# Re-Cycle: A baseball rules question **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 21, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-cycle-a-baseball-rules-question/511015 "2009-09-21T23:14:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-cycle-a-baseball-rules-question/511015/21 "2009-09-22T17:11:56Z")
> [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](#): > > When I posited the question, I was assuming the player’s management/teammates wouldn’t have a huge problem with the stunt It’s very likely they would have a problem with it. There have been a few situations like this in the NBA and they pissed off all involved. Different sport, but doing this kind of thing is seen as selfish and a violation of the spirit of the game, if not the actual rules. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-cycle-a-baseball-rules-question/511015/22 "2009-09-22T18:30:05Z")
Wouldn’t this kind of stunt come under the “making a travesty of the game” catch all clause? If I was the umpire, I would eject the player, and tell the manager to substitute another to finish the trip around the bases. ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-cycle-a-baseball-rules-question/511015/23 "2009-09-22T19:03:29Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Wouldn’t this kind of stunt come under the “making a travesty of the game” catch all clause? If I was the umpire, I would eject the player, and tell the manager to substitute another to finish the trip around the bases. Agree. I think that this is the most likely outcome. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-cycle-a-baseball-rules-question/511015/24 "2009-09-23T01:02:28Z")
So I’m sitting here, with the Royals game on, Grienke’s pitching, and I’m reading Joe Posnanski’s “The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America”. Buck O’Neil was a national treasure before he died a few years ago, and Joe Pos is the best sports writer on the planet right now. An extremely relevant excerpt: > [@](#): > > “What was your best day?” I asked him. I’d heard him tell it a hundred times. I wanted to know if he was awake. > > “Easter Sunday, 1943, Memphis, Tennessee,” he said immediately. He opened his eyes. “I was first baseman for the Kansas City Monarchs then. We were playing the Memphis Red Sox. First time up, I hit a double. Next time I hit a single. Third time up, I hit the ball over the left-field fence for a home run. Fourth time up, I hit a long fly ball to right field. As I ran to first, I yelled, 'Hit the fence! Hit the fence! The… ball… hit… the… fence. It skipped past the outfielder. I ran around the bases. My third-base coach called me home. I could have had an inside-the-park home run. But I stopped at third. You know why?” > > “Cycle,” I said. > > “I got the cycle. Single, double, triple, home run. That night I was at the hotel relaxing. My friend Dizzy Dismukes comes up to my room and says, ‘Buck, there are some people downstairs I want you to meet.’ They were teachers from the local school. I walked downstairs and walked right up to one of those teachers. I said, ‘My name is Buck O’Neil, what’s yours?’ That was Ora. And we were married for fifty-one years.” So I guess holding up has its benefits beyond securing the cycle. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-cycle-a-baseball-rules-question/511015/25 "2009-09-23T04:13:31Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > So I guess holding up has its benefits beyond securing the cycle. Ah. So you’re saying he _did_ eventually go all the way, then, right? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-cycle-a-baseball-rules-question/511015.md?page=1)