Near Perfect Game, 40 years ago.

[Conor Dary]

40 years ago today, an umpire with the eyesight of a bat, missed the call on a 3-2 count with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth and a perfect game going. Who was the pitcher and who was the blind umpire?

[lonewolf]

I remember the incident and will remember the names..just a soon as someone mentions them.

[Conor Dary]

This is from Wiki and captures what happened that day, that I watched live on WGN TV.

In 1972, MIlt Pappas went 17-7 with a 2.77 earned run average, his best full-season ERA since his 2.60 in 1965, his last year in Baltimore. On September 2 of that year, at Wrigley Field, Pappas no-hit the San Diego Padres 8-0. He retired the first 26 batters and was one strike away from a perfect game with a 2–2 count on pinch-hitter Larry Stahl, but home-plate umpire Bruce Froemming called the next two pitches—both of which were close—balls. Pappas believed he had struck out Stahl, and even decades later in 2008, continued to begrudge Froemming. Some 25 years later, a Chicago radio personality, during an interview with Pappas, got Froemming on the phone and the two argued on the air. Pappas also said in 2006 that he has seen video tape footage of that game on WGN and can see Froemming smirking immediately after the walk was issued; Froemming denied the charge.

Pappas ended the game by retiring the next batter, ex-Cub Garry Jestadt.

Froemming was a second year umpire, who proved he could be a complete dick.