Just before the terrorist attack that forces Marty to get in the DeLorean and accidentally get sent back to 1955, Doc Brown tells Marty that he's going 25 years into the future: "I'll get to see who wins the next 25 World Series! Wouldn't that be a nice gift to have for my old age!"
For the record, due to the Strike of '94, he would have gotten to see only 24, won by the following teams: The Kansas City Royals, the New York Mets, the Minnesota Twins, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Oakland Athletics, the Cincinnati Reds, the Twins again, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Jays again, the Atlanta Braves, the New York Yankees, the Florida Marlins, the Yankees again, the Yankees again, the Yankees again, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Anaheim Angels, the Marlins again, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago White Sox, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Red Sox again, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Yankees again.
But in the 2nd film, partially set 30 years in the original film's future, on October 21, 2015, Marty sees that the Chicago Cubs have won the World Series, beating a Miami-based team whose logo is an alligator.
But in the 2nd film, partially set 30 years in the original film's future, on October 21, 2015, Marty sees that the Chicago Cubs have won the World Series, beating a Miami-based team whose logo is an alligator.
(This turned out to be impossible, not just because the Cubs didn't show up against the Mets in the 2015 National League Championship Series, but because MLB put the Cubs and the Miami team, which was instead named the Marlins, in the same League. The Cubs did win the Series in 2016, so that part of the prediction was only off by 1 year.)
This inspires him to buy a sports almanac that he can take back to 1985, so he can know the results beforehand and bet on them: "I can't lose!" Doc warns Marty about how dangerous that can be, and convinces Marty to throw the almanac out.
But the film's antagonist, Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson), picks up the thrown-out almanac, takes it with him, steals the DeLorean, and demonstrates that the Doc was right: Placing bets using the almanac, Young Biff, with Old Biff's assistance, unwittingly creates an alternate reality where Hill Valley is a mini-Las Vegas, and Middle-Aged Biff is a cross between Fat Elvis and Tony Soprano, with a hairstyle that brings to mind Donald Trump -- except, unlike Trump, Biff actually makes money running a casino.
And, apparently having gotten connections to Richard Nixon, Biff has even gotten the 22nd Amendment repealed, so that Nixon is running for a 5th term as President and, according to a newspaper, "Vows to end Vietnam War by 1985." (A reverse of the alternate 1985 of Watchmen.) This situation is remedied at the end of the 2nd film.
*
Perhaps Marty should have warned the St. Louis Cardinals about what was going to happen in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series, starting at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City, about 19 hours after his trip back into time.
The Cards lead the cross-State Kansas City Royals 1-0, and need just 3 more outs to win the World Series. Jorge Orta hits a ground ball to 1st baseman Jack Clark. Clark flips to reliever Todd Worrell, who is covering the base. Orta is unquestionably out. The instant replay cameras and the photograph above confirm this.
Except 1st base umpire Don Denkinger blows the call, and calls Orta safe.
The next batter, Steve Balboni, pops up, and Clark can't handle it, and Balboni singles on his next swing. A passed ball by Darrell Porter, a Royal postseason hero from 1980 but now the Cardinal catcher (having been their postseason hero in 1982), makes it men on 2nd and 3rd, and Hal McRae is intentionally walked. Dane Iorg, another former Cardinal, steps up, and singles home Orta and Balboni, and the Royals have a 2-1 walkoff win to force a Game 7 at home.
The Cardinals are furious. So are their fans. Understandably so. They all think Denkinger stole the World Series from them. They still think so, 37 years later.
There's just one problem with this theory: There was still 1 game to go. If the Cardinals had won Game 7, Denkinger's blown call would have been just a footnote.
So Cardinal manager Whitey Herzog should have taken his team into the clubhouse and said, "Men, we got screwed tonight, but there's nothing we can do about it now. So let's win this thing tomorrow, and what happened tonight won't matter." Instead, the White Rat whined about the call to the media, and let it get into his head, and into his team's heads.
The shock isn't that the Cards lost Game 7 by a whopping 11-0. The shock is that the Royals won it by only 11 runs. It is the biggest blowout in Game 7 history, previously reached only by, oddly enough, the Cardinals, when they beat the Detroit Tigers in 1934 (the Joe Medwick Game).
So, "Cardinal Nation": Instead of blaming Denkinger for costing you the World Series, how about blaming your manager for not getting your team to shake it off? Or how about blaming your lineup for not hitting a lick? The umpire didn’t cost your team a World Championship: Your team did.
According to Baseball-Reference.com, when Orta came to bat, the Cardinals had an 80 percent chance of winning the game. If the right call had been made, giving the Cardinals an out, they would have had an 87 percent chance. Even with the call blown, they had an 66 percent chance -- just under a 2/3rds chance. They still should have won it.
Don Denkinger was still respected enough by the baseball establishment to be put behind the plate for the 1987 All-Star Game, and named crew chief for the 1988 American League Championship Series, the 1991 World Series, and the 1992 ALCS, before retiring in 1998 after 30 season in the majors, 22 as a crew chief. He is now 86 years old, and still lives in his hometown of Cedar Falls, Iowa.
The Cardinals have since won 2 World Series, in 2006 and 2011. For those among their fans who have not yet done so, it's time to move on.
And, apparently having gotten connections to Richard Nixon, Biff has even gotten the 22nd Amendment repealed, so that Nixon is running for a 5th term as President and, according to a newspaper, "Vows to end Vietnam War by 1985." (A reverse of the alternate 1985 of Watchmen.) This situation is remedied at the end of the 2nd film.
*
Perhaps Marty should have warned the St. Louis Cardinals about what was going to happen in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series, starting at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City, about 19 hours after his trip back into time.
The Cards lead the cross-State Kansas City Royals 1-0, and need just 3 more outs to win the World Series. Jorge Orta hits a ground ball to 1st baseman Jack Clark. Clark flips to reliever Todd Worrell, who is covering the base. Orta is unquestionably out. The instant replay cameras and the photograph above confirm this.
Except 1st base umpire Don Denkinger blows the call, and calls Orta safe.
The next batter, Steve Balboni, pops up, and Clark can't handle it, and Balboni singles on his next swing. A passed ball by Darrell Porter, a Royal postseason hero from 1980 but now the Cardinal catcher (having been their postseason hero in 1982), makes it men on 2nd and 3rd, and Hal McRae is intentionally walked. Dane Iorg, another former Cardinal, steps up, and singles home Orta and Balboni, and the Royals have a 2-1 walkoff win to force a Game 7 at home.
The Cardinals are furious. So are their fans. Understandably so. They all think Denkinger stole the World Series from them. They still think so, 37 years later.
There's just one problem with this theory: There was still 1 game to go. If the Cardinals had won Game 7, Denkinger's blown call would have been just a footnote.
So Cardinal manager Whitey Herzog should have taken his team into the clubhouse and said, "Men, we got screwed tonight, but there's nothing we can do about it now. So let's win this thing tomorrow, and what happened tonight won't matter." Instead, the White Rat whined about the call to the media, and let it get into his head, and into his team's heads.
The shock isn't that the Cards lost Game 7 by a whopping 11-0. The shock is that the Royals won it by only 11 runs. It is the biggest blowout in Game 7 history, previously reached only by, oddly enough, the Cardinals, when they beat the Detroit Tigers in 1934 (the Joe Medwick Game).
So, "Cardinal Nation": Instead of blaming Denkinger for costing you the World Series, how about blaming your manager for not getting your team to shake it off? Or how about blaming your lineup for not hitting a lick? The umpire didn’t cost your team a World Championship: Your team did.
According to Baseball-Reference.com, when Orta came to bat, the Cardinals had an 80 percent chance of winning the game. If the right call had been made, giving the Cardinals an out, they would have had an 87 percent chance. Even with the call blown, they had an 66 percent chance -- just under a 2/3rds chance. They still should have won it.
Don Denkinger was still respected enough by the baseball establishment to be put behind the plate for the 1987 All-Star Game, and named crew chief for the 1988 American League Championship Series, the 1991 World Series, and the 1992 ALCS, before retiring in 1998 after 30 season in the majors, 22 as a crew chief. He is now 86 years old, and still lives in his hometown of Cedar Falls, Iowa.
UPDATE: Denkinger died on May 12, 2023.
*
October 26, 1985 was a Saturday. Among the college football games played that day were these:
* Number 1 Iowa beat Northwestern, 49-10 at Dyche Stadium (later Ryan Field) in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois.
* Number 2 Florida beat Virginia Tech, 35-18 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. Florida ended up losing to Georgia. But they were on probation, so they were ineligible for the Southeastern Conference and National Championships and the Sugar Bowl, anyway.
* Number 3 Penn State beat West Virginia, 27-0 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania.
* Number 4 Michigan beat Indiana, 42-15 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. The week before, Michigan had lost to Iowa in a Number 1 vs. Number 2 game that ABC broadcast in prime time, as Rob Houghtlin's 29-yard field goal on the last play gave Iowa the 12-10 win. That turned out to be Michigan's only loss, but it cost them the Big Ten Conference title.
* Number 5 Nebraska beat Colorado, 17-7 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Nebraska went to the Fiesta Bowl, and lost to Michigan, who finished Number 2 in the final polls, their last-play loss to Iowa costing them everything.
* Number 6 Auburn beat Mississippi State, 21-9 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. The next week, Auburn lost to Florida. and later lost the "Iron Bowl" to Alabama, costing them the SEC title and a trip to the Sugar Bowl. They were invited to the Cotton Bowl.
* Number 7 Brigham Young University (BYU) were upset by the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), 23-16 at the Sun Bowl in El Paso.
* Number 8 Air Force beat Utah, 37-15 at Falcon Field in Colorado Springs.
* Number 9 Ohio State beat Number 20 Minnesota, 23-19 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. The next week, Ohio State beat Iowa, knocking them out of the Number 1 position. But back-to-back losses to Wisconsin and Michigan meant that Iowa still won the Big Ten Conference title.
* Number 10 Oklahoma beat Iowa State, 59-14 at Owen Field in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma went on to beat Nebraska to win the Big Eight Conference title, and beat Miami in the Orange Bowl.
* Number 16 Tennessee were tied by Georgia Tech, 6-6 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. They had already lost to Florida, but, since Florida were ineligible for the SEC title, Tennessee, with the same 5-1 conference record, were awarded the title. They beat the University of Miami in the Sugar Bowl, but their loss to Florida and tie with Georgia Tech left them only Number 4 in the final polls.
* Number 17 The University of California at Los Angeles, a.k.a. UCLA, beat the University of California's main campus, a.k.a. Cal for sports purposes and Berkeley for everything else, 34-7 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. UCLA have played home games at the Rose Bowl stadium. This season, they won the Pacific-Ten Conference title, and went back to the Rose Bowl stadium to play the Rose Bowl game, where they beat Iowa.
* Number 19 Texas were upset by Southern Methodist University (SMU), 44-14 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.
* Texas A&M, then unranked, beat Rice University, 43-29 at Rice Stadium in Houston. A&M went on to win the Southwest Conference title, and beat Auburn in the Cotton Bowl.
* Notre Dame beat Southern California (USC), 37-3 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.
* Army beat Colgate, 45-43 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York.
* Navy beat the University of Pittsburgh, 21-7 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.
* And Rutgers beat the University of Richmond, 20-17 at the old Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.
There were 9 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, 99-89 at Madison Square Garden. Moses Malone scored 35 points.
* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Indiana Pacers, 119-92 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 105-100 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons, 121-118 at the Chicago Stadium. Michael Jordan scored 33 points for the Bulls, Isiah Thomas 36 for the Pistons.
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Atlanta Hawks, 117-91 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.
* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 101-95 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 121-116 in double overtime at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.
* The Denver Nuggets beat the Sacramento Kings, 123-112 at the McNicholas Arena in Denver.
* And the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Houston Rockets, 130-129 in double overtime at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.
There were 6 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Islanders beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-2 at the St. Louis Arena.
* The New Jersey Devils beat the Los Angeles Kings, 5-2 at the Brendan Byrne Arena in the Meadowlands.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Hartford Whalers, 5-3 at the Montreal Forum.
* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 7-5 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The Quebec Nordiques and the Pittsburgh Penguins played to a tie, 4-4 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* And the Calgary Flames beat the Detroit Red Wings, 7-4 at the Saddledome in Calgary.
And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal lost to Nottingham Forest, 3-2 at the City Ground in Nottingham.
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