Conclusive video proof that Matt Holliday never touched the plate.
Here is conclusive video proof that Matt Holliday never touched the plate. Using a reverse angle still frame that surfaced on MLB.com it is now possible to show what was happening from the viewpoint of Tim McClelland. Unfortunately the video that the still frame came from has yet to appear, so until it does, this is clip is 97% the best analysis that can be done. (note: The sound is a bit out of sync at times but I think you’ll be able to follow along.)
If you can watch this video and still think that Holliday touched the plate then you probably think O.J. Simpson is innocent also. Well maybe that’s a little harsh but you get the idea. Holliday’s hand clearly comes out from underneath Michael Barrett’s foot before he could have touched the plate. Barrett’s heel remains flatly on the ground while his foot blocks Holliday’s hand all the way beyond the plate as Holliday continued his slide.If and when the reverse angle video ever does surface (and just where the heck is it right now?) it could potentially be the only “single shot” proof that Holliday missed the plate. Until then, the best that can be done is this multiple angle, cross referenced, replay that clearly shows, Matt Holliday never touched the plate.
Wow, you are lame. Hoffman would have given it up to the very next batter anyway. He was off, his slider wasn’t working, his fast ball was a speedy 85 mph and that would have been the 2nd out only. Get a life.
++++++++++
ADMIN’s response.
Next batter would have been walked, but again that is not the issue. The question is did Matt Holliday touch the plate”
great analysis. why was there no above home plate view, woulda made things a lot easier. tbs needs to have that in every big game.
NLCS
rockies* vs. Dbacks
1. This whole site is pathetic.
2. Your stupid video STILL doesn’t prove it. This ball as reference point thing is crap…and the resolution on the movies just isn’t good enough to prove what you’re trying to prove.
3. EVEN IF HOLLIDAY DID NOT TOUCH THE PLATE…Barrett denied him access to the plate without the ball. Call goes as interference, Holliday gets the plate.
4. Get over it.
———————
ADMIN’s response
Jeff,
1. You are very articulate and I welcome your critique.
2. The “ball as a reference point” is a viable way of matching up footage from three different cameras to one point in time. Think of it as a freeze frame in the Matrix as the camera moves around to different angles.
3. You incorrectly raise the point of interference. This site is about Holliday missing the plate. Besides, you are wrong on the interference issue. Did you know that if interference were the call then the safe sign would not have been given? The call for interference is the same as for “time”
4. I am over the call, I’m still working on the whole media whitewash thing though.
j%68 c$#*t you are a (expletive) idiot. I honestly can’t believe you registered this domain and spent all this time dissecting one (possibly) bad call in a all-around poorly umped game.
Where’s your response to the Atkins Home Run that was ruled a double?
That’s right, there isn’t one, because you are cherrypicking things to get upset about.
ADMINS’s reponse: I agree that Atkins’ double actually cleared the fence. Maybe you should start a site about that? As for getting upset, I guess I did use all caps to yell a few times but it was more out of incredulousness than anger, I’m sorry if I came across the wrong way. And as for registering the domain, well that took $9 so no big deal there, and learning how to use wordpress has been fun this week. One of the nice things about this site is that once the story is completely covered, I can just stop work on it and leave it as is as a permanent testament to the blown call for the cost of maybe $120 per year which is well within my budget.
It’s still inconclusive. Can’t really prove it either way from this video. Play stands as called!
vr, Xei
I’m loving this stuff more and more. The Rockies fans that seem so upset about all this bring classic literature to mind. Shakespeare actually…
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
–From Hamlet (III, ii, 239)
News: The great thing about baseball is that no one knows what happens next. Time does not expire. Strange things happen all the time. What-if’s are rampant. How about this one… What if Milton Bradley had been in center field instead of Brady Clark?
Matt Holliday STILL has not touched home plate. Nothing can or ever will change it. Will a World Series title be tainted by that? Not really. How can it be when the team has won 19 of their last 20?
But this is a fact. Holliday never touched home plate.
get over it, besides, mcclelland had like .006 seconds to make a call, not pictures and videos on youtube to help him. this isnt the first time and its not the last time a call will be missed in a fraction-of-a-second call.
+++++++++++++
ADMIN RESPONSE:
Well see that’s the point of this whole site. To prove that it was a blown call. Thanks for agreeing with me.
You are (redacted) pathetic, and an embarrassment to baseball fans everywhere.
Your counter argument to the fact that it was interference being irrelevant says it all.
get a (redacted) life, you brainless dork.
*************
ADMIN’s RESPONSE:
Might want to read this post.
Get back to me after you do.
hey here is a bunch of blurry, zoomed in videos that still don’t show any conclusive shot or the play from the perspective of the ump. clearly, this was a wrong call! If you don’t think so, then you are obviously as dumb as someone who ignored mountains of physical evidence against OJ Simpson!
You answered “what” you’re trying to do on the site: “I have decided to step up to the plate to see what I could do to ensure that Matt Holliday’s safe call takes its rightful place in the pantheon of truly horrible botched calls.” But you haven’t really answered “why”. Are you bitter about the call? That’s fine and understandable. Are you trying to get attention? That’s also fine and understandable. But if you’re truly motivated to expose how the Media whitewashes the truth there are countless real stories to give yourself to that could really make a difference–e.g., Darfur, global warming, China and North Korean human rights violations, socialized medicine.
So really, why? What’s your personal agenda?
++++++++++++++++++++++++
ADMIN RESPONSE:
Am I bitter about the call? No. I’m actually a Pirate fan primarily, but follow the Padres due since I live in San Diego. As a Pirate fan I would love to have a winning season let alone a season where we lose a one game playoff, so I wouldn’t say that I’m bitter.
Am I trying to get attention? For this story and this site - yes. For myself - no. You’ll notice that the URL registration is private, that I don’t reveal my name, and that there are no commercial links. This is not about getting attention for myself.
On your suggestion that I try instead to expose media whitewashes such as “Darfur, global warming, China and North Korean human rights violations, socialized medicine.” well I have to say that those are beyond the scope of my abilities. In contrast to those issues which are constantly morphing, addressing Holliday’s slide is an issue that has finite boundaries. Unlike many actors, I don’t have the skill set necessary to qualify as an expert in any of the issues that you mentioned. But, I do know a blown call when I see one.
So really, why? What’s your personal agenda? Have you read the book “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell? Basically Gladwell’s premise is that that we can know things with great accuracy before we take the time to consciously think about them. I had a “blink” moment when I saw this replay in a sports bar, I felt that I KNEW that Holliday missed the plate as soon as I saw the third base angle. I was so convinced that I registered this domain later that night. I’ve been looking for a small, limited scope, project that I could explore to teach myself wordpress in the process (this is my first substantial blog) and reviewing this play seemed like a good fit. I was a bit surprised the next day when ESPN just said “the replays are inconclusive” and that is when I decided to “decided to step up to the plate to see what I could do to ensure that Matt Holliday’s safe call takes its rightful place in the pantheon of truly horrible botched calls.” Really, its that simple.
it doesn’t matter anymore, get over it all ready
++++++++++++++++++
ADMIN RESPONSE:
Actually, with the Rockies making it to the World Series I could argue that the call matters more than ever. Think that Phillies fans would have rather faced the Padres? How about Arizona fans? It is undeniable that this call had a significant impact on the 2007 post season, and will probably always be talked about when the Rockies’ 2007 season is recalled.
where’s the video of atkins home run?
+++++++++++++++++
ADMIN RESPONSE:
Well, I imagine that would be on AtkinsDoubleWasAHomeRun.com. As stated multiple times, this site is about Holliday missing the plate. Not Atkins hit, not who should have won, not other unknowable “what if’s.”
I understand that your purpose for creating this website is to question the call that Holliday was safe.
I don’t think think he touched home either.
On the other hand, I think whether or not he touched the plate is moot for two reasons:
1) Garrett Atkin’s fly ball cleared the fence and should have given the Rockies the additional run needed to secure the win in regulation
2) Check the note for Rule 7.06(b) of the MLB rulebook:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/runner_7.jsp
“NOTE: The catcher, without the ball in his possession, has no right to block the pathway of the runner attempting to score. The base line belongs to the runner and the catcher should be there only when he is fielding a ball or when he already has the ball in his hand.”
Let’s take a look at the first sentence of the note:
“The catcher, without the ball in his possession, has no right to block the pathway of the runner attempting to score.”
Barrett NEVER had possession of the ball. It bounced off the ground and then his chest protector.
The second sentence reads:
“The base line belongs to the runner and the catcher should be there only when he is fielding a ball or when he already has the ball in his hand.”
Some might argue that Barrett was fielding the ball and so had the right to block the base path. If you pause the video at 2:58 (5:25 on YouTube), you see the ball has bounced off his chest and is falling toward the ground. At this point, Barrett is no longer in the act of fielding the ball, and it doesn’t have any rights to the base path. Holliday’s hand is then blocked, and obstruction would have been the proper call. He should have been awarded home plate.
The umps blew both calls, but the result is the same - the Rockies get the W
To the people that keep screaming, “Holliday still hasn’t touched the plate!”
I say, “Atkin’s fly ball still hasn’t touched the fence!”
++++++++++++++++++
ADMIN’S RESPONSE
Finally! A well reasoned response!
Let me start with #1. This site is not about Atkins home run. Its about Holliday missing the plate. My hope is that this site can prove that Holliday missed the plate, that the safe call was incorrect, and that Holliday should have been called out. I just want to prove that one fact and then let others use the fact as they see fit as they make the case for their own arguments. Sort of like making a theorem in mathematics that others then put to use in their own equations.
#2 is a bit harder. I don’t think the rule is as clear cut as some think it is. If a catcher drops a ball that is thrown to him, and then starts to try and pick it up I think he is still fielding it and therefore can still be in the base path. This is where you and I disagree, you seem to claim that once he touches the ball and drops it he can no longer be considered to be fielding it. I think that by going after the drop, which he clearly was, that he is still in the continuation of fielding the ball and thus still able to block the plate. However I also don’t think that either you or I have the credentials or training to properly interpret the rules you have cited. I am in the process of trying to get comments from unimpeachable sources about the issue of obstruction as it pertains to this play and hope to have them posted soon. The sheer lack of obstruction calls in MLB on plays at the plate also sheds light on how these rules are to be applied.
ADMIN NOTE: This response hinted at my hopes to interview Jim Evans, an MLB instructor for umpires, about this topic. The results of that interview appear here and totally eliminate obstruction as a call.
But the important questions here are, who assassinated Kennedy and did we really go to the moon?
Thanks for the two minutes of fun sharing your obsession with me.
This site is great. I just found it today. I plan to link to it when I get home.
Where are you from?
Well who’s in the world series now? The Rockies were the better team anyways. And you wanna talk blown calls, how bout that home run turned double? Maybe i should make a site called garretatkinshommeredinthesixth.com. Quit your complaining, the Rockies saved the Padres the embarrassment of getting swept by the Phillies.
*************
ADMIN’s RESPONSE
Who is in the world series now? The Rockies are. And that is one reason why this call will always be talked about. The blown call at home is the weakest link in the chain of the Rockies post season success. Holliday missed the plate, but the call went the other way and the Rockies were into the playoffs. And by the way, I’m not complaining about the Rockies winning, I’m complaining about how the established sports media swept the blown call under the rug.
i don’t see how you can say that it is “Conclusive video proof” the picture is blury from the dirt and very pixelated….you show pictures with the plate not even in view…….and the black edge around the plate is counted as part of the plate
you keep saying “as you can see” and no i dont see what you are talking about because the video is way yo blury
blury + pixelated = NOT conclusive
Black Edge is part of the plate
*************
ADMIN’s RESPONSE:
Due to the limits of the source material (flash clips on the web) the video is often blurry and pixelated as you say. But even the less than perfect video tells a lot. You don’t see Barrett’s heel move up off the ground at any time after he plants it, You can see how Holliday’s hand pops out on the third base side of Barrett’s foot. etc. I am working on getting clearer source material so that I can recut my videos but until then, the video is still conclusive if you consider all the angles.
Hang in there “admin” … it’s amazing to see how many folks visit and don’t get it … it’s not about whining … the Rockies won the game, they’ve won the first 2 rounds of the playoffs, they are a very good team, I’m rooting for them to win the World Series … *and* Holliday missed the plate *and* Tim McClelland missed the call … and it was a tough/close call … and the bottom line is that the media (most significantly, to me, including mlb.com) didn’t do a good job analyzing what happened (ie. “swept the blown call under the rug”) … and perhaps they did so intentionally (I like to think folks are competent, and so when I see a bad job being done, I think it’s fair to question motives).
What’s tragic is that even with a good/right call on this play, the Rox might have still gone on to win … but one interesting thing I just noticed in one of the videos is that Todd Helton was still on first base when Giles’ throw went by him … so the situation would have been 2-out and man-on-first … rather than what I’d presumed would have been man-on-second … which just would have made things all the more interesting …
Meanwhile, on a lighter note …
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/emergency/
*************
ADMIN’s RESPONSE:
You get an A+. That is pretty much this site in a nutshell. By the way, you left out the possibility that Helton would have made a late break for second and been thrown out for a triple play. Improbable? Yes. Impossible? No.
Something is wrong with the “Contact” page. I can enter only one letter in the name and email fields.
Maybe Hollliday didn’t touch the plate, but Barret never tagged Holliday with the ball. I would make a website about it but I actually have a life.
*************
ADMIN’S RESPONSE:
It’s certainly true that Barrett did not initially tag Holliday with the ball but I fell that he would have had McClelland not made the call of safe while Barrett was lunging with the ball towards Holliday. In fact Barrett may still have tagged Holliday but the view was obscured and I am working on getting an answer from Barrett on that question.
You consistently say that this site is about Holliday and the “blown” call. But wouldn’t it be in all fairness to examine all the missed calls in the game, and therefore all the missed calls in the season. It stands to reason that any of these blown calls could have inadvertently affected the outcome of each game and therefore could have change the season entirely.
I would think that someone trying to show the
” I’m still working on the whole media whitewash thing though.”
you would use more that just one reference. But hey. If you feel that one instance will prove the point, You have a great future in politics.
*************
ADMIN’s RESPONSE:
This site is just about the one call. Expanding the focus of this site would dilute its message that Holliday missed the plate, that the call made was wrong, and that the media subsequently glossed over the play, dismissing all replays as being inconclusive, without actually performing an analysis of the play.
See you in the World Series!
*************
ADMIN’s RESPONSE:
You know I’m rooting for you right? The more you win, the bigger the impact of this blown call gets, and the greater the chance that it will be examined more fully by the national news media. In the end I believe this call will be up there with the most famous blown baseball calls of all time.
How do you explain the injuries to Matt Holiday’s hand - puncture wounds from the catcher’s spikes, reported by the Rockies? His hand must have been under the catcher’s foot - right?
At the end of the day, this is a baseball game - there’s no crying in baseball - and no appeal, no video review.
If there had been, the angles of the richocet off the non-called home run in left field could have proved by basic geometry that the ball went over the wall. Why don’t you bring in some experts physists and video from that play? Oh, yeah, let’s ignore that, as those facts simply don’t promote your underlying claim that the Padres were treated unfairly by the officials.
While the controversy may continue for years, it doesn’t change reality of the current situation - the Rockies are in the Big Show, and the Padres can only sit back and watch.
Maybe you should travel to Phoenix and put on classes on how fans should react to a mis-perception of a bad call….make sure to bring your water bottles.
*************
ADMIN’s RESPONSE:
I never said the Padres were treated unfairly, I just said the Holliday missed the plate and that the media has not performed a due diligence analysis of the replays it labled “inconclusive”
And seriously, do you really think I’m the kind of fan that would throw a water bottle onto the field?
And I must say I do agree with you that the play could not have been reversed. But the game does deserve to be remembered, and by extension the Holliday slide deserves to be remembered correctly. It should not be recalled as a play on which the “replays were inconclusive” it should be acknowledged as a blown call that decided the game.
Moot argument, moot point, moot website. And if the Rockies do finish by winning the World Series, your assertion that this “blown call” will receive even more and more scrutiny, is amusing. Ludicrous, but amusing. The alleged “blown call” in the Patriots/Raiders playoff game, that led to New England going on to a Super Bowl win, got no more scrutiny afterward, than it got at the time. It’s an empty argument.
If you’re arguing for instant replay in MLB, you’re not alone. As for the “media swept it under the rug” angle, I lump that with all the unsubstantiated Kennedy assassination theories, the “Holocaust is a myth” nonsense, the “Moon landing was faked” crap, and the “Bush blew up the World Trade Center” idiocy.
*************
ADMIN’s RESPONSE:
I notice that at no time in your response above did you ever disagree with my assertion that Holliday missed the plate. But really do you think that ESPN gave this call and its replays as much attention as they gave the countless replays of Jeffrey Maier ? I’m just saying the amount of coverage and examination dedicated to the play has been disproportionate to the play’s impact on this game and the NL post season.
I have heard interviews from major league umpires - not on this call but others……including strike zone calls- which is not called as the rule book describes.
They often make calls based on the spirit of the play rather than the letter of the rule book. This is evident when the second baseman pulls his foot before he catches the ball on a double play or when a player not hustling gets called out incorrectly because the umpire (expecting hustle) is caught in the wrong position. These examples i remember from an umpire interview a few years ago on a local radio station. I regret that I cannot give you specific plays and games. This is also one of the umpire union’s reasons against replay.
In this play, the most important aspect is that Barrett dropped the ball. Holliday’s hand was not visible either to the eye or camera due to flying dirt, and there is no way that your analysis could have been done in 2 minutes if replay were implimented, so the call on the field would stand. The facts that Barrett dropped the ball and Holliday was close to the plate are good enough to make a safe call from the standpoint of the spirit of the play. If you weigh in the fact that he would have touched the plate had he not been obstructed, the call is simple - and correct.
If I were to concede that the call was bad, it still would not be that important in the scheme of things because it is still a make up call for the Atkins home run. When a bad call is negated by a make up call later in the game, neither call is significant because the 2 calls together provide the correct outcome to the game.
There are hundreds of bad calls every year, and if you do video analysis on strikes and balls, that number could be in the thousands. The fact that you chose a make up call to base a website on is proof enough that you are a whiner. Get a life.
*************
ADMIN’s RESPONSE
There are several things in your response that I think are factually incorrect, but I have addressed them else where. I will however highlight your one original statement that, “The facts that Barrett dropped the ball and Holliday was close to the plate are good enough to make a safe call from the standpoint of the spirit of the play.”
Its an unusual argument you have crafted from a logical standpoint. What you are saying is that Holliday could have missed the plate entirely, yet the safe call was still correct because it was in the “spirit of the play.”
I really don’t know where to begin attacking such a circular line of reasoning.
Maybe he touched it maybe he didn’t. The bottom line was that the game was not very well officiated for both teams. However, Atkins was denied the homerun which would have made extra innings improbable which would have made this discussion irrelevant. The bottom line is that the better team won that game and continues to prove themselves night after night. If the Rockies do win the Series, the Holliday “whether he touched or not touched” the plate call will be hardly a blip on the radar. For the true story will be how a team managed to pull off one of the greatest come from behind stories in baseball history and managed to go on one of the most improbable winning streaks in sports history. That is what this team will be remembered for, not some cheesy Youtube video that proves or disproves nothing.
Jeff Passen @ Yahoo.com says this in his description of the #1 “most memorable event during the [Rockies’] streak” …
Jamey Carroll lined a ball to right field, making it a race between Holliday’s legs and Brian Giles’ arm. The ball lofted toward home. Catcher Michael Barrett awaited it. Holliday dove. The ball arrived. Barrett blocked the plate. Holliday’s chin bounced off the ground, leaving a scrape that today continues to heal. His hand, sealed off by Barrett’s leg, never touched the plate. And yet home plate umpire Tim McClelland called him safe.
HE GETS IT!!!
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AvGt3Kb9dA62awgM_YfKae8RvLYF?slug=jp-rockieslist101807&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Admin - have you considered doing an update of this wikipedia entry?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Rockies
… which says this …
“Matt Holliday’s winning run came off of a controversial slide in which home plate umpire Tim McClelland called Holliday safe, despite replays being inconclusive as to whether Holliday had actually touched the plate.”
you still haven’t addressed my issue that the back edge is considered part of the plate…….all you can see in the videos is the white part of the plate which can easily been seen but the black part cannot be seen easily…..
If you would spend this much time looking at the home run that was called a double then this is a totally moot point…the game would have been over anyway. Holliday was called safe, and as an player and a part time umpire, the call always stands. Nothing is going to change the call, so why all the whining?
*************
ADMIN’s RESPONSE:
First of all I’m not whining. You don’t hear me saying that anybody was robbed. You don’t hear me asking for instant replay. You don’t hear me saying that the Padres would have won. You never heard me asking for McClelland to be suspended. And of course I know that nothing will change the actual call. What CAN CHANGE however is how the play is viewed in a historical perspective. That is what I’m trying to change. Instead of being remembered as a play where the replays were “inconclusive,” this play should be remembered as a play in which the call made on the field was wrong. And while many calls are made in error each season, few have had as much significance as this one has.
McClelland doesn’t get to see the play in slow motion, or get to see it again. Watch in at full speed and try to make a point, you can’t so stop whiningthen you need to shut up and get a life
*************
ADMIN’s RESPONSE:
The only reason that we need to slow it down and go frame by frame is that MLB has not made the video from the reverse angle available. From the looks of the one reverse angle still I could find, it appears as if that replay would have been conclusive, and it’s roughly from the same angle that McClelland was looking at it.
By the way you say in the film, Holliday pulls his hand OFF THE PLATE. If you need to see it from multiple angles and you have to do still shots then you need to realize that umpires do not have that luxury. So how you can say it is one of the worst calls ever is beyond me.
*************
ADMIN’s RESPONSE:
The only real reason that I have to use multiple angles is that MLB won’t release the missing “reverse angle replay” from the 1st base side. I think that footage, should it ever become available would really tell the story.
Ok, Matty missed the plate, so?????
The media did not “sweep it under the rug.” Heck, the commentators on TBS were already on it after about 30 seconds. It was on ESPN, Fox Sports, SI, Yahoo. It’s been brought up in interviews, put on wikipedia, and been slipped in now and then in sports talk commentary.
Plus, you say conclusive. It isn’t. You can talk about placement this, angle that, and post as many blurred videos as you want. However, you still have a problem. You do NOT have a picture that shows he did or did not touch the plate.
You want proof of a bad call? Go back and watch Oregon/Oklahoma.
*************
ADMIN’s NOTE:
I agree with you on Oregon/Oaklahoma. But let me also address the other issues you raised.
1: You are correct that the TBS commentators during the game stated that he missed the plate. The initial coverage was in my opinion accurate. If you stayed up to watch the end of the game (which many viewers on the East coast did not) then you did get a fair assessment of the play.
But after the initial comments things become murkier.
2: McClelland, the umpire crew chief, was not made available for post game interviews. This left the first base umpire to defend the call.
3: In the post game edition of Sportscenter the play was shown from several angles and the key comment was, “More importantly Michael Barrett sticks out his left foot blocking Holliday from touching home plate. Did he touch home? Yeah Ump says yes but we look at it again, and inconclusive to maybe no.”
4: Sportscenter the next day had a different story. They used a different highlight package, that contained fewer angles, and in some shots they actually cropped out the plate. The key quote from that day was Tim Kurkjian’s “I don’t think he got to the plate either, but its inconclusive.”
5: No highlight package, including ESPN’s, used the first base side camera angle that could have shown the whole play and that footage remains missing to this day.
6: Without the critical footage needed to correctly evaluate the play, reporters had to go with what they they could see at the time. Perhaps as a result of that the AP story went out with the “replays were inconclusive” wording.
7: With the AP story being reprinted nationwide, and with ESPN labeling the replays “inconclusive”, the dominant message that reached the general American populace on Oct. 2nd was that the replays were inconclusive.
8. That viewpoint took hold, although it is beginning to crack now, as renewed scrutiny is placed upon it as a result of the Rockies making the world series.
As for your statement that I don’t “have a picture that shows he did or did not touch the plate.” let me state the following. No single frame or picture can show conclusively that Holliday never touched the plate. Each frame or still can only attest to that one moment in time that it represents. Having said that, I have looked at all available replays (the “reverse angle” is still unavailable) and have broken them down frame by frame. I have yet to find a single one that show that Holliday could have touched the plate, let alone that he did.
Thank you for your comment, as it has given me an idea for a post that I may explore later.
Get over it!!!! It’s over. Have you ever heard MAKE UP CALL??? There should not have even been a 13th inning! It should have been over when a homerun was hit, instead there was a bad call and it wasn’t called a homerun. Thank God for MAKE UP CALLS!!!
*************
ADMIN’s RESPONSE:
The MLB rule book contains the following passage in the Rule 9 section for Umpires, under the heading of GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS TO UMPIRES, ”
You no doubt are going to make mistakes, but never attempt to “even up” after having made one. Make all decisions as you see them and forget which is the home or visiting club.”
Now I’m not saying that make up calls never happen, but if the rules prohibit make up calls, and you feel this was a deliberate make up call, then you are accusing Tim McClelland of intentional cheating. I just think McClelland made a mistake. Which of those two positions seems more plausible to you?