Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Prettiest Play in Baseball

I expect there will be many different opinions out there in imaginary reader land but I probably won't allow any of them to sway me.

Certain baseball situations produce certain baseball plays over and over again. Some times such a play is routine and looks the same no matter how may times you see it. I would say a two hopper hit directly at the shortstop with a strong accurate throw to first is pretty common and looks pretty much the same every time you see it.

That is not to say that every 6-3 put out looks the same as there are clear aesthetic differences between the high chopper that must be aggressively charged and followed by an across the body throw and the ripper up the middle that must be scooped from shallow center and flicker to first at an obtuse angle.

For my money, the play that always looks sweet is the 3-6-1 double play and the fatter the pitcher covering first the better. Anyone disagree?

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous4/22/2009

    I sense that you are inviting disagreement, so I'll do just that. First, I assume that 'diving catch by the CF' doesn't qualify as a "play" in your definition. The play would actuall be called F8 and in that case most are routine catches. So, I'll go with the well executed drag bunt (by a lefty obviously) for a base hit. Beautiful. RF.

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  2. The Elias Sport Bureau reports that the last drag bunt in Major League Baseball was attempted by Micky Rivers in June of 1978. After the game, Micky was quoted saying "Heeb mij a banjo sist donna rum stup". To date, the Elias Sports Bureau has not deciphered the comment.

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  3. Anonymous4/24/2009

    I think Bill Lee plugged him on the next at bat for trying that. RF

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  4. that's right!...you cracked the code of Micky's post-game rambling...he said something about "he bean me -I just been sittin, shit gonna damn stop"

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