Nevermind. Mistaken
Yes - it has to be a rare thing for a left-handed batter to do so. Putting a lot of emphasis on not getting doubled off third base really seems like a strange choice here.
Atlanta has promoted bench coach Walt Weiss to manager.
What was going on with the Toronto fan who threw back the ball he caught after the tying home run in the 9th inning of Game 7? Was he required to do that, or could he have just bogarted the home run ball he caught? I don’t recall reading anything after the game about him, which is fine but strikes me as unusual these days.
Yeah, that was awfully generous of the fan to throw away what might have been a huge sum of money.
FWIW discussion of the Kiner play.
After reading that link, I’m still skeptical. The odds of a line drive being hit directly to the Dodgers’ 3rd base were pretty low. Like, maybe 5%. (Just my based-off-feelings-alone hunch)
And even if the Jays wanted to prevent a scenario where Kiner-Falefa got doubled off, he (IKF) could still have very safely taken 1 or 2 more steps as a lead towards home plate without compromising his ability to avoid being doubled by Muncy - one or two steps that would have meant scoring the winning run.
It was excessive/self-defeating caution all around.
It’s somewhat routine to throw back the ball when the opposing team hits a home run. I have a vague memory that it started at Wrigley decades ago.
New off-season thread here:
Thanks!