RetroSimba

Tigers catcher Bill Freehan was a central character in one of the most controversial plays in Cardinals history.

In the 1968 World Series, the defending champion Cardinals won three of the first four games against the Tigers. Freehan was the goat. He went hitless in the first four games, made two errors and was tormented by Cardinals baserunners, especially Lou Brock, who swiped seven bases.

Things changed in Game 5 at Tiger Stadium on Oct. 7, 1968.

In the third inning, Brock was at first when Freehan called for a pitchout and nailed the speedster at second. “That was the first lucky guess I’ve made all Series,” Freehan told columnist Milton Gross of the New York Post.

The big play came two innings later.

The Cardinals led 3-2 in the fifth and were threatening to knock out starter Mickey Lolich. With Brock at second, Julian Javier lined a single to left. Willie Horton, a left fielder not known for his defense, unleashed a strong, accurate throw to the plate. (Lolich told the Associated Press, “As fast as Brock is, I didn’t even figure there would be a throw.”) The peg took one clean hop directly to Freehan, who stood, blocking the plate, “like the towering Washington monument,” wrote Milt Richman, columnist for United Press International.

Brock tried to score standing, collided with Freehan and was called out by umpire Doug Harvey, igniting an animated protest from the Cardinals.

The momentum _and the Series _ shifted to the Tigers with that play. “It was the biggest play of the game,” Brock said to the Associated Press. “It was the turning point. We had the makings of a big inning, and instead of one run, one man on and one out, there were two outs and no runs.”

Detroit rallied to win, 5-3, and send the Series back to St. Louis, but the debate raged about whether Brock was safe or out. Brock said his foot touched the plate before Freehan tagged him. Freehan said Brock came up short of the plate. Others thought Brock stepped on Freehan’s planted foot and bounced off and around the plate. Video

Columnist Milton Gross reported this exchange:

Freehan: “Harvey told me if Lou had slid, he would have been safe. He just never touched the plate.”

Brock: “I was safe. I touched the center of the plate right between Freehan’s legs. Freehan came up behind me as we were arguing after the play and tagged me.”

Freehan: “I was surprised he didn’t slide. There I was, set. With my left foot planted where it was, he’d have had to slide through it or touch the plate with his hand simply because I was between him and the plate. When he hit me on the left side, he just spun away from the plate. The reason I tagged him a second time was I saw him coming back _ like a reflex, you know?”

Brock: “If I slid, he would have had a good chance of blocking me out. He was standing wide-legged, his feet four or five feet apart, one up the third-base line, the other at the corner of the plate. If you slide, he gets down on one knee and you don’t get in.” Boxscore

The on-deck batter, Curt Flood, gestured for Brock to slide, but “I didn’t have time to look at anyone,” Brock said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “The play was in front of me and I had to look at the catcher.”

Flood said Brock was safe because “half of Brock’s foot was on the plate.”

In his World Series column for the Post-Dispatch, Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson said he thought Brock was safe and did right by not sliding. “When the catcher is blocking the plate, you can slide and never get to it,” Gibson said.

Years later, in his book “Stranger to the Game,” Gibson saw the play differently. “In my heart, I wish Lou had slid,” Gibson said.

The Tigers won Game 6. Facing Gibson in Game 7, Detroit broke a scoreless tie in the seventh, with Freehan’s double driving in Jim Northrup after Northrup lined a two-run triple that was misjudged by Flood in center.

In the ninth, Cardinals catcher Tim McCarver fouled out to Freehan to end the game, won by Detroit, 4-1, giving the Tigers their first World Series championship in 23 years. Boxscore

Though the Cardinals had 11 stolen bases in 16 attempts against Freehan in the Series and he batted .083 (2-for-24), he is remembered most for his block of home plate in Game 5.

Brock, interviewed in 2012 by Mike Stone of CBS Detroit, still insisted he was safe on that play.

“I did not have a great jump, but I thought I could make it,” Brock told Stone. “But Willie Horton made the throw of his life. I never thought Horton could make that throw. The next thing I know I was going to collide with Bill Freehan _ and we know who would have won that. I was safe, but the umpire called me out, so I was out.”

Previously: Should Curt Flood have caught Jim Northrup’s drive?