Dane Iorg

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Dane Iorg (Born May 11, 1950 in Eureka, California) is a retired Major League Baseball infielder and outfielder. He played for ten seasons (1977 - 1986) for four teams, including eight seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals. His surname is pronounced "orge", to rhyme with "gorge". He is the brother of former thrid basemen Garth Iorg; they played against each other in the 1985 American League Championship Series.

Iorg is perhaps best known for his game-winning hit in game 6 of the 1985 World Series as a member of the Kansas City Royals against his old team, St. Louis (which led the series three games to two at the time). While this game is best remembered for first base umpire Don Denkinger's controversial "safe" call of Royals hitter Jorge Orta on a ground ball to lead off the bottom of the ninth, Iorg batted later in the inning with one out, runners on second and third base and the Royals still trailing 1-0. ABC Network's Al Michaels had the call: "And that's a looper hit into right field for a base hit! Concepcion scores. Here comes Sundberg, here's the throw. HE SCORES! We go to a seventh!"

The Royals went on to win game seven 11-0 and give Kansas City their only World Series championship, as the Cardinals clearly had not recovered from the ninth inning of game six. However Iorg's heroics would go largely overlooked due to a number of factors:

Denkinger's call overshadowed the winning hit, as it drew the ire of many Cardinals and baseball fans alike. Denkinger to this day receives death threats over the call at first base, which ABC replays (and Al Michaels himself over the air, boldly proclaiming "Oh, I don't think there's any doubt about it!") confirmed was incorrect
The series (also known as the I-70 series because of it being in the state of Missouri and the one interstate linked both cities) was between Kansas City and St. Louis: two small midwestern markets, and thus was lacking in mass national appeal
Many criticized the '85 Series as being a boring one up to that point, despite having a dramatic 4 run Cardinal comeback on the road in the 9th inning of game 2 (they trailed by 2). The low-scoring, pitching dominated series was not catching the fancy of much of the viewing public
The 1986 World Series unfolded in an eerily identical fashion as the previous year, from the road team winning the first two games but losing the series to a similar game six comeback by a home team facing elimination in its final at bat and subsequent game seven victory by that same team. However in this case the two teams were the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox, two much larger markets. The drama and media exposure of the 86 Series nearly eclipsed its counterpart of the previous year.

Iorg was primarily a pinch hitter during the 1985 World Series, and his winning hit was one of only two at-bats he had for the entire series.

In the 1982 World Series, Iorg played for the Cardinals, primarily as their World Series designated hitter (the entire 1982 World Series was played under American League rules) and batted .529 with 9 hits in 17 at bats as the Cardinals defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in seven games.

While baseball has a well-documented tradition of little-known players delivering game-winning hits to determine pennant races and postseason series, from Bucky Dent to Gene Larkin to Francisco Cabrera to Aaron Boone, Iorg's hit in game six was as dramatic as any of the aforementioned, yet rarely garners any of the same attention from fans, media or even Major League Baseball itself.