Two clips from the 6th inning of Game 5 of the 1969 World Series show just how far umpiring has come in the past 45 years. In the top of the inning, Jerry Koosman clearly hits Orioles outfielder Frank Robinson in the side, but home plate umpire Lou DiMuro strangely rules the ball foul. This was long before the days when umpires sought help and so DiMuro stubbornly insists on the call. Robinson then takes his sweet time by actually going down into the training room to be attended to for an injury that DiMuro claims never happened. It's hard to imagine an umpire would allow this kind of behavior these days. Also, interesting to think about how thirty years later Robinson would go from hot head to gray beard, overseeing player discipline as MLB's VP of On-Field Operations.
In the bottom of the same inning, DiMuro bizzarely uses shoe polish to determine that the ball hit the cleat of Cleon Jones, which seems obvious just by the bounce of the ball to the right of home plater. But determining the call based on Gil Hodges' shoe polish claim, seems random and dubious. Indeed, Jerry Koosman later claimed he scuffed the ball himself and others said it was not even the game ball Hodges brought onto the field.
It's also interesting to note that Earl Weaver, known for his fiery temper, somehow manages not to get himself thrown out of this game, even though every MLB manager these days would have required it, after the second ridiculous call against his team in one World Series inning.
DiMuro just seems to be wandering around aimlessly, inconsistent and arbitrary in these days before umpiring became a proud and steady profession.
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Video copyright Major League Baseball
