Bad calls happen.
They’re a part of every sport, every game, and every day fans of some team out there are complaining about a bad call that altered a game that their team inevitably lost.
It’s not the team’s fault, it’s the umps, or the refs.
Some fans have even concocted ludicrous conspiracy theories among officials, that work in either the favor of a hated rival or to the detriment of one’s favorite team.
Bad calls do happen, but they usually even out over the course of most seasons or, even, games.
However, there are some exceptions.
Some calls over the years were so egregiously bad that they linger on—etched in the memories of the fans, whose teams were victimized by the errant call.
Baseball, with its long history and 162-game regular season, allows for more opportunities for missed calls than any other major sport.
A truly bad call isn’t just bad because it’s an obvious wrong call.
The truly bad ones have a definitive impact on the outcome of the game. When umpires miss a call and in the process, change the outcome of a game or, even worse, a whole season—that’s when they become one of the worst.