Umpire admits he's wrong and still throws him out, a breakdown
What Happened
In a 2012 matchup between the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays, Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes is trying to strand a runner on third base and preserve a shutout in the seventh inning. On a 2-2 count, Blue Jays outfielder Dwayne Wise steps up to the plate and fouls the ball straight up. Veteran Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter is celebrating his birthday, and the crowd is energized as Wise races back towards the wall to make the catch. As Wise jumps and reaches for the ball, he disappears into the stands, and the umpire immediately calls him out, believing Wise has made the catch. However, when Wise emerges from the stands, his glove is clearly empty, and the ball is visible in the hands of a fan in the front row. Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez and manager Joe Girardi argue vehemently with the umpire, who refuses to overturn the call, even after seeing the replay which clearly shows the ball falling out of Wise's glove. Blue Jays manager John Gibbons also comes out to discuss the play with the umpire, who eventually admits he made the wrong call but refuses to change it, throwing Gibbons out of the game instead. In the postgame interview, the umpire acknowledges that he should have asked Wise to show him the ball before making the out call, a lapse that became a catalyst for the expansion of video replay reviews in Major League Baseball. Wise, who did not even attempt to sell the catch, simply stood up and ran off the field, while the fan in the stands excitedly held up the recovered ball. This highly controversial and incorrect call, made worse by the umpire's refusal to correct it, would become one of the most memorable and impactful moments of the 2012 MLB season.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentOne of the most unnecessarily wrong
calls in MLB history. The year is 2012.
This breakdown is brought to you by
SeatGeek. We got Phil Hughes up. A
runner on third. Seventh inning, two
outs. Looking to strand that runner.
Keep the shut out. First pitch, fast
ball inside. Next pitch, curveball
outside. Third pitch, fast ball inside.
Two strikes. Now goes fast ball right
down the middle. It's fouled up. Is it
going to stay in play? Dwayne Wise
coming. Coming. Did he grab it? Do we
have a moment? Do we have a camera shot?
What's going on? They cut away. Phil
Hughes. Uh,
yes. All right. Dwayne Wise comes back
onto the field and runs in and just
keeps running. It's Jeter's birthday.
They high five and then they do the
national anthem. No, they do. God bless
America. And he's uh muttering, I hope
they don't show the replay. Please don't
show the replay on the big screen. And
the reason why, if you watch the replay,
you did you see it? Did you see it? Did
you see this guy's platinum hair? Well,
watch again if you missed it. It goes
into his glove and then it very clearly
falls out of his glove. I mean, really
just stopped it. We've got the guy with
a brace on his right arm, only left arm.
He helps him up. Really nice guy. And
then puts on his hat. He's a Blue Jays
fan, so of course he's a nice guy, huh?
Kid helps him up. That kid's probably so
excited. The umpire runs in. That man is
wearing a nice sweater. Tuesday night,
he's dressed up. Just delightful. Like,
that's a nice clap clap clap. So, here's
this shot. And the best part about this
is Dwayne Wise didn't even try to sell
this as a catch. He all he did was stand
up after falling. Guy's got an itchy
stomach behind him, huh? It's tough.
tough time to just be itching, digging
away in there. Wow. Anyway, he stands
up. Look at his glove and his hand. It's
It's down. It's open. A ball isn't in
there. And he's not trying to sell it at
all. That doesn't matter. The umpire
runs in and says, "Out."
Doesn't ask to see the ball. He's
standing right there. Just out. And then
the the really the best part is it gets
even worse for the umpire. The ball
rolled down. And the man in the red
shirt, he reaches down, grabs it, holds
it up in the air. The guy next, "Oh, you
got the ball." He's like, "Yeah, I got
the ball." The umpire, all he had to do
was look left. And he would have seen
the ball in that gentleman's hands. He
didn't look left. He just said, "Out."
So there you go. Out. And the guy holds
it up again. He's like, "Uh, out." Um,
but I have it. Um, okay. Great catch.
Now, Hanahan watched the replay in
between innings, came back out to talk
to the umpire and was just giving him
umpiring 101 lessons and he just said,
"You got to at least tell him. You got
to say, show me the [ __ ] ball. I
didn't do that." You know what? Never
[ __ ] come out here and start
something with me. What did I do? You
know what? You're in out. YOU'RE RIGHT.
WHY DID YOU THROW ME OUT? You're right.
And you don't come out because you
>> I know. And you're right about that.
Yeah. And I listen to you. Yeah. But
don't come out here and tell me I'm
wrong when I already know I'm wrong.
Hurts my dang feelings.
you know, I'm not going to walk up to
you and be like, "Dude, you struck out."
Uh, anyway, the umpire did go on to talk
to reporters, which a lot of them don't.
And he said, "I went out on the ball and
saw the ball into his glove in the
stands. He disappeared in the stands,
and I believed that the ball was in his
glove. Now that I see the tape, it's
obvious that the ball fell out of his
glove. In hindsight, I should have asked
him to show me the ball." We all agree.
Jack Hanahan went on to say, "I can live
with the fact that he didn't see him
drop the ball or live with the fact that
he didn't see the fan jumping up and
down two feet away excited he got a foul
ball, but to not ask him to see the ball
is absolutely inexcusable and it's
frustrating." And then they asked Dwayne
Wise his thoughts and he said, "Normally
when a guy makes a play like that,
that's the first thing they ask him to
show him the ball." But I guess he was
confident that I made the catch. He made
the call really quickly. I just told
myself to try to get up, keep myself
together, and run off the field. It was
a tough angle for him, but truthfully,
the ball popped out. Now, this was one
of the bigger catalysts for replay
because
uh I don't need to finish that sentence,
but this couple other plays it was like,
hey, with replay, we just like eliminate
it. So, that is one of my favorite
unnecessarily wrong calls. Player wasn't
even trying to dupe the umpire. He just
decided I've seen enough and I am
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