Top 6 Most Shocking MLB Events of All-Time: The Games - #3 The Jeffrey Maier Game

Steve Bartman interferes and he's crucified.  Young Jeffrey Maier does it and he's praised.  See what a home crowd can do?  In Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS, 12-year old Jeffrey Maier reached over the right field wall to seemingly grab a Derek Jeter ball from landing in the glove of Baltimore's Tony Tarasco.  Umpire Rich Garcia called it a home run, not fan interference, and the Yankees eventually captured their first World Series title since 1978.

Here's another But: Was the ball really going to be a home run?  Scott Erickson recently said HERE that there was no doubt.  The ball was going to be caught.  But look at where the ball was caught.  Look at its trajectory as it fell toward earth.  Then look at Tony Tarasco's glove.  And look at his feet.  They were planted on the ground.  Was the ball really going to go over the wall?  Possibly not.  But the ball just as possibly wasn't going to be caught, either.  Remove Jeffrey Maier from the equation and we might have had a double instead of a game-tying home run.  Look at the video and pictures and decide for yourself.

When I interviewed Scott Erickson , all was well until we were finishing up and I remembered he'd been on the 1996 Orioles team that faced the Yankees in the ALCS.  "You were at the Jeffrey Maier game," I said. 

"I started it," he said.

"It always looked to me like Tony Tarasco didn't jump for the ball," I said.  "He wasn't going to catch it anyway."

"He didn't need to jump," Erickson said.  But picture growing resentment in his voice.  As he spoke (you'll hear it in September), he was growing annoyed, first with the memory and then with me.  "(Umpire) Rich Garcia was asleep that day."

I eventually said, "Well, we'll never know, will we?"

Scott snapped back, "Know what?"  In Scott's mind, we did know.  The ball would've been caught.  I didn't want to argue, and I didn't want to argue and lose, so I collected myself quickly and said, "We'll never know if the Orioles would've made the World Series."

He had a response for that too.  "We would've had a 2 games to none advantage going back home."  In Scott's mind, the Orioles would've made the World Series.

Old wounds never heal, especially when the stakes are so high.  I don't blame Scott for feeling the way he does.  He still has the competitive passion for winning.  That will help him in the world of Hollywood, where he's now a film producer.  (His first film, A Plumm Summer, is out now.) 

One additional thought: Armando Benitez was on the mound.  Orioles and Mets fans know full well that if the Maier mess hadn't occured, Benitez likely would have still found a way to blow the save.  Sorry Mr. Erickson, but the Yankees would have tied the game that inning no matter what.

To read the #1 Most Shocking Event: The Games, go HERE.

To read the #2 Most Shocking Event: The Games, go HERE.