The most obvious are mirror images: the batter who stands at the plate to admire his home run, or just trots toward first, and then the ball stays in the park. And then the outfielder who doesn't chase a deep fly because he assumes it's a homer, and then it doesn't go out. (Just last night I almost saw something similar. Upton of the DBs hit a screaming liner down the left field line and didn't move, thinking it was foul. It was, by about four inches. What if it had landed on the line?)

Anything involving not knowing the number of outs is really embarrassing: throwing to the wrong base (the Kingman example I gave), a baserunner running on a fly ball thinking mistakenly there are two outs, or not running thinking there aren't two out, a fielder not trying to complete a double play with fewer than two outs, etc.

A batter popping up with a runner on first and barely jogging toward first, and an infielder drops the ball intentionally and gets a double play.

Brooklyn came to bat in the seventh. Johnny Butler singled. DeBerry hit a two-bagger, scoring Butler. Dazzy Vance singled and DeBerry went to third. Fewster was hit by the pitcher, filling the bases. Jacobson popped out. Babe Herman now took his place at the plate. The stage was all set for the drama. Herman belted a line drive to right field and DeBerry vacated third base and crossed the plate. Vance, who had been on second, thought Herman's drive was going to be caught, and held up until he was certain the outfielder had missed it; then Dazzy started for home. He rounded third, ran halfway to the plate, decided he wouldn't be able to beat the throw-in, reversed himself and started back to third. Meanwhile Fewster was tearing around the base paths from first, arriving at the third sack about the time Vance resumed to it. They stood and looked at each other in astonishment for a few moments and then switched their attention to an even more astonishing sight. Babe Herman figured he had a double, possibly a triple, and he preferred a triple of course, and was bent upon trying to stretch it. He had his head down and was running for all he was worth, with no suspicion in his mind that a traffic jam had already developed at third. He didn't raise his head until he was a few feet from third and then when he looked up, there stood Vance and Fewster, and the Boston third baseman was just taking the throw. This third baseman, Taylor, was understandably excited. He received the throw and started tagging people. He tagged every human within reach, including the third-base umpire. Herman, however, had got himself out of range and was heading back for second. Taylor fired the ball down to the shortstop, and Herman was tagged out before he could reach the bag.

I've long been under the impression that the infield fly rule was created to eliminate precisely this play; the former utility infielder Dick Schofield Sr comes to mind as having been known for that sharp little move.

Here's the Haddix moment of infamy: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/...

It's not necessary with a runner on 1st base only, because the defense could only get one out by letting the ball drop--assuming that the batter runs to first, of course.

It might still be a play worth considering if Speedy McGreedy is on first and Gluefoot Lardbutt is hitting, as you can replace the faster man on the basepaths with a slower one. But apparently most teams feel it's not worth the risk of being unable to control the ball after it hits the ground. The play would not have been recommended in the Metrodome.

And the idea is a bit older than Dick Schofield Sr. More like his great- grandfather; the first recorded example dates back to 1870:

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/...

With both pitchers going all 26 innings. But you might not know about this one, played less than two weeks earlier:

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/...

Noticed that Oeschger is buried in Colma, California-he's hardly alone, you see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colma,...

A little more on the marathon. Apparently, it would have ended several innings sooner had May 1 1920 not been the first day of Daylight Saving Time in Boston, which meant an extra hour of sunlight.

Leon Cadore seems to have found success in the stock market after retirement. Nowever, note that this article is dated <1928>.

Not a long career for Cadore, with only five full seasons, and his ERA skyrocketed once the deadball era ended, along with everyone else's.

Reggie was on first and the batter hit a line drive to short, which Bill Russell dropped. He stepped on second and then fired toward first. Reggie was standing just a few feet off first and stuck out his butt to block the throw.

<(l) An infielder intentionally drops a fair fly ball or line drive, with first, first and second, first and third, or first, second and third base occupied before two are out. The ball is dead and runner or runners shall return to their original base or bases;

APPROVED RULING: In this situation, the batter is not out if the infielder permits the ball to drop untouched to the ground, except when the Infield Fly rule applies.>

Obviously, a fielder is not going to let line drives go untouched, but the play would be possible on a bunt. For Russell, the umps must have invoked the "intentionally" clause.

http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%...

The Good News: He's on a 26-game hitting streak.

just went through your 11-page games collection --- simply astounding!