Umpiring is a really hard job and they don't deserve a fraction of the vitriol they receive. And yet every once in awhile they make a call that deserves to be disseminated so people can look upon it with morbid curiosity. So here's Cubs' Patrick Wisdom getting rung up by home plate umpire Adam Hamari last night on a changeup that barely flirted with the outside corner,.
A lesser man would have argued and been well within his rights to raise a big stink about it. Perhaps Wisdom, like the rest of us, was more shocked than anything to see a pitcher rewarded for simply. being in the general vicinity of a large strike zone.
I can't defend this one. It started a ball and remained a ball.
Thanks to Umpire Auditor we know the pitch was 4.37 inches outside. Can you imagine if we didn't have that information? How would we be able to tell it was a bad call? I am genuinely interested how someone's passion in life becomes auditing umpires, but no judgement here.
This article was originally published on thebiglead as Umpire Makes Impossibly Bad Strike Three Call on Patrick Wisdom.