Jean Segura steals first!

The Game Room
1

Can’t find a video to link to at the moment, but a Mundo Bizarro play in the Cubs-Brewers game tonight:

Situation: Bottom of the 8th, Brewers lead 5-4, Segura on second and Braun on first with nobody out. Cubs pitcher Camp sees Segura stray too far off of second, steps off rubber, and throws to third baseman Valbuena.

Valbuena runs Segura back toward second. Braun advances to second, as he should.

Segura reaches second. Valbuena tags Segura. Ineffective, because by rule Segura is entitled to second base. Ordinarily, Segura would stay put, Valbuena would tag Braun, and Braun would be called out.

But . . . Segura keeps running . . . back toward first. Valbuena tags him again. The umpire doesn’t see it. He’s too busy calling Braun out, for “passing” Segura. I put “passing” in quotes because Braun is just standing there. He “passes” Segura by virtue of Segura running behind him.

So Braun is out. Segura continues to retreat, all the way to first base. It is uncovered. Why would the Cubs cover it? It has been vacated.

There, Segura comes to rest. By rule, a runner is out when he retreats on the bases “for purposes of confusing the defense or making a travesty of the game”. Arugably, Segura has done neither. He retreated trying to find a safe harbor, and he did.

The umpires rule Segura safe at first. He has stolen first base!

Then, just for grins, he tries to re-steal second, and is thrown out.

The Brewers win anyway, 5-4.

2

Amazing. Here’s video.

3

7.01 A runner acquires the right to an unoccupied base when he touches it before he is out. He is then entitled to it until he is put out, or forced to vacate it for another runner legally entitled to that base. If a runner legally acquires title to a base, and the pitcher assumes his pitching position, the runner may not return to a previously occupied base.

The runner may not return would presumably mean that he is not safe there and can be tagged out.

7.08 Any runner is out when
h) He passes a preceding runner before such runner is out;

Braun did not pass Segura; Segura passed Braun and ran in the wrong direction. Braun would have to be tagged to be out while occupying the base and he was not.

Seems like Segura should be out and Braun on second.

Germany Schaeffer is no longer the sole answer to the trivia question about the only player to steal first base, which he did before the rules mandated that the bases be run in first, second, third home order,but the umpires really blew it.

4

It looks to me like Valbuena tagged both Segura and Braun. The umpire called Braun out just as Segura started running back to first. So Braun was called out for being tagged while not on a base he was entitled to, not for passing a runner.

I’m sure, though, that if a runner who was standing still were passed by a runner going backwards, the umpires would call out the guy who was standing still. The intent of the rule is to keep runners from changing order as they go around the bases. The fact that, technically, the passing was done by the lead runner doesn’t change this.

Joe Adcock once lost a home run because Hank Aaron abandoned the base paths. It was in the bottom of the 13th against the Pirates (this was the game where Harvey Haddix had pitched a perfect game through 12 innings). Felix Mantilla was on second, and Aaron on first. Adcock hit the ball over the fence, but when Aaron saw Mantilla score the winning run he (Aaron) turned and headed for the dugout. Adcock was called out for passing the runner when he passed the point where Aaron had left the base paths. Adcock was credited with a double, not a home run. Aaron said later he didn’t know the ball had cleared the fence, so he thought it was a double.

5

Keep watching until the second replay (after the next batter strikes out), which is from an outfield camera. From that angle it’s clear that Valbuena never tags Braun. He reaches toward him, but then gets distracted by Segura.

6

That was alot of fun to see. I’m just glad that while switching between the Cubs and Hawks I happened to catch it live.

7

Looks to me like the umpire was too quick on the out call (apparently assuming that Braun was tagged.) Either that, or he didn’t understand the rule. I’ve seen amateur umpires erroneously call an automatic out when two runners are on a base, and I wonder if the MLB ump did the same.

Also, I don’t think Segura made any decision to retreat to first base. It seemed clear to me he wrongy assumed he was out and was just leaving the field and was stopped by the base coach.

He never was. Post #68 in this thread –
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7528539#post7528539

8

They say he was “decoyed,” as in 7.08(i) Comment.

9

For a day, Ruben Rivera can relax and laugh at someone else’s baserunning.

10

Can’t add much except to express my total amazement.

I’ve watched a lot of baseball both at ball parks and on TV. I don’t think I’ve seen anything that tops that play for being inexplicable.

Instead of starting a new thread, can anyone tell us of a play in modern baseball that can rival it?

11

Dave Kingman getting a fly ball caught in the Metrodome’s roof comes to mind.

12

I believe he originally thought he was out, yes. Then about halfway to first base he looks back over his shoulder, seems to realize something was amiss (possibly the coach was yelling at him), and he runs to first base and stops.

I haven’t heard the umpire, Phil Cuzzi, weigh in on this play. I’d like to know if he thought Valbuena tagged Braun or if he called him out for passing Segura.

Not me. But I did once see Jose Valentin, of the White Sox, make the same bonehead play of wrongly assuming he was out, as the lead runner in a two-people-on-a-base scenario. But, the White Sox dugout is on the third base side. So when he started off the field he was jogging toward third. He was chased down and tagged out for a double play.

13

Brewer fan here - I’m glad we won!!! Segura (who is going to be a great SS!!!) should have stayed on second base. Braun would have been called out and we would still have had a runner on second…

As it was, (not as a Brewer fan, but as a baseball fan). . . . . I wish Segura would have been safe at second on the the steal attempt after he retreated to first base…

Anyone who has ever made a bar bet knows what I am talking about!!!

14

Not as good as the Segura play, but I recall a MLB play on This Week in Baseball in the late 70s with two runners on third. The fielder tagged the lead runner then the trail runner. Of course the trail runner was out, but the lead runner apparently assumed he was out and walked off the bag and was tagged for a double play.