[Archive]

Posted By: Jeff Mohler

Last night in the Phillies - Nationals game Chase Utley was on third, a runner was on first and there were two outs. Chase noticed the pitcher's move to first was slow, so he tried to steal home when the pitcher threw over to first. The first baseman saw him going and threw to home where Utley was called out after a collision with the catcher. Charlie Manuel, the Phillies manager, applauded Utley's aggressiveness.

My question: If Utley had been successful, would this have been a "pure" steal of home, (not part of a double steal)? I haven't seen baserunning done like this lately. I have read about it being done in books about the deadball era and even up into the fifties, eg. Jackie Robinson, but I don't think we see it done often nowadays. Has anyone seen it done recently?

Jeff