Commentor Ashley:
I saw an interesting piece of cheating today – I’m not sure if it’s actually cheating or not, which tells me even more that it is. It was during Friday’s Cubs-Nationals game. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Mark DeRosa walked. During the next batter’s (Cesar Izturis) at-bat, DeRosa attempted to steal second. The catcher made the throw, the tag was applied at second, and DeRosa was called out.
I didn’t realize what happened until they showed the replay. To make a long story short (too late), during the play, the umpire was below the baseline between first and second, giving him a more diagonal point of view, rather than a straight on one. When the second baseman caught the ball he lowered his glove between DeRosa’s arms in order to make it look like he applied the tag before DeRosa reached base (because the way DeRosa slid in, his body blocked the umpire’s point of view of the second baseman’s glove). DeRosa was called out, but not only did the second baseman not tag DeRosa before he reached second, he never tagged him at all!
I talk about this in the book – it’s part of the larger tradition of trying to influence umpires. From framing pitches to the open intimidation of umpires in the early days, this kind of thing is quite common.
1 comment so far ↓
It is also a safety issue. No one wants a second baseman or shortstop to have their hands, wrists, or arms sliced up because of someone sliding in with spikes first. No one wants to see their player smacked in the face with a glove and ball as they slide in headfirst. You can actually see fielders pull their gloves up as a player slides in in order to prevent injury to themselves or the runner.
If the ball is there, in the glove, waiting for a runner that is sliding straight in, it is going to be an out every single time. If the play is a swipe tag, or the runner makes a great slide, that is a different story.