Don Denkinger

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Donald Anton Denkinger (/ˈdɛŋkɪŋɡər/; August 28, 1936 – May 12, 2023) was an American umpire in Major League Baseball (MLB) who worked in the American League (AL) from 1969 to 1998. Denkinger wore uniform number 11, when the AL adopted uniform numbers in 1980. He is best remembered for an incorrect safe call he made at first base in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series, which came to be known as The Call. Denkinger was born in Cedar Falls, Iowa, in 1936. He and his wife, Gayle Price, had three daughters, Darcel Nikolajsen, Denise Hanson, and Dana Kelly. Denkinger died at a hospice facility in Waterloo, Iowa, on May 12, 2023, at the age of 86. Denkinger attended Wartburg College, where he was on the wrestling team. After serving in the Army from 1957 to 1959, he began umpiring in the Alabama–Florida League in 1960, joined the AL staff in April 1969, and became an AL crew chief in 1977. In 1975, Denkinger was one of the first American League umpires to switch from the outside chest protector to the inside chest protector, which was used in the National League for decades before finally being adopted in the AL in the late 1970s. All umpires who entered the AL starting in 1977 had to use the inside protector; AL umpires on staff prior to 1977 were grandfathered and could continue to use the outside protector.