MLB Power Rankings: The 5 Sketchiest Umpire Moments in MLB History

Major League Baseball has had some sketchy calls made in its lengthy past. Whether they are by corrupt umpires who have been bribed or just bad calls, we may never know.

When a game relies so heavily on humans to make crucial, split-second decisions, there are bound to be mistakes. Some mistakes seem to be true accidents, while others may be more than that.

Some umpires seem to decide the outcome of the game more than the players, and that is when we question their motives.

Many fans have said something along the lines of, "I came to see the players, not the umpires."

It is the times that make us repeat this that we wonder, is there something more going on here?

The MLB has had its share of public scandals—Pete Rose, the Black Sox—but we have not heard of any major umpiring scandals.

These five instances of sketchy umpiring may have been as close to an umpiring scandal as baseball has seen.

John Hirschbeck/Manny Remirez

In July of 2009, John Hirschbeck was the home plate umpire of a game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets. Hirschbeck had been a pretty fair umpire up until this game. However, there was speculation that he detested players who used PEDs.

In the first inning of the game, Manny Ramirez came up to bat. Manny worked the count until it was full. On the 3-2 pitch, Manny was wrung up on a fastball that he thought was outside. He was right. The ball was clearly a couple of inches away from the strike zone.

Ramirez argued with Hirschbeck for a while, but he eventually returned to the dugout.

Later, in the fifth inning, Manny came up again. This time he was called out on a 1-2 pitch. The pitch was a letter-high slider that wasn't even close to the strike zone. The pitch had been called a ball on a few other hitters, and Manny had had enough.

Manny went into a tirade in which he threw some equipment. He was obviously ejected, but he was right.

Mets announcer Gary Cohen and several others felt that the pitches were more than blown calls. They publicly announced this, saying that Hirschbeck had purposely extended his strike zone in order to essentially act like a vigilante and issue his own brand of punishment.

These accusations have not been proven right or wrong, and this leaves one to speculate.

Tim McClelland 2009 ALCS Game 4

Tim McClelland has made some terrible calls in his career, but this one had some controversy surrounding it.

In the fifth inning, McClelland blew an obvious double play call at third base. It was such a bad call that not even McClelland could say why he missed it.

Perhaps he had assumed Cano had already touched the bag, and Posada had not? Perhaps it was for other reasons.

This call was so bad, and on such a big stage that it was questioned whether or not it was on purpose. Because McClelland did not even give an explanation for his missed call, some people wondered if he or someone he knew had bet on the game with the knowledge that he would be controlling the game.

This is an accusation that has never been proven, but this call was pretty sketchy.

2010 ALDS

In the 2010 ALDS, Joe Mauer fell victim to an unbelievably bad call.

The call can be seen here.

This call is hard to explain because it is so blatantly bad, but I'll try.

Joe Mauer hit a fly ball to left field. The ball was slicing foul, but hit off of the left fielder's glove (who was in fair territory) and still landed fair. The ball was only a few feet away from the left field umpire. The ball kicked up dirt, and there is no reason why it would be called foul.

The umpire was looking directly at the ball, and anyone could have made the call correctly.

Being in New York, there was sufficient controversy surrounding this call. I personally do not believe this to be anything except for a blown call, but there was a decent-sized crowd who believed that the umpire had different motives.

1997 NLCS Game 5

Eric Gregg was behind the plate for Game 5 of the 1997 NLCS, and he was not the right man for the job.

From the start of the game, Gregg was calling a slightly wide strike zone. His zone kept getting a little wider every time the Atlanta Braves came up to bat against Livan Hernandez and the Florida Marlins.

Gregg never seemed to have a prejudice before this game, but some fans thought that he had something against the Braves that game after it was over. The reason? Fred McGriff was wrung up on a pitch that was about a foot outside of the normal strike zone.

The pitch was clearly in the opposite batter's box, and it was one of the worst strike/ball calls in postseason history.

Ed Armbrister Runs into Carlton Fisk

In Game 3 of the 1975 World Series, umpire Larry Barnett made a very sketchy call.

After attempting a sacrifice bunt, Ed Armbrister ran into Carlton Fisk at the plate, causing Fisk to make a throwing error. Umpire Barnett did not call interference, and the Reds went on to win the game.

The play was the definition of interference, and it could not have been more than five feet away from Barnett. This should have been one of the easiest calls he has ever had, but he failed to make the call and changed the outcome of the game.

The controversy that followed this call was enough to give the impression that Barnett blew the call on purpose, seeing as it was so easy to make.