by B. B. James

Created on: January 28, 2007   Last Updated: April 16, 2007

A few other great baseball goats.

1. Fred Merkle. In 1908, he didn't touch second base on a teammate's game-winning hit. The run was disallowed, and the game was called a tie due to darkness. The game had to be replayed at the end of the season when Merkle's team (NY Giants) was tied with another for first place. Merkle's team lost, and the other team got to go to the World Series.

2. Ralph Terry. It's the 1960 World Series, and the highly favored Yankees are tied through 6 games with the Pirates. The Yankees have dominated in their 3 wins, while the Pirates have squeaked through in theirs. Top of the ninth in Game 7, the Yankees are down 9-7, but they score 2 runs to tie. Ralph Terry takes to mound for the Yankees to start the bottom of the ninth in a 9-9 game. First batter is Bill Mazeroski, a great fielder and terrible hitter. He homers off Terry - game and World Series is over. However, two years later, Terry is named World Series MVP.

3. Donnie Moore. It's 1986, and Moore is the closer for the Angels. The team is one strike from going to the World Series, leading 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth of the deciding game. Moore gives up a 2-run homer to Dave Henderson, and the Sox go onto the World Series and Bill Buckner's infamy. Three years later, Moore kills himself.

4. Don Denkinger. First base umpire in the 1985 World Series, Denkinger incorrectly called the Royals' Jorge Orta safe at first to lead off the ninth. The Royals, losing 1-0 at the time, scored 2 runs to win the game. The next day, in a Game 7 that shouldn't have happened, the Royals won 11-0.

5. Charley Finley. A's owner gets furious when 2nd baseman Mike Andrews boots two grounders in the second game of the 1973 World Series. Finley tells Andrews to say he's injured - and has him sign a notarized note attesting to that fact - so that Andrews can be substituted for the rest of the World Series. The A's manager and players dispute the note, and the Commission of Baseball requires that Andrews be put on the roster. And the manager plays him. In spite of Finley, the A's win the series.

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