“Walk with pr-r-ride, mon! Walk with pride!”
I always heard the response as:
Walk him and pitch to the rhino
As luck would have it, a video just popped up on my Facebook feed of catches in cricket. The boundary of the field is just a rope lying on the grass. If a fielder catches the ball, but then steps over the rope, it’s a hit (4 or 6, I don’t know). The video was of fielders running toward the boundary, catching the ball, and throwing it up in the air before their momentum carried them over the rope. The ball can then be caught by another player, or even the original fielder if he can get back inside the boundary.
Not much help in a baseball thread, but it was entertaining to see some of those intentional double catches.
I feel certain a similar play made Sportscenter sometime in the 1990s. I’m going to try to find it. Possibly might not have MLB — maybe minor league ball, maybe college. Though I’m thinking the pitcher this happened to played for the Cincinnati Reds.
EDIT: Here’s one from when Ichiro played for the Yankees. Unsure of the year. Ichiro bats the ball to the Oakland pitcher, and the ball ends up in the pitcher’s jersey.
Arizona State pitcher catches ball in jersey. Unsure of the year, but it’s after the Ichiro instance as the announcers reference that one.
Still looking for that one I remember from the 1990s.
Phillies pitcher Nick Pavetta caught a ball with his jersey in 2017. There’s video of the play, and Pavetta was credited with a catch and the batter was out (or at least it looks that way in the video).
I’m starting to worry about jersey designs now.
You can see similar plays in football, my favorites are during a punt when players dive over the goal line and bat the ball back so another player can down the ball.
Somewhat related to this thread. This happened last night. Shades of Jose Canseco.
It seems in all of these shirt catches that the pitcher tries to dig through the buttons to get it out the same way it went in. Wouldn’t it be easier to untuck the shirt and pull it out the bottom? Or would that lead to some sort of out-of-uniform violation?
No. As long as the fielder retrieves the ball with his glove or throwing hand and shows possession, it is an out.
Well, not exactly. According to AI, the all mighty and knowing entity that will soon rule us all, it has happened … sort of.
Yes, fielders have lifted teammates into the air to catch a baseball, though it is exceedingly rare and illegal in professional baseball.
Because lifting another fielder is technically illegal, these kinds of plays are mostly seen in recreational leagues or as a trick play. A famous historical example occurred in an exhibition game between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox in the 1950s. Yankees manager Casey Stengel had Mickey Mantle stand on the shoulders of first baseman Bill Skowron in short right field to rob a Red Sox batter of a home run. However, the umpires immediately nullified the play, and it was ruled a home run.
Why it’s illegal in professional baseball
Under the Official Baseball Rules (specifically Rule 5.09(a)(1)), a fielder must make the catch by catching the ball with their glove or hand. The rules generally assume natural human limits for jumping. While there is no explicit sentence saying “you cannot stand on a teammate,” it is considered illegal assistance. Under these guidelines, if a fielder is being boosted or carried by another player, the umpire will rule it no catch, and the batter is awarded a home run or safe hit.
Yup, that sounds like an AI answer: It cites an actual rule, and then uses that rule to come to a definitive answer, that doesn’t actually relate to the rule. “You must use your glove or hand to make the catch, therefore you can’t stand on a teammate” makes no sense whatsoever.
It also appears to cite a story that I can’t find any reference for. When explicitly asked if Mantle ever stood on Skowron’s shoulders, Google Gemini says “no, that never happened”.
As described it doesn’t even make any sense - how would a center fielder stand on a first baseman’s shoulders in “short right field” to rob a home run?
@Jasmine, could you ask that AI when that play supposedly happened?
You mean to say that AI is making up stories and lying? Wow, we humans really did make it. LOL
It actually interprets the rule incorrectly when it says that it should “assume natural human limits for jumping”. Players can use, and have used, the OF wall to assist in their jumping - they don’t have to jump off the ground. If you can use the wall to vault higher to rob a HR I see no reason why you couldn’t vault off another player’s back, for example.
Then the AI uses a phrase “illegal assistance” which I am 99% sure only applies to assisting runners. The base coaches and previously put out teammates cannot assist a runner on the base paths. There is nothing in the rulebook regarding “illegal assistance” in the field, as far as I know, other than the rule already cited about using equipment to catch the ball.
It really shows some of the risks of using these tools. The story sounds authentic. The AI picked teammates, and the right manager. Those two did goof around from time to time. Stengel did try to bend the rules and find loopholes.
It throws it all together to create a funny and believable anecdote, and then uses that anecdote to validate its determination regarding the legality of a play.
But the story is BS, and I also believe ithe determination on the ruling is wrong.
The infield fly rule doesn’t change any of the rules concerning when runners can or can’t leave their bases, though. Infield flies are live plays, and a runner leaves his base at his own peril until the ball touches a fielder or the ground.
So… the story AI is telling you, then, is that a first baseman went all the way out to right field, where the center fielder came over to right, stood on his shoulders, and they happened to be in the exact place where a fly ball just happened to arrive that would have been a home run but for the Vincent Adultman playing right field on that pitch?
It mentioned that it was an exhibition and not a real game, so I assumed it was staged. If so, then why umpires? Ah, well …
Catching the ball with a broom seems a clear violation of rule 509(a)(1) cited above.
Not sure of your age. But as a Doper, you’re likely of age to remember the buttonless double-knit uniforms of the 1970s and 1980s. That would explain why we never saw jersey catches during that era.
