When I was playing, breaking this rule was a sure-fire way to earn yourself some laps at the next team practice.
First law of baseball
Archived Innings
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When I was playing, breaking this rule was a sure-fire way to earn yourself some laps at the next team practice.
In 2006, in an extra-inning game, Miguel Cabrera belted ball 4 of an intentional walk into center field for a go-ahead RBI hit that ultimately won the game. How do I know this? It was against the Orioles. Sigh. The corollary to Rule 1 … pitchers and catchers shall pitch and position themselves correctly when issuing an intentional walk.
Oh… ouch. That event does sound vaguely familiar. Sorry for your O’s.
Interesting topic. Depending upon the game situation (and especially if the batting team is behind), I never could understand why good hitters (.300 or better) didn’t more often take a hack at the meatball they knew was coming. I did a quick search and found a post that deals with the subject:
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2015/3/5/8151763/baseball-swinging-count-pitches-balls-strikes-strikezone-sluggers
The article says that on a 3-0 count, a major league pitcher still misses the strike zone 33% of the time. I find that very hard to believe; I’m thinking about 85 to 90% of the time, a major league pitcher will pull out the silver platter and serve up that 3-0 pitch solidly in the strike zone. Why not give it a rip? Again, I understand there are situations where you’d definitely want to take the 3-0 pitch, but I’d still like to see more hitters up there hacking away. Maybe this attitude is why I’m not a manager in the majors. Or even the minors, for that matter. 🙂
Part of the reasoning my coaches always had was that it was a good way to make the pitchers work harder. It’s one more pitch that they have to throw, strike or not, because the batter is simply choosing to do nothing with it.
For most of my youth baseball career, I led off. The 3-0 Commandment was Gospel from my coach to me.
Great cartoon.
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Lead off hitter! You must’ve been quick, then. I often hit in one of the first two spots in the order, thanks to my ability to get down the first base line.
“Lord? It’s me, W.k. Look, I know about the commandment, but these guys always try to sneak their little cheesy-ass breaking ball by on the three-oh count. I’m sitting on the interstate right now, Lord, and I’m gonna trade eternal damnation for a base knock…”
😀 Brilliant. You have more confidence then me in those situations. I was always more than happy to just take the pitch, rather than risk embarrassing myself.