do blow calls. Second, it makes the list because the Cardinals had a great bullpen that didn’t blow leads in the ninth in 1985. One reason this game makes the list is because it’s very odd for umpires to blow obvious ground outs at first. That sparked an unlikely two-run Royals rally that moved the Cardinals from clinching a world title to having to play in a Game Seven. Yeah, first base umpire Don Denkinger blew a call at first base, turning a routine ground out into an infield single by Jorge Orta. Denkinger: Oct 26, 1985: Game Six: Royals 2, Cardinals 1. So here they are, ranked by the unscientific method of “it’s how they feel to me.” 12. Ultimately, I ended up with 12 games I wanted to include. Ultimately, I decided to include a few games that didn’t end on their bizarre play, but I gave priority to games that did. Is a bizarre ending just what happens on the very last play? At first I figured that’s what I’d look at, but what if something really bizarre happens earlier in the last half-inning? Shouldn’t that get a mention? For instance, I know of one game in which a bizarre play in the top of the ninth could’ve/should’ve ended the game if it was a normal play, but because it was a bizarre play, the game kept going on. The second question seems odd-how do you define ending?-but it’s key. Defining that is arbitrary, and how you define it may be different than me, but hey, that’s life. Diving into the dictionary, bizarreness is defined as, “extremely unconventional or far-fetched.” We’re not looking for greatest or most impressive, just most far-fetched. Even in these sabermetric times, I’ve never heard of any “bizarreness” metric. Obviously, this is up to the eye of the beholder. One tricky part is obvious: how do you define “bizarre?” The second one is less obvious: how exactly do you define the ending when looking for a bizarre ending? There are two tricky parts to this list, though. I’m a baseball history nerd, so putting Saturday’s bizarreness is right up my alley. There have been greater postseason games, and there have been more legendary postseason games, but has there ever been a postseason game with such a bizarre ending? That’s the question of the hour. So apparently there was a memorable baseball game on Saturday night, with an ending that still has people talking.
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