three for the show
yesterday’s non-triple-play called to mind a even more bizarre tp scenario — and another tidbit of busch stadium nostalgia. i witnessed the play and had a vague recollection of it; retrieved the details from chuck rosciam’s triple-play catalogue over at (where else?) retrosheet.
it happened in the 8th inning on opening day 1981 against the defending world-champion phillies before 38,473 (ruthven vs forsch). the phillies opened the inning with three singles and a walk, extending their lead to 5-2 and leaving the sacks full with nobody out: manny trillo at third, bake mcbride at 2d, mike schmidt at first. gary matthews came up against jim otten (the 3d pitcher of the inning) and scorched a sinking liner to shortstop, where gary templeton trapped the ball. unfortunately 2d-base ump jerry crawford immediately signaled catch and called the batter out, confusing the hell out of all the players on both teams, who knew damn well that the ball had hit the ground and the force play was in order. templeton’s reaction only worsened the confusion: he immediately threw home to force trillo, rather than throwing to 2d or 1st to double off a baserunner. what ensued resembled a bizarro-world infield drill — the baseball ping-ponging around the diamond, baserunners running out of sheer confusion, fielders making pegs with no purpose in mind other than to get rid of the ball and let somebody else figure out who to tag or which base to step on.
to pick up the play: darrell porter (playing in his first game as a cardinal), having received a meaningless throw from templeton, fired an equally meaningless throw to first base to put out matthews, who was already out . . . . meanwhile the baserunner at first, mike schmidt, had read the umpire’s call and alertly returned to the bag but then, on seeing the cardinals’ reaction, thought better of it and lit out for second. hernandez threw it down there and herr applied the tag for the 2d (or was it first?) out. herr than turned a reverse-pivot and heaved it to third, where oberkfell tagged out mcbride. all bets being off by now, the players deemed it prudent to keep running and throwing and covering bases until further notice . . . . all but trillo, who (thinking himself forced out at home) had long since veered off into the dugout. if he had tagged up and crossed the plate, his run surely would have counted, as he would have reached home well before obie put out mcbride to end the inning. every infielder touched the ball --- your basic 6-2-3-4-5 triple play.
the fielders and baserunners were all eventually excused; then dallas green ran out and browbeat the entire umpiring crew, and herzog joined the conference to serve notice that the umps’d catch many times worse from him if they reversed the call. in the end the play stood, the inning ended; i’m not sure but what the phillies might’ve played the rest of the game under protest. if they did, the gesture was moot; the game ended 5-2 philadelphia.
it happened in the 8th inning on opening day 1981 against the defending world-champion phillies before 38,473 (ruthven vs forsch). the phillies opened the inning with three singles and a walk, extending their lead to 5-2 and leaving the sacks full with nobody out: manny trillo at third, bake mcbride at 2d, mike schmidt at first. gary matthews came up against jim otten (the 3d pitcher of the inning) and scorched a sinking liner to shortstop, where gary templeton trapped the ball. unfortunately 2d-base ump jerry crawford immediately signaled catch and called the batter out, confusing the hell out of all the players on both teams, who knew damn well that the ball had hit the ground and the force play was in order. templeton’s reaction only worsened the confusion: he immediately threw home to force trillo, rather than throwing to 2d or 1st to double off a baserunner. what ensued resembled a bizarro-world infield drill — the baseball ping-ponging around the diamond, baserunners running out of sheer confusion, fielders making pegs with no purpose in mind other than to get rid of the ball and let somebody else figure out who to tag or which base to step on.
to pick up the play: darrell porter (playing in his first game as a cardinal), having received a meaningless throw from templeton, fired an equally meaningless throw to first base to put out matthews, who was already out . . . . meanwhile the baserunner at first, mike schmidt, had read the umpire’s call and alertly returned to the bag but then, on seeing the cardinals’ reaction, thought better of it and lit out for second. hernandez threw it down there and herr applied the tag for the 2d (or was it first?) out. herr than turned a reverse-pivot and heaved it to third, where oberkfell tagged out mcbride. all bets being off by now, the players deemed it prudent to keep running and throwing and covering bases until further notice . . . . all but trillo, who (thinking himself forced out at home) had long since veered off into the dugout. if he had tagged up and crossed the plate, his run surely would have counted, as he would have reached home well before obie put out mcbride to end the inning. every infielder touched the ball --- your basic 6-2-3-4-5 triple play.
the fielders and baserunners were all eventually excused; then dallas green ran out and browbeat the entire umpiring crew, and herzog joined the conference to serve notice that the umps’d catch many times worse from him if they reversed the call. in the end the play stood, the inning ended; i’m not sure but what the phillies might’ve played the rest of the game under protest. if they did, the gesture was moot; the game ended 5-2 philadelphia.
posted by L Boros at 5:15 AM
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