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Thread: TOOTBLAN and other tales of infamy on the diamond

  1. #1
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    TOOTBLAN and other tales of infamy on the diamond

    So last night I played softball and had played an OK game all around. I had scored from 1st on a double, and as an outfielder speed is really my game. So I got on on a FC the next time up, and sure enough the guy behind me cracks an easy up the gap double. So I'm legging it around knowing there is going to be a play at the plate and I'm waved home. BUT THEN, for some unknown reason, I stopped midway down third and tried to go back, but it was too late. I was caught in a rundown and tagged out. I'm fairly certain I would have scored had I kept going as the throw was high. So today I'm just replaying this damn thing over and over and over wondering what in the world I was thinking.

    All this brings me to ask of you as part of my personal healing process: What ridiculously bad moment or play still haunts you?


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  3. #2
    Sprinkles are for winners dougdirt's Avatar
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    Re: TOOTBLAN and other tales of infamy on the diamond

    There are two. One was my fault and the other one wasn't.

    The one that was my fault: I was 14, freshman in high school. Our regular center fielder was on vacation. I was starting at third base. The replacement center fielder just couldn't get it done and he was shifted back to left and I was put in center. I wasn't the fastest guy on the team, but I wasn't slow and had the glove and arm to handle the position just fine. For three innings not a single ball got to the outfield. Sure enough, the one stinking play that I wasn't fully paying attention for, a guy smokes one to center over my head. I should have had two or three steps back by the time I actually got moving on the ball. It went for a triple. I am not sure if I had a chance to catch it or not, but it should have just been a double if I didn't have a chance to catch it.

    The one that wasn't my fault: It may have been the same year, or perhaps the next year. We were not allowed to run over the catcher. It was an immediate ejection, an out (even if you were safe) and you were suspended for the next game. I had just doubled and represented the tying run in the latter end of the game (it wasn't the 7th, but I think it was the 6th of a 7 inning game). Our cleanup hitter singled to center and I came charging around third. The catcher completely just crouched on his knees basically on top of the plate. I had the throw beat, but there really wasn't much I could do to actually get to the plate with the rules in place unless I ran/slide well outside of him, then reached around to the plate. Of course by the time I had realized where he was it was too late to alter my line to the plate and I had no choice but to just slide into him. After my feet hit him, he then caught the ball and tagged me out. As he stood up, it turns out he was actually sitting on the plate. So I argued with the umpire about the situation, asking how exactly it was possible for me to do anything at all given the rules to score there when he didn't have the ball when I reached the base. He wasn't having it and basically said that I should have slid harder under him to try and move him. I said some something about how that was BS and got tossed anyways. Maybe it was my fault. I don't know. But I know that every time I drive by that school I want to go throw gravel on the infield.

  4. #3
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    Re: TOOTBLAN and other tales of infamy on the diamond

    We're behind by 2, but on the comeback trail. Wild pitcher just cannot find the plate. He's walking everybody that steps up to the plate. I'm up with the bases loaded and of course the Coach puts on the take sign on because he's gonna make the kid throw a strike. With a 2-0 count the pitcher groves one down the center of the plate and.....I swing. Weak grounder to second for a double play that ends the game.
    "Even a bad day at the ballpark beats the snot out of most other good days. I'll take my scorecard and pencil and beer and hot dog and rage at the dips and cheer at the highs, but I'm not ever going to stop loving this game and this team and nobody will ever take that away from me." Roy Tucker October 2010

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    Are we not men? Yachtzee's Avatar
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    Re: TOOTBLAN and other tales of infamy on the diamond

    In high school, standing behind the pitcher during pre-game batting practice, I was in charge of catching the BP balls thrown back to the mound and putting them in a bucket for the pitcher to use. I turned around to face home for the next pitch and took a one-hopper to the groin. Of course, I had forgotten to put my cup in. The ball just missed the vital parts down there, but it still hurt enough to force me to spend the game lying on a picnic table with a bag of ice on my crotch.
    Wear gaudy colors, or avoid display. Lay a million eggs or give birth to one. The fittest shall survive, yet the unfit may live. Be like your ancestors or be different. We must repeat!

  6. #5
    A Pleasure to Burn Joseph's Avatar
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    Re: TOOTBLAN and other tales of infamy on the diamond

    Gotta ask, may kick myself when I get the answer, but.....TOOTBLAN?

    Championships for MY teams in my lifetime:
    Cincinnati Reds - 75, 76, 90
    Chicago Blackhawks - 10, 13, 15
    University of Kentucky - 78, 96, 98, 12
    Chicago Bulls - 91, 92, 93, 96, 97, 98


    “Everything that happens before Death is what counts.”
    ― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes

  7. #6
    Sprinkles are for winners dougdirt's Avatar
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    Re: TOOTBLAN and other tales of infamy on the diamond

    Quote Originally Posted by Joseph View Post
    Gotta ask, may kick myself when I get the answer, but.....TOOTBLAN?
    Acronym for Thrown Out On The Basepaths Like A Nincompoop

  8. #7
    Charlie Brown All-Star IslandRed's Avatar
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    Re: TOOTBLAN and other tales of infamy on the diamond

    In college, co-ed softball. Of course I tried to go first to third on a ball hit to right-center. I had not yet seen the cute girl throw.
    Reading comprehension is not just an ability, it's a choice

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    Member redsfanmia's Avatar
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    Re: TOOTBLAN and other tales of infamy on the diamond

    Senior year in high school we were in the sectional finals after a bad season. We fought hard and we were down 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh, bases loaded 2 outs I'm up with our best hitter up next. I work the count full and foul a few balls off, it's at least a 10 pitch at bat, then swing at ball four in my eyes to end the game. I felt awful and still think about it 20+ years later.
    When I see the 2016 Reds, I see a 100 loss team and no direction.


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