The 7 Worst Calls in Sports History
Botched coin tosses, bad eyes to blame for changed outcomes of important games.
July 27, 2011— -- intro: Last night the Atlanta Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 on a hotly contested play at home plate that is now being touted as a blown call by the umpire.
Julio Lugo of the Atlanta Braves was racing to home plate when the Pirates' Pedro Alvarez threw the ball to catcher Michael McKenry. The ball easily beat Lugo to the plate, and McKenry went in for the tag -- which Lugo tried to avoid using a pop-up slide -- but while instant replays show that McKenry tapped the runner, umpire Jerry Meals called Lugo safe.
"I saw the tag, but he looked like he ole'd him and I called him safe for that," Meals said. "I looked at the replays and it appeared he might have got him on the shin area. I'm guessing he might have got him, but when I was out there, when it happened, I didn't see a tag."
To make matters worse, the game was also the longest in the Major League season -- clocking in at 6 hours and 39 minutes, with 19 innings of play.
Here is a list of the top seven worst calls in sports history.
quicklist: 1category: Worst Calls in Sports Historytitle: The Imperfect Game: Detroit Tigers vs. Cleveland Indians -- 2010url: text: Picture this, it's the bottom of the 9th inning, 2 outs. You've successfully retired 26 straight batters without a hit, just one batter away from achieving the legendary perfect game, a feat only accomplished 20 times in baseball's entire history.
This was the situation facing Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers on June 2, 2010. Galarraga pitched the ball to Cleveland Indians' shortstop Jason Donald, who hit a short grounder to first baseman Miguel Cabrera. Galarraga ran to first, caught Cabrera's throw and raised his hands in celebration, only to see first base umpire Jim Joyce call the runner safe, ending his bid for what would have been the third perfect game of 2010.
Upon reviewing the replay, which showed that Donald was clearly out, Joyce was quoted saying, "I just cost that kid a perfect game."
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