October 26, 1985: Jesse James Rides Again

Best Podcast in Baseball

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Sports, Baseball

4.8 • 673 Ratings

🗓️ 29 November 2022

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this bonus episode of the Best Podcast in Baseball, we bring you PlayBacks, an audio series that brings to life the archives of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Don Denkinger didn’t have the cushion of an instant-replay review on that October night when the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning at Royals Stadium, just three outs away from the championship.

Pinch-hitter Jorge Orta led off with a slow bouncer to the right side. First baseman Jack Clark ranged wide to field the ball and flipped a high throw to reliever Todd Worrell covering the bag.

Orta was still in the air on his final stride when the ball beat him by a half-step. Denkinger recounted he was standing too close to the play — by the time he saw Worrell catch the ball and looked down, Orta’s foot was on the base. Denkinger ruled him safe.

“I wish I would’ve gotten it right,” he said. “But I didn’t.”

The rest, as Denkinger said, is part of baseball lore.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The best podcast in baseball is brought to you by Closets by Design.
0:05.7	Update your closet, garage, office, pantry, and more.
0:09.0	Imagine your home totally organized with closets by design.
0:12.6	Call 1-800 by design.
0:14.4	That's 1-800 by design.
0:17.2	The greatest robbery in St. Louis history?
0:20.2	Maybe it was the Southwest Bank robbery of 1953.
0:23.8	But for most Cardinal fans, it was what happened in Kansas City in game six of the 1985 World Series.
0:31.0	I'm Benjamin Hockman, and this is Playbacks, an audio series that brings to life the archives of the St. Louis Post Dispatch,
0:38.2	recorded and edited by Chris Lay.
0:41.8	Jesse James Rides Again in Blue Suit by Kevin Horrigan,
0:47.4	sports editor for the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
0:50.9	October 27, 1985.
0:53.9	Dateline, Kansas City. It is not known what Don Dinkinger plans to do
1:02.6	with his day today before he goes to work tonight. The weather is supposed to be nice, so perhaps
1:08.7	Dinkinger can drive north from Kansas City to the little
1:11.7	Clay County Town of Liberty. There's a place there he ought to see, the boyhood home of Jesse
1:18.1	James. Jesse James used to rob trains for a living. He'd ride up with his gang, pull a gun,
1:24.7	and heist the loot. Don Dinkinger ought to be able to relate to that.
1:29.5	He robbed the Cardinals blind last night.
1:32.7	Don Dinkinger is an American League umpire, who, through the vagaries of the new non-merit system,
1:39.5	was assigned to umpire the World Series.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of St. Louis Post-Dispatch and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.