Table of Contents Preface Introduction. The Devil We Know: A Very Brief History of Umpiring Part One. The Umpire Giveth, the Umpire Taketh Away: deleteStreaks and Records Helped or Hindered by Umpires * Johnny Vander Meer's Consecutive ­No-Hitters * Joe DiMaggio's 56-Game Hitting Streak * Don Larsen's Perfect World Series Game * Bob Shaw's ­Balk-a-Thon * Don Drysdale's Consecutive Scoreless Innings Streak * Orel Hershiser's Consecutive Scoreless Innings Streak * The 1998 Home Run Chase (Featuring Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa) * Kerry Wood's 20-Strikeout Performance * Armando Galarraga's ­Near-Perfect Game * Max Scherzer's ­Near-Perfect Game Part Two. The Road to October: Critical Calls During deletethe Regular Season * Bob Ferguson's Campaign Against Gambling * Tim Hurst and the Beer Glass Incident * Soggy Games in Pittsburgh: Round 1 * Soggy Games in Pittsburgh: Round 2 * Fred Merkle's Infamous Blunder * Stuffy McInnis's Gift Homer * Germany Schaefer Steals First Base * Bill Brennan Imposes His Iron Will * The Indecision of Charles Johnston * Red Jones's Fourteen Ejections * Two Balls in Play at Wrigley Field * Don Money's Nullified Grand Slam * The Pine Tar Game * Wild Card Tiebreaker Game * Bill Hohn's Fist Bump * 19-Inning Marathon Ended by Jerry Meals's Blown Call Part Three. The Victors and the Spoils: Playoff Controversies * The Jeffrey Maier Game * Livan Hernandez's 15-Strikeout Performance * The 1998 ALCS Disaster * 1999 ALCS: The Phantom Tag and Other Issues * Pierzynski and the Uncaught Third Strike * Midges Invade Jacob's Field * 2009 Playoffs: The Fall Guys * 2010 Playoffs: Bad Calls in Multiple Rounds * 2012 NL Wild Card Game: Improperly Invoked Infield Fly Rule * 2015 ALCS Game 6: A Wet, Wild Finish in Kansas City * 2016 NLCS Game 4: Angel Hernandez's Blown Call at Home Plate * 2017 NLDS Game 5: Nationals Lose on Account of Jerry Layne's Mistakes Part Four: Legends of the Fall: Infamous World Series deleteDebates * 1885 World's Championship Series: Umpire David Sullivan's Hot Mess * 1911 World Series Game 5: The Run That Shouldn't Have delete deleteCounted * 1925 World Series Game 3: Sam Rice's Mystery Catch * 1935 World Series Game 3: Moriarty Defies Landis with 3 Ejections * 1948 World Series Game 1: Bill Stewart's Blown Pickoff Call on Phil Masi * 1955 World Series Game 1: Jackie Robinson Steals Home * 1969 World Series Game 5: The Old Shoe Polish Trick * 1970 World Series Game 1: Ken Burkhart's Miraculous delete delete­Behind-the-Back Call * 1975 World Series Game 3: Armbrister Interferes with Fisk * 1978 World Series Game 4: Reggie Jackson Interferes with Infield Throw * 1985 World Series Game 6: Don Denkinger's Blown Call at First Base * 1998 World Series Game 1: Rich Garcia Gives Tino Martinez an Extra Pitch to Work With * 2006 World Series Game 2: Kenny Rogers and the "Smudgegate" Affair * 2011 World Series Games 3 and 7: Ron Kulpa and Jerry Layne Make a Mess of Things * 2013 World Series Game 3: Cardinals Score ­Game-Winner on Obstruction Call at Third Base * 2017 World Series Game 5: Bill Miller's Oddly Shaped Strike Zone Notes Bibliography Index.