No regrets: '85 Series ump Denkinger says Royals' Cinderella postseason is great for KC

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Regret? No, no, no. Regret's not the word. Let's just say curious. That's it. Don Denkinger is curious.

"Think what it would have been like if there had been instant replay," the longtime former major-league umpire tells FOXSportsKansasCity.com.

"Sure, you think about (that), absolutely. It was pretty clear once you saw it on replay that he wasn't safe. And if (the call) was overturned, what would have happened if it had been seen on instant replay? Who knows? You never know.

"History is what it is, and you just live with it."

For the last 29 years Denkinger has had to do just that, for better or for worse. Mostly the latter.

Only Mother Nature -- which washed away Monday's scheduled Game 3 of the American League Championship Series -- can seemingly slow down the Kansas City Royals, just two wins away from their first World Series appearance since 1985. Denkinger, now 78, remains to this day one of that Series' central characters, a key figure in the lore of the Royals, the St. Louis Cardinals and baseball itself.

It's the stuff of October legend: Denkinger was umpiring at first base during Game 6 in Kansas City. The Cardinals were leading the series three games to two, and nursing a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the ninth. Jorge Orta hit a slow roller to St. Louis first baseman Jack Clark and from that point forward, Denkinger's life would never be the same.

Umpire Don Denkinger watches the play as reliever Todd Worrell takes the toss from Jack Clark and Jorge Orta stretches for first base.

The call was "safe," even though replays -- then a part of the television coverage, but not a part of the adjudication process -- showed from every conceivable angle that Clark's feed to pitcher Todd Worrell at the bag had beaten Orta. You know the rest: Worrell melted down, Herzog melted down, and the Cards did the same. The Royals rallied for a 2-1 win, and carried that momentum into Game 7, rolling to an 11-0 victory and clinching the franchise's first -- and, to date, only -- Series title.

"That (call) doesn't make a whole lot of difference," he says. "I'm retired now, I don't have to worry about it."

For the first time since Back To the Future and Duran Duran were cool, the Royals are postseason players. A gorilla, 29 years in the making, finally off a city's collective backs.

"They just didn't have it together," says Denkinger, who retired in 1998 and now divides his time between Arizona and northern Iowa.

"And what can you say? They've done a good job. You'd think they would have surfaced (in the postseason) some time in those (29 years). But they haven't until now. I guess you've got to take it as it comes.

"That's great. I think it's great for the city and it's great for the fans -- they're getting 110 percent backing from the fans and they're out there; they backed it up."

Denkinger's big-league umpiring career began in 1969 and coincided with the Royals' expansion berth, ascension and eventual decline. He remembers firsthand when Kansas City truly was a baseball town first, when the Royals rose to prominence in the early '70s just as the Chiefs were slipping from their Super Bowl high into mediocrity.

"I think (the atmosphere now) is a resemblance of what it was like back in '85 when everybody was excited and the town was on fire," Denkinger says. "And baseball was it. The Chiefs weren't really doing that much back then, and they're probably not doing much right now."

In the years since the '85 Series, Denkinger has rarely shied away from his mistake, nor from the public. While reviled by Cardinals fans, he was -- and still is -- regarded as one of the best umpires of his generation, having worked four World Series (1991 was his last), three All-Star Games and six American League Championship Series, serving as crew chief for the ALCS three different times.

Don Denkinger's trading card from Topps' 2012 'Allen & Ginter' collection. 

Eventually, the death threats trickled away. The hate mail did too, more or less, as the Cardinals played in five more Fall Classics and won two more championships.

In fact, Denkinger says most of the letters he receives these days are requests to sign the trading card that collectibles giant Topps dedicated to him in 2012 as part of its "Allen & Ginter" imprint. The ex-collegiate wrestler is featured in an eclectic set that included MLB stars and a bevy of non-baseball celebrities such as Bob Knight, Rulon Gardner, Richard Petty, Erin Andrews, Curly Neal, Arnold Palmer, Michael Phelps, Roger Federer, Ara Parshegian, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Kate Upton, Al Unser Jr., Greg Gumbel and Michael Buffer.

"I don't know how many hundreds or thousands of those I've received in the mail," he says. "And a lot of them with written notes.

"Once in a while, they'll say something (mean). But very, very rarely."

Denkinger is the only umpire in that particular set and one of the rare ump cards released by Topps over its storied history.

"I thought it was an honor," Denkinger says.

There have been several in his life, some more special than others. In 2010, the baseball writers in St. Louis invited him to town to present him with a plaque.

At the ceremony, they sat him next to Worrell. Of course.

"I don't know if it was necessary to bury the hatchet, but it probably was nice that I had the opportunity to meet him," Denkinger says. "I didn't know him prior to that.

"But he was a real gentleman. You just don't ask for more than that. Respect is always all you ever wanted."

You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter at @SeanKeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com.