Baseball Revenge
Does anyone recall last year when the Czar wrote about the Цесаревич’s spectacular and politically (un)popular baseball adventure, in which his plucky band of die-hard teammates took on the well-funded and well-organized baseball team of a Very Wealthy Suburb called VWS? No?
Anyhow, what happened was that VWS challenges a Muscovy team each year to a mismatched game, and the Цесаревич’s team of misfits beat the tony kids 6-5 and were celebrated up and down little Muscovy.
And so again the Цесаревич and his team were challenged this year to come to VWS’s home field. Perhaps you would enjoy an update? Things did not go terribly well for them this year, as they were defeated 11-3.. Fair enough, but it was the manner in which the game ended that tells the story here.
In baseball, if you have a runner or two on base, you can throw out one player and quickly throw out another player. This of course is known as a double play.
So imagine you have a runner on base, and the batter pops the ball up to an infielder. What stops the infielder from deliberately dropping the ball, picking it up, throwing to first for one out and then having the first baseman throw out the runner at second? The infield fly rule.
Basically, when the umpire calls infield fly rule, the infielder has to make the catch, and the runner stands on his base. This means there is one and only one out, and prevents a rigged double play.
However, if the runner runs anyway, the infielders can throw back to his original base, the baseman catches the ball, steps on the base, and the runner is out. And you can get a double play, but only if the runner screws up.
You can read more about it elsewhere, but as dizzy as it sounds, the bottom line is that the infield fly rule prevents the fielding team from creating a fake double play, unless the runner fails to pay attention. Now back to the story.
All right, Muscovy had a runners on first and second, with one out in the last inning.
One of our better batters comes up to the plate, takes a couple of balls outside, and then swings. Crack. The ball pops up to the shortstop, who catches the ball. The runners on first and second, though, take off like mad and reach second and third, respectively. Perfect sacrifice fly, right?
The VWS umpire (an employee of their park district) turns to the VWS dugout and hollers to their coach “Hey, infield fly rule. If your shortstop throws to second, the runner is out.” Quickly, their coach leaps to his feet and screams at his shortstop to throw to second. The second baseman catches the ball and tags second behind the heels of our baserunner. The umpire calls out “That’s game, gentlemen,” and walks off the field. Game over.
The Muscovy boys are standing, blinking, uncomprehending. The Muscovy coach leaps out of the dugout, runs in front of the umpire, and demands an explanation. He also points out a few items, such as:
- The umpire has to call out the infield fly rule before the catch is made.
- Once the shortstop caught the ball, play stopped; the ball should have been called dead since the umpire never called infield fly rule. That means no further throwing around is legitimate.
- Please explain how an umpire can offer advice to the home field coach.
Well, as you imagine, this appeal failed to win over the celebratory VWS fans who reclaimed their title. Dejected, but understanding that politics trumps fair play, the Muscovy boys gathered their things, thoroughly cleaned the dugout, and went home.
Baseball.
Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.