Its Trouble...: Sports

Showing posts with label Sports. Show all posts

Thursday, September 28, 2023

In-Field Babe Ruth II

A long time ago, I wrote about how I hit an in-field Babe Ruth in a high school softball game. I pointed at the short stop player who taunted me and told him that I was going to hit the ball right at him; and I did just that. The player was so stunted, he dropped the ball, and I was easily safe at first base.

Well, I hit another in-field Babe Ruth. It was also a long time ago, but after I wrote about my first in-field Babe Ruth. (I'm surprised I didn't mentioned in this blog at that time.) OK, so I hit this second in-field Babe Ruth at a local softball game for a team that was sponsored by my then-employer.

Babe Ruth's "called shot" home run

The whole affair was similar to the first time. I was at bat. The first base player was taunting me to hit the ball right at her. She pounded her glove and held it out in front of her. I pointed at her and say "OK, you asked for it". I positioned my feet to bias my swing to hit towards first base. The pitch was made. I swung and hit the ball exactly were I intended. It went straight for her glove.

The ball hit squarely in her glove and bounced to the ground. She was so stunted, she didn't even think to try to pick up the ball until I was already well on my way at full speed heading to first base. She finally scrambled to pick up the ball. It was too late. I ran across first base. Safe!

Sidenote, at that time, the team was known as the Cepheid Xperts. It appears the team now goes by the name Cepheid Sluggers.

Friday, September 11, 2020

Baseball obscure stat

Baseball obscure stat: In modern era of Major League Baseball, no game has ever had an unassisted triple play in either the 3rd or 8th innings.

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

A missed call in a Baseball game that didn't matter (but might've if things where different)

Some missed calls in Major League Baseball will live in infamy forever. Other missed calls are nearly forgotten. I recently ran into a video by SB Nation where a nearly forgotten missed call is discussed. Pivetta is the pitcher and Barnes is the batter.

Instead of me retyping the discussion, just watch the video here.

It's hard to judge the accuracy of the statement about the play without seeing the play. So, check out the play here.

After watching the replay, it's clear the Home Plate Umpire did call the runner out as a result of the fielding of the ball, and not due to any action by the runner himself. This means the Umpire stopped play while the ball should've technically remained in play. Does it really matter?

Though the fielding of the ball was incorrectly ruled a catch by the Home Ump, it's the pitcher who fielded the ball. The pitcher's next action would've been to throw the runner out at First, which should've been the real end of the play. Now, there's a slight chance the throw to First would've been screwed up, so that is why the play shouldn't have been stopped. However, most probably the result of letting the play continue vs ending the play with a catch call wouldn't have changed the outcome of the play in this case. The runner would still be out and the inning would still have be ended. Now, if other base runners where present, then this missed call would've been more consequential because this bad call would've stopped base running and ended the inning. At that point, maybe this bad call would've been more memorable. But even in this case, it's the last out of the inning. The batter would've still likely have been thrown out at First. The end of the inning would've still happened right then and there. Austin Barnes wasn't robbed a base hit by the bad call.

There is one chance of Barnes getting on base in this scenario if it weren't for the bad call. Had the Ump not ruled the catch and ended play, the pitcher may have thought he had a proper catch and failed to throw the ball to First, giving Barnes a chance to make it safely to First. However, it can be argued that this would've been an Error by Pivette, still not a base hit for Barnes.