# Rarest plays in sports? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 8, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-plays-in-sports/371963 "2006-09-08T19:39:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![borschevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@borschevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borschevsky)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-plays-in-sports/371963/121 "2006-09-25T16:09:03Z")
How about in football, a punt on first down? It happened yesterday. [Link](http://tsn.ca/cfl/news_story/?ID=178741) ---
**Author:** ![aktep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-plays-in-sports/371963/122 "2006-09-25T16:24:32Z")
[QUOTE=borschevsky] How about in football, a punt on first down? It happened yesterday. [/QUOTE] Not a bad strategy in CFL, since you can earn the single. IIRC, Texas and TCU played a game in 1944 is such a bad rainstorm that the teams were punting on first down in the hopes of forcing the other team to fumble deep in its own territory. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-plays-in-sports/371963/123 "2006-09-25T18:20:34Z")
[QUOTE=HeyHomie] I once saw a guy make three errors on one play. This would have been at the old Busch Stadium in St. Louis, early 1990’s. The opposing batter hits a Texas-league pop up toward third base. He starts casually walking toward first base, knowing he’s going to be out. The Cards’ third baseman (I believe it was Todd Zelie) camps under the ball and waits for it… and it falls into and out of his glove. Error #1. Seeing that the ball is in play, the runner makes a mad dash toward first base. Zeile hurls it toward first base… and into the dugout. Error #2. The Cards’ first-baseman fishes the ball out of the dugout. By this time the runner is appropaching third base, so he hurls the ball toward Zeile at third base. Zeile dropped the ball. Error #3. By this time the Cards fans didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. [/QUOTE] YOu must not be remembering exactly what happened. If the ball actually went into the dugout it would be dead and play would stop. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-plays-in-sports/371963/124 "2006-09-25T20:42:45Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I once saw a guy make three errors on one play. This would have been at the old Busch Stadium in St. Louis, early 1990’s. [QUOTE=RealityChuck] Impressive, but not a record: third baseman Mike Grady of the 1895 New York Giants\* made four on one play. The situation was similar to what you described (Grady bobbled a grounder, overthrew first, and then dropped the throw as the runner went for third. When the runner ran home, Grady tossed the ball away. \*Grady didn’t play for the Giants until 1899, though, so either the date or the team is wrong. [/QUOTE] I’ve been reading about Grady’s four-error fiasco in baseball trivia books since I was a child, but I’m skeptical that it took place. Nobody ever cites such elementary facts as the date, opponent, or opposing batter–and as you note, many sources give a year (1895) in which Grady neither played for the Giants nor played third base. I suspect this was something somebody embellished, or remembered incorrectly, years after the fact. As with **HeyHomie** –perusal of Retrosheet reveals that neither Todd Zeile nor any other St. Louis third baseman has made three errors on a single play at any time in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s. Three errors on one play is _extremely_ rare. The only well documented case I can find via Googling is Tommy John, pitching, for New York versus Milwaukee on July 27, 1988. ---
**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-plays-in-sports/371963/125 "2006-09-25T21:21:25Z")
I saw Dorsett score a touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings on a 99-yrd run on a Monday Night Football game back in the early 80s. There are longer touchdowns (fumble recoveries or interceptions from behind your own goalline are 100-plus yards), but that’s a record that won’t be broken for regular offensive plays. ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-plays-in-sports/371963/126 "2006-09-27T08:02:42Z")
[QUOTE=Ogre] Nice catch? _Nice catch_?! I doubt if that catch has ever been made before in the history of football. As for the Play, yes, I know. It was a fine and momentous play, and I fully acknowledge that it belongs in this thread. Fortunately, the thread is not limited to one play per sport. [/QUOTE] Yeah, that catch has been made before. It was on a Monday Night Football game during the NFL strike (1983?). IIRC, it was a NY Giants replacement wideout who caught it, but unlike your highlight – which is pretty damn amazing in its own right – the receiver had both of arms under the defender’s armpits and caught it off his back. For a touchdown. I have it on video around here someplace. I’ll re-post if I find it and can put it on UTube. Most amazing play I’ve ever seen is Bo Jackson throwing out Harold Reynolds at home _from the warning track._ Reynolds on second, batter lines a double into the left field corner, Jackson picks it up, turns and throws a strike… from 340 feet away on the fly… to nail Reynolds by a step. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-plays-in-sports/371963/127 "2006-10-05T02:09:36Z")
Anyone watching the Mets/Dodgers game today (10/4) saw another one of the rarest plays in sports: the catcher making two putouts on a double play. This is the 7th time it’s happened in MLB history – rarer than an unassisted triple play. (Of course, it does require some boneheaded baserunning, which isn’t necessary for a UTP). For those who didn’t see it, J.D. Drew was on first and Jeff Kent was on second. Russell Martin hit a double to right. Kent hesitated then ran for home, wheras Drew was running as soon as the ball was hit. The third base coach sent Kent home, challenging the Mets to make a good throw. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, they did. However, Drew evidently thought the coach’s sign to Kent meant him, too, and charged home. Paul LoDuca had his back to the runner, but turned in time to get Drew. A list of all the other times this has happened is here: [Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers - Tagging 2 Runners on Double Plays](http://members.tripod.com/bb_catchers/catchers/doubletag2.htm) This was the first time it happened in the postseason. Oddly, the Mets were one of the teams that got caught in one, and, even odder, one of the players tagged out on the play is their current manager, Willie Randolph. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-plays-in-sports/371963/128 "2006-10-05T04:56:30Z")
[QUOTE=Moonchild] Most amazing play I’ve ever seen is Bo Jackson throwing out Harold Reynolds at home _from the warning track._ Reynolds on second, batter lines a double into the left field corner, Jackson picks it up, turns and throws a strike… from 340 feet away on the fly… to nail Reynolds by a step. [/QUOTE] Thank you for posting this. I remember seeing this play, but no one else I know does. I couldn’t recall the exact details, so I was beginning to wonder if I imagined the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-plays-in-sports/371963/129 "2006-10-05T14:01:18Z")
[QUOTE=Suburban Plankton] Thank you for posting this. I remember seeing this play, but no one else I know does. I couldn’t recall the exact details, so I was beginning to wonder if I imagined the whole thing. [/QUOTE] You didn’t-I recall the same play too. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-plays-in-sports/371963/130 "2006-10-05T15:57:57Z")
[QUOTE=Pleonast] What exactly is field goal tending? (Assuming you mean American football.) [/QUOTE] blocking a field goal at or just before it crosses the cross bar. In the NFL it’s a 15 yard penalty and automatic first down for unsportsmanlike conduct. I don’t know if it is prohibitted by the NCAA. [Kenny Irons](http://auburntigers.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/062805aaa.html) doesn’t seem to think so. Compelling interview. ---
**Author:** ![aktep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-plays-in-sports/371963/131 "2006-10-05T16:13:46Z")
[QUOTE=whole bean] blocking a field goal at or just before it crosses the cross bar. In the NFL it’s a 15 yard penalty and automatic first down for unsportsmanlike conduct. I don’t know if it is prohibitted by the NCAA. [Kenny Irons](http://auburntigers.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/062805aaa.html) doesn’t seem to think so. Compelling interview. [/QUOTE] As discussed further upthread, it’s only OK if he catches it. If not, it’s illegal batting, which could be enforced as a safety. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-plays-in-sports/371963/132 "2006-10-05T16:21:37Z")
Bo was awesome- he is one of only two NFL players (with Ahman Green of all people) to have two runs of at least 90 yards. Bo also had an 88 yard run. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-plays-in-sports/371963.md?page=6)