Chuck Knoblauch's wrong turn blunder gives Tribe series tie

Chuck Knoblauch's wrong turn blunder gives Tribe series tie
Chuck Knoblauch argues what the Yankees believed to be a blatantly bad call at first base as the ball rolls away. (Herbert/News)

(Originally published on Oct. 8, 1998)

The Yankees presented their ungrateful visitors with every imaginable chance to increase the crime rate in this town, but the Indians could not steal the game they desperately needed to steal. So the Yankees gift-wrapped it for them.


While Chuck Knoblauch completely vapor-locked and argued what the Yankees believed to be a blatantly bad call at first base, Enrique Wilson scampered and stumbled all the way around from first as the ball rolled away.


This, the winning run in the top of the 12th inning yesterday, allowed the Indians to escape New York with a controversial 4-1 victory and a split of the first two games of the AL championship series.

"Which play? The bunt play?" Knoblauch said when asked to describe perhaps the most unforgettable play of the Yankees' season so far.

With Jeff Nelson (0-1) pitching and Wilson on first as a pinch-runner for Jim Thome with none out in the 12th, Travis Fryman laid down a sacrifice bunt, which Tino Martinez fielded near the first-base line.

Martinez' throw hit Fryman square between the numbers on his back practically at the same time his foot hit the base and the ball bounced away. Knoblauch calmly blew a bubble and pointed at Fryman, suggesting that the runner was the outside the designated baserunning box on the play.

MLB Rule 6.05 (k) states if the baserunner is "outside the three-foot line or inside the foul line and in the umpire's judgment interferes with the fielder taking the throw," the batter is out.

"(Fryman) was on the grass, it was so blatant," Joe Torre said. "I don't know what to say. It was a terrible call."

Video replays clearly showed that Fryman was outside the box justifying Knoblauch's claim.

"I was just kind of dumbfounded. I was really expecting the play to be called an out," Knoblauch said. "I was shocked when it wasn't."

Torre argued, but crew chief Jim Evans said later that home-plate umpire Ted Hendry's ruling was that the play occurred "right on the base" and Fryman was entitled to be there regardless of his path in getting there.

"The fact that he was literally on the base or half a step off the base when it hit him, he has a right to be in that position," Evans said.

Either way, Knoblauch waited several seconds before retrieving the ball approximately 25 feet behind the bag.

"He should've gone after the ball," George Steinbrenner said. "With this guy behind home plate (umpire Ted Hendry), you don't wait. You get the ball and hold the runners. Then you argue the play. But that wasn't the cause of the whole problem. The cause of the whole problem was the man who had to make the call and didn't make it."

Bad call or not, it doesn't excuse Knoblauch.


"No, it doesn't," Torre said flatly.

"I didn't know where the ball was," said Knoblauch, who didn't turn his head to look for the ball for several seconds. "It was so loud and by the time I realized where the ball was, it was too late."

Knoblauch's throw arrived too late to nail Wilson at home, and Fryman wound up on third. Nelson proceeded to load the bases on a hit batsman and a walk. Then Kenny Lofton greeted Graeme Lloyd with a two-run single to left-center for the final two runs.

"After the ball hit him in the back, the play kind of stopped for a second and things go a little crazy. Then they kept running and I was like, 'Oh no,'" Martinez said. "We were all saying to (Knoblauch), 'Get the ball, get the ball.' But it's not Knoblauch's fault."

Added Derek Jeter, "It's a tough way to lose, but we let that team off the hook all night. You can talk about one messed-up play, but that game never should've gotten to that point."

Fittingly enough, Knoblauch was booed mercilessly when he came to bat with two outs in the bottom of the 12th. He reached on an error, dropping him to 0-for-6 for the game and 2-for-21 in his first postseason as a Yankee.

"I can't worry about the fans' reaction," Knoblauch said. "You put on a uniform and play hard every day, you want a little respect. Fans are quick to react like that. . . . If I could've done something different on that play, I would've. But I would do it the same way if I had to do it again."