Larry Barnett
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Lawrence Robert Barnett (born January 3, 1945 in Nitro, West Virginia) is a former umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the American League from 1969 to 1999 before becoming the major leagues' supervisor of umpires in 2000-2001. His 32 years of AL service surpassed the record held by Tommy Connolly (1901-31), which was tied by Barnett and Don Denkinger in 1998; through the 2005 season, Joe Brinkman has umpired AL games in 33 seasons, although the major league umpiring staffs were merged in 2000. Barnett officiated in 4 World Series: 1975, 1981, 1984 and 1990 (Games 1-2), serving as crew chief in 1981. He also umpired in a record 7 American League Championship Series (1972, 1976, 1979, 1982, 1986, 1991, 1996), and in 4 All-Star games (1973, 1980, 1988, 1997), calling balls and strikes for the last contest. He wore uniform number 22 starting in 1980 when the AL adopted uniform numbers.
Perhaps the most controversial call of Barnett's career came in Game 3 of the 1975 World Series, in which he was working behind home plate. In the 10th inning, Cincinnati Reds hitter Ed Armbrister laid down a sacrifice bunt, and then collided with Boston Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk who was trying to field the ball. Fisk committed a throwing error on the play after colliding with Armbrister, which led to the Reds' winning run. Barnett declined to make an interference call on Armbrister, despite Boston's pleas. Barnett's failure to call an interference was criticized by some as wrong-headed and indefensible. NBC television broadcaster Curt Gowdy (a former Red Sox announcer) was particularly harsh in his comments, prompting threats to the network from Major League Baseball and ultimately leading NBC to drop Gowdy from its baseball coverage. Barnett claimed he had received death threats on account of Gowdy's withering criticism.
It should be noted that MLB continues to this day to maintain that Barnett made the correct call. In fact, the Professional Baseball Umpires Corporation (the organization that oversees all minor league baseball umpires) instructs and teaches its umpires to make the same call as Barnett did should the same incident occur in a future game. Specifically, professional baseball has interpreted Rule 7.09(l) as saying "a catcher trying to field a batted ball that remains in the immediate vicinity of the plate cannot be protected because of the right of the batter-runner to begin his advance to first. Barring an intentional action on the part of either player, contact in this instance is incidental, and is not interference..." (Jaksa/Roder Umpires' Manual, 1997 Edition. Pg. 57).
Prior to game two of the 1986 World Series, NBC did a feature on replays narrated by Bob Costas. One of the plays cited by Costas was the Armbrister play, and Barnett and Costas both insisted that Barnett had made the correct call, although Barnett declared, "You won't find many people in Boston who believe it was the right call." Costas used the feature to condemn the suggested notion of instant replay to settle calls, noting that it was the "same kind of mentality that adds color to classic movies and calls it progress."
