No Instant Replay, But Mets Manager Gil Hodges Convinces Umpire Lou DiMuro To Overturn A Call In Game 5 Of The 1969 World Series

If Gil Hodges wasn’t considered an honest man, the Mets might not have won game five of the 1969 World Series.

The Smudge That Started It All
New York: New York Mets’ manager Gil Hodges (center) shows umpire Lou DiMuro a smudge of shoe polish that started a comeback rally October 16 that won the Mets the 1969 World Series with a 5-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Hodges showed the smudge to prove that Cleon Jones had been hit by a sixth inning pitch. Cleon got his base  and then Donn Clendenon (left), next at bat,; hit a homer. From there on out, the Mets couldn’t be stopped.  credit: UPI Telephoto 10/16/1969

Though the video evidence was available, there was no reviewing of plays in baseball until the the twentieth-first century. Incredibly, NBC did not show a replay of the controversial call to its viewers.

Knowing he was hit, Jones started to first. But, umpire DiMuro called Jones back to the batters box thinking the ball only hit the dirt.

The ball rolled to the Mets dugout and some skeptics believed that manager Hodges may have scuffed the ball himself with shoe polish. But anyone knowing Gil Hodges also knew that he was not the type of person to pull a stunt like that. Getting an umpire to reverse a call was next to impossible. But, Hodges showed DiMuro the scuff on the ball and after a short conversation, Jones was awarded first.

Immediately, Orioles manager Earl Weaver jumped out of his dugout to protest in futility.

Clendenon’s subsequent homer then cut the Orioles lead to 3-2. The Mets scored three more runs to win the game and the series four games to one.

Decide for yourself if Jones was actually hit.