9-3 - Baseball's Most Embarrassing Play
 

On my son's 9-10 team this season we turned this play 8 times in 14 games....my 2b played up the middle and saved countless more hits. Amazing how batter/runners slow down on their way to first when they think they have a hit......it normally only works once in a game though.

When I was playing little league, we turned a 9-3-2-5 triple play.

My son's little league team was the victim of an unassisted triple play by the left fielder, who caught a short fly to left center, kept running to touch second doubling a runner going to third and then kept going to tag the other runner between first and second. I don't think he broke stride all the way to the dugout.:D

Wonder if that play has ever been done during a no-hitter or to preserve a no-hitter.

A lot of the victims were pitchers who no doubt had counted the hit in their minds and were slow out of the box. As someone who has made by living in church softball for 25 years by flaring balls over the second baseman's head (I once got a dozen straight hits on tweeners to right field), I always run hard. At 56, I fear the days of using that strategy are numbered.

Todd - You will have to learn adaptive behavior

- i.e. The Tony Gwynn 5.5 slice. (going the other way (or pulling it if you're a righty) between short and third)

With all the right fielders with serious guns, and a fair number still of slow plodding hitters, it's surprising you don't see it happen more than a blue moon.

When I was playing, I would have fell victim to that quite often. Thank goodness for the DH.

My College coach had two explanations for my surprising lack of foot speed:

"You're running too long in the same place"

or

"You got square wheels"


It was said that I had all the flash of an oil painting ; that, if the world ever ran out of kinetic energy, I would be the last one to be blamed.

I was slooooooow.

Now that I'm retired, I'm no longer slow - I'm stationary.