As I've been talking about baseball a bit lately, and as I'm especially talking about appeal plays (see Monday's entry), let me regale you with one of me Pops favorite stories. It involves the Ol' Perfesser himself, Casey Stengel.
Casey was brought on to manage the New York Mets as they started out. The club was expected to be awful initially (and it was) and I believe anyway that he was hired as a distraction to how bad the new team would be (The Mets would finish 40-120 their first year, with two cancelled games; who says cancellations are always bad?). Those early Metropolitans were known for less than stellar baseball, making simple mistakes with regularity.
All this did nothing to dampen the Ol' Perfesser's competitive fire. During the course of one game a Met happened to hit a triple. Yet the defense felt the runner had missed second base on his way around and appealed the play. The umpire consequently ruled him out because he had indeed failed to touch second on his way to third.
Casey stormed out of the Mets' dugout to argue the call. But his third base coach quickly stopped him. "Don't bother, Casey, because he missed first base too," Coach morosely explained.
Damn, I love baseball...
Showing posts with label appeal play. Show all posts
Showing posts with label appeal play. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Monday, September 16, 2019
Baseball bizarre
My son and I went to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field in Chicago yesterday, as part our stadium tour. We try to hit a new Major League Baseball venue per year. This year it was Wrigley's turn. It's a great ballpark, one the last two classic baseball stadiums left (the other being Fenway in Boston).
Not only did the Cubs win, a favorite former Tiger of mine (Nick Castellanos) have a great game, going 3-5 with two doubles to increase his MLB lead in that statistical category to 54. Yet more than that: I saw the most bizarre play I've ever seen in baseball. I still shake my head about it this morning. The Cubs' opponents, the Pittsburgh Pirates, botched an appeal play. Rather spectacularly in fact.
For the non-baseball fans out there the quick explanation is that, when the defense believes a runner missed touching a base, they may 'appeal' the play by tossing the ball to a defender, who then touches the base with his foot. If the umpire saw that the runner did indeed miss the base, the runner is ruled out on appeal. Get it?
In this case, the Pirates felt a Cubs runner missed third while scampering home. The pitcher was simply to toss the ball to the third baseman, who would catch it and touch the bag. A simple throw. Just a lob really.
The pitcher proceeded to lob it five feet over the third baseman's head.
A different Cubs runner who occupied third then sped home for another run.
I still can't wrap my head around it. How in the world does a major league player lob, soft toss, a 55 foot throw, clean over the fielder's head? Bear in mind this was from a standing still position; the pitcher wasn't fielding a ball in any way, shape, or form. He was simply standing there. It should have been the easiest play on Earth for him.
Then to make matters worse, the Pirates went on and appealed again. The third base umpire ruled safe, that the original runner, the one in question in the first place, had in fact touched the base en route to home. Talk about salt in the wound: Pittsburgh would have lost the appeal anyway, but gave Chicago a run in the process.
I chuckle incredulously even now. How does that happen at that level of play?
Not only did the Cubs win, a favorite former Tiger of mine (Nick Castellanos) have a great game, going 3-5 with two doubles to increase his MLB lead in that statistical category to 54. Yet more than that: I saw the most bizarre play I've ever seen in baseball. I still shake my head about it this morning. The Cubs' opponents, the Pittsburgh Pirates, botched an appeal play. Rather spectacularly in fact.
For the non-baseball fans out there the quick explanation is that, when the defense believes a runner missed touching a base, they may 'appeal' the play by tossing the ball to a defender, who then touches the base with his foot. If the umpire saw that the runner did indeed miss the base, the runner is ruled out on appeal. Get it?
In this case, the Pirates felt a Cubs runner missed third while scampering home. The pitcher was simply to toss the ball to the third baseman, who would catch it and touch the bag. A simple throw. Just a lob really.
The pitcher proceeded to lob it five feet over the third baseman's head.
A different Cubs runner who occupied third then sped home for another run.
I still can't wrap my head around it. How in the world does a major league player lob, soft toss, a 55 foot throw, clean over the fielder's head? Bear in mind this was from a standing still position; the pitcher wasn't fielding a ball in any way, shape, or form. He was simply standing there. It should have been the easiest play on Earth for him.
Then to make matters worse, the Pirates went on and appealed again. The third base umpire ruled safe, that the original runner, the one in question in the first place, had in fact touched the base en route to home. Talk about salt in the wound: Pittsburgh would have lost the appeal anyway, but gave Chicago a run in the process.
I chuckle incredulously even now. How does that happen at that level of play?
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