When I was a kid, I read a book that was full of the most ridiculous stories in baseball. One of them was about a player who had urinated on the grass of every ball park- and he wished (at the time) for inter-league play so he could collect them all!
I’ve always wondered if he attained his noble goal.
Does anyone know of any humorous baseball factoid books (I believe this was a series that came out in the late 80’s or early 90’s) or the name of this particular player?
After some digging around, I found the name of the book: The Baseball Hall of Shame.
If anyone has a copy sitting around…
It’s actually in the second volume, The Baseball Hall of Shame 2
Rick Bosetti, Outfielder, 1976-1982. He claimed to have hit all the natural grass parks in the AL when he was with the Blue Jays in 1979.
He was a advocate of interleague play, just so he could have the chance to water Wrigley.
Since the GQ has been answered, I’ll go ahead and give my favorite funny anectode from the BHoS books:
Some AL pitcher (this was before interleague play) was playing a spring training game against an NL team at the NL team’s park. This mean that pitchers would have to bat. This pitcher had never had an at-bat in his life: not in the children’s or teen’s leagues he played at in his native Latin American country, not in the minors or in any development league, not in the majors, not ever.
He stepped up to the plate and realized he didn’t have a bat. Back to the dugout he goes. He returned to the plate, and the umpire chastised him for not having a helmet, and ordered him back to the dugout to get a batting helmet. By this time his teammates back in the dugout are rolling on the floor with laughter. He returns to the plate to bat right-handed - but he’s wearing a left-handed helmet. The umpire orders him back to the dugout once again, but instead of facing the shame of returning to the dugout, he simply crosses the plate to bat left-handed. Then, instead of watching the opposing pitcher, he turns to look at the opposing catcher. “What the hell are you doing?” asks the catcher. “I wanted to see what pitch you were signing for.” Thinking this was the funniest thing he had ever seen, the catcher says, honestly, “I’m signing for a fastball.” Sure enough, a fastball is thrown, and after two more pitches, the AL pitcher had struck out looking on three pitches.
Thank you, sir! It was driving me so crazy, I was going to buy the book while at lunch today.
Rick Bosetti. I hear he is now the Mayor of Redding, CA.
The “What the hell are your doing?” remark by the catcher makes more sense if you know that that probably the most universally observed unwritten rule in professional baseball is that the batter NEVER looks at the catcher to see what kind of pitch he is calling for. Any batter who does that is sure to get hit by the next pitch.
I am drawing a blank on this one, too, but there’s a similar story – documented – from about a decade ago. The Angels won the A.L. pennant; hence, would go into the World Series, which were under N.L. rules that year. A relief pitcher, brought up late in the season and superb, had never faced the opposing pitcher as a batter either in the minors or late-season and playoff games. So his first professional at-bat, ever, was in the World Series!
Sorry to threadshit, but there are about 17 wholly unbelievable things in that story.
Then why do it?
If you want a cite, ask for one. I’m sure I can find a copy of the BHoS around here somewhere.
Yeah, I definitely don’t believe that a baseball player never swung a bat in his life just because he was a pitcher. That’s like a football player never throwing a football just because he was a lineman.
Besides, if staring back at the catcher to get the sign will get you beaned, presumably that pitcher would have known that himself.
The pitcher would know how to bat and to not look at the catcher’s signals from being a pitcher himself. He had to have pitched to hundreds of batters, which would give him a clear idea of how to bat.
Ergo, I’m calling BS
This would appear to be a more or less accurate description of John Lackey, who was a rookie in 2002 but didn’t bat during the regular season, and then batted twice in the World Series. And he got a hit, no less. The only inaccuracy is that Lackey was a starter, not a reliever.
Without looking at every possible example, however, I am sure Lackey is not the first major leaguer to have his first at bat in the World Series; since the AL has had the DH since 1973, and most minor leagues use the DH, a lot of pitchers would have never had a chance to hit before they had to do so in the Series. The 1993 World Series, won by my favourite team, the AL’s Blue Jays, saw the first major league at bats for four pitchers; Pat Hentgen, Todd Stottlemyre, Juan Guzman, and Al Leiter, and Leiter ripped a double into the left field corner so go figure.
How would he even know what the catcher’s signals meant? Do all catchers & pitchers in baseball use the same set of signals? Then couldn’t the team post someone in the outfield bleachers with binoculars, to see the catchers signals and then signal that to the batter?
P.S. I’ve noticed several NFL football coaches that hold up a clipboard before their mouth each time they speak into their microphone. Supposedly this is out of fear that the opposing team has lip-readers watching them to see what play they are calling. I don’t know if that’s true, or just paranoia by some football coaches.
It’s not entirely paranoia. The San Francisco Giants went to the 1989 World Series in part because when the opposing pitching coach went to the mound, Will Clark was able to read his lips, knew what pitch was coming, and got the series-winning hit.
That’s why, unless they’re huddled together, pitchers will hold their glove over their mouth and catchers will leave their mask down.
HeyHomie- Quite honestly, I wouldn’t believe the BHoS, either. That story is so comically implausible, I just couldn’t leave it be, especially on this message board.
This is against the rules, but actually a couple of times a year big league teams are accused of doing this. They always deny it, of course, but I’m sure it does happen. And often when there is a runner on second base the catcher will walk to the mound and tell the pitcher what kind of pitch he wants thereby preventing the runner on second base from stealing the sign and relaying it to the batter.
I never heard of Bosetti pissing in the parks, but that was a goal of a contemporary, Joe Wallis.
Teams do have different signs, and also different systems to indicate which sign is active. One finger usually means fastball, but the actual sign will be one of several made – two fingers, one finger, three fingers, for instance. The pitcher and catcher know which signal is the “live” one.
This makes it harder to figure out the pitch, but only for a short time; the other team will figure it out given the chance.
It’s against the rules to use binoculars to spot signs (though there is evidence the 1951 New York Giants did it). It’s also an unwritten rule that the batter isn’t supposed to look back to see the sign. If you do it, the next pitch will be aimed at your head.
It is considered kosher to steal signs if you’re on second base; you really can’t avoid seeing the sign, since you’re looking directly at the catcher. Teams usually; switch signs after this happens.
I remember that story. The pitcher was Jose Nunez of the Blue Jays and the catcher was Darren Daulton of the Phillies. As to the veracity of the story…well, we all know about Daulton’s recent craziness, so I can totally see him doing that.
But you missed the best part of the story! After the pitcher rifled a fastball right past Nunez, Nunez asked, “Can you make the next one a changeup?”
The story does seem a bit outrageous, but I could see the pitcher being clueless. When I waited tables, I watched the cooks all day, every day. I was a corporate trainer, and I knew every possible spec there was to know about our food and it’s preparation…Yet, I was still a bumbling idiot the first time I stepped on the line.