Knoblauch Stays on the Bag

October 7, 1998, Game 2 at Yankee Stadium. The Championship Series was tied at a game apiece only after this one: the Indians had lost the opener, and the score here was 1–1 after eleven innings. In the twelfth Jim Thome singled. Travis Fryman bunted down the first-base line. Tino Martinez fielded it and threw to Chuck Knoblauch, covering first. The ball hit Fryman, who was running inside the line, in the back, and rolled toward the right-field grass.

The umpires did not call interference. Knoblauch stayed on the bag and pointed, waiting for the out. Enrique Wilson, pinch-running for Thome, kept going and scored from first, stumbling as he got close to the plate. Kenny Lofton followed with a two-run single. Cleveland won, 4–1. Knoblauch said afterward that his foot was on the base, that he expected the call, and that arguing was an instantaneous reaction.

The interference the Yankees wanted was a judgment the crew did not make. The ball was still in play while that argument happened. Wilson's run is the part that does not depend on the call. A live ball went past the fielder whose job, once the throw missed, was to pick it up.