Mookie Betts and that insane steal of third
Bryan Joiner cannot stop marveling over the way Betts stole second, looked around, then just kept going to third against the Nationals on Monday:
And so he will, in Cooperstown, many years from now (unless the BBWAA just recognizes the inevitability of Mookie and makes him the first-ever active player enshrined), where we will tug our exhausted families, with our five children named Mookie, to see him speak. "That’s who you’re named after!," we’ll say, and the kids will know, because you’ve told them every day. "He stole third one time, and nothing was ever the same," you’ll continue, and they won’t care, and then you’ll show them the play, and, for a moment, their eyes will light up.
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I take it back, we are
I take it back, we are responsible for literally all of the people every professional athlete has ever or will ever kill.
Good, heads-up baserunning
But not even the first (former) Red Sox CF to pull that off:
http://m.mlb.com/video/v7113113/ws-2009-gm-4-damon-steals-second-then-ta...
Billy Hatcher
This write-up is just like the sarcastic hero worship surrounding Billy Hatcher's steal of home base in the 90s.
A memorial for Billy still exists: "The Hatcher Zone: The Only Webpage Exlusively Devoted To The Time That Billy Hatcher Stole Home." If you're bored and want to re-live the steal, here's a link to the Zone: http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/hatcherzone/
...And, yes, I also didn't realize that Angelfire-hosted websites still existed.
The shift was on
He could steal third because nobody was covering it - Ortiz was at the plate and because Ortiz is such a consistent left-handed pull-hitter teams routinely shift against him - moving a left-side infielder to the right side and leaving third base open. That's one of the obvious downsides of shifting.
How do grown men
End up with such goofy professional names? Mookie sounds like a stuffed animal or a particularly outgoing cat.
Well...
...guys on teams have pet names, funny names like Who is on 1st, What's on 2nd and I Don't Know is on 3rd!
You mean the one's that play a game for a living?
Or all the investment bankers called by their nicknames?
Dewey Cheatham and Howe?
LOL