Friday, June 02, 2006

 

Dropped third strikes

Here is a discussion of a question that has come up among my cadre of seatmates several times over the years: why did the rule allowing a batter to attempt to reach first base safely on a dropped third strike come to be?

My seatmates and I have tended to the position that it's a rule based in the idea that, to record an out, the defense must make a positive action, having position of the ball.

But a guy at the indispensable all-baseball.com has a different opinion. He's fairly convincing.

God, I love this game.

Labels:


# posted by Levi Stahl @ 9:55 PM
Comments:
I trust you guys know that on this, the first day of the MLB amateur draft, it is entirely possible that Jeffrey Maier and Danny Almonte will be drafted. And I know you two know who those two are....
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : Tuesday, June 06, 2006 7:52:00 AM
 
Those two might, but I sure don't! Do tell!
# posted by Blogger thatbob : Monday, June 12, 2006 11:53:00 PM
 
Jeffrey Maier is the kid who reached over the fence and caught a Derek Jeter ball (which was later ruled a home run, even though it was actually fan interference) in the 1996 ALCS between the Yankees and Baltimore. The homer tied the game at 4 in the eighth; the Yankees eventually won it in 11 (and later won the World Series over Atlanta).
Almonte was the kid from the Bronx who was dominating the Little League World Series in 2001 -- until it was discovered that he was actually two years too old to compete in Little League.
Neither of the two ended up getting drafted, but a pitcher from Levi's home town did.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : Tuesday, June 13, 2006 11:40:00 AM
 
Post a Comment



<< Home