michaelf@ISM780.UUCP (06/03/85)
Most of you have come up with seven ways to reach first.
I asked an 8-year old kid to see how many he could come up with.
The first one he said is one none of you got. Pinch running.
Baseball IS a kid's game.
I heard this happened in a college game. The
catcher had a potato stuffed behind his chest protector.
A runner was on first and the catcher caught the pitch
and threw the potato towards first ala a pick-off throw.
He deliberately threw it over the head of the first
baseman and the potato went bouncing into right field,
the runner dashed for second and was thrown out by the
real ball. There was apparently no rule against this
trickery and the runner was out. I, for one, love these
kind of plays.stevev@tekchips.UUCP (Steve Vegdahl) (06/06/85)
> I heard this happened in a college game. The > catcher had a potato stuffed behind his chest protector. > A runner was on first and the catcher caught the pitch > and threw the potato towards first ala a pick-off throw. > He deliberately threw it over the head of the first > baseman and the potato went bouncing into right field, > the runner dashed for second and was thrown out by the > real ball. There was apparently no rule against this > trickery and the runner was out. I, for one, love these > kind of plays. As I recall, Sports Illustrated printed this (or a similar) story in their sports anecdote section several years ago. As I recall, even though the catcher protested that "there is no rule in the book against throwing a potato", umpire disallowed the trick play, ruling that the catcher was making a travesty of the game, presumably exercising an umpire's right to use his judgement in cases not covered by the rule book. (My guess is that there is nothing in the rule book that explicitly ALLOWS the throwing of potatoes, either.)