As bad as that call was it is a very unusual play, being viewed from a greater distance than many bad calls and at an angle, from the ump’s perspective, that was not conducive to seeing what happened. It happened really fast - Maier snaps his glove out and it’s over, just like that - and in real time it wasn’t obvious what had taken place. It had to be TEN times harder than the Mauer call.
And even then the Mauer “foiul ball” probably isn’t even close to being the worst call ever. How about this one?
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/30242410/
I mean… holy shit, was the umpire drunk? High? Did Jerry Hairston sleep with his wife? WTF was that, and thank God for instant replay. Even the Rockies thought it was a joke. Still, most people have forgotten about it 'cause it was not a meaningful game.
To be honest I’ve probably seen even worse than THAT, but what happens is you forget the ones that don’t have a memorable impact; the Denkinger call in the 1985 World Series is famous but is probably not one of the 100 worst calls made just in the 1985 season. It was, however, the only bad call that happened in the ninth inning of a 1-0 World Series game.
A counterexample to 1985; In the 1992 World Series, Roberto Alomar attempted to score on a wild pitch and was called out at the plate despite the fact that his body, in full contact with the plate, had slid probably three or four feet right across the plate before he was tagged. The ump, Mike Reilly, was right on top of it, looking right at the call, and simply blew it. It was an absolutely horrific call, so much so that the announcers said so - I believe Tim McCarver’s precise words were “He was safe. Not even close” - which they normally shy away from. But the Blue Jays won the game anyway, so the call didn’t matter, so it was largely forgotten, because nobody had a reason to be bitter about it. Had the Jays LOST the game, different story.