I recently read about Oakland ace Rollie Fingers striking out Johnny Bench, even as Bench believed he was being intentionally walked. What are the details on this?
Near the bottom of this page it is all explained.
Cool story. Here is the relevant part of don’t ask ’s cite:
Although the Reds won tonight’s critical matchup, a piece of unique strategy by Williams left a lasting impression on the fans watching the game at the Coliseum and on national television. With Joe Morgan on third and Bobby Tolan on second in the eighth inning, Rollie Fingers faced the Reds’ cleanup batter, Johnny Bench. Fingers ran the count to three-and-two, prompting a visit from Williams. The manager pointed to Bench and the on-deck circle, and then aimed his finger in the direction of first base, as if to indicate to Fingers and Gene Tenace that he wanted to intentionally walk Bench. As he went through the motions of calling for the ball-four pitchout, physically pointing at just about everyone in sight, Williams told Fingers to throw a slider over the middle of the plate. After the conference on the mound broke up, Tenace stood straight up behind the plate, signaling for the intentional walk with his right hand. As Fingers began his delivery, Tenace stepped out briefly, then retreated toward his usual position, squatting to receive the pitch. Bench, anticipating the automatic ball four pitchout, watched as Fingers threw a sharp slider that crossed the outside corner of the plate. Bench started to throw his bat away and run to first, before realizing that he had just witnessed “strike three.”… Williams had previously tried the unusual trick play, which he learned from famed manager Billy Southworth, during his minor league managing days. “It never worked for me the few times I tried it in the minors,” Williams admitted to Al Hirshberg of Sport Magazine. “I never tried it in the majors until tonight. I think the only guy in the ballpark who saw it coming was [Joe] Morgan. At the last minute, he yelled to Bench, ‘Be alive!’ but it was too late.” Home-plate umpire Mel Steiner watched Fingers’ slider nick the outside corner and signaled strike three, sending an embarrassed Bench back to the Reds’ dugout.
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