Pitchers bluffing to 3rd and throwing to 1st (1 Viewer)

[Raider Nation]

Has anyone ever seen that oh-so-tricky maneuver work?

 

[whoknew]

Has anyone ever seen that oh-so-tricky maneuver work?

Yup. Worked about 2 weeks ago in a Tiger game. I was shocked.

 

[Raider Nation]

Nobody uses the hidden ball trick anymore. Seems like you'd see that a few times a year when I was a youngster.

 

[Dr. Awesome]

Has anyone ever seen that oh-so-tricky maneuver work?

Yup. Worked about 2 weeks ago in a Tiger game. I was shocked.

One of the few Tiger games I watch. I couldn't believe someone was dumb enough to fall for it.

 

[Berserker]

That Tiger game, it was Julio Borbon who fell for it. Borbon has perhaps the least baseball smarts of anybody playing (this coming from a Rangers fan).

 

[shuke]

Nobody uses the hidden ball trick anymore. Seems like you'd see that a few times a year when I was a youngster.

You mean the fake throw back? I think I saw it a few weeks ago.

 

[Raider Nation]

Nobody uses the hidden ball trick anymore. Seems like you'd see that a few times a year when I was a youngster.

You mean the fake throw back? I think I saw it a few weeks ago.

No sir. Man on 2nd base. 2B and SS come to the mound to "talk" to the pitcher. One of them takes the ball. Runner leads off the bag and gets tagged out. I suspect we haven't seen it in many years mainly because it's considered a pretty bush league move.

 

[Mr. Pickles]

That Tiger game, it was Julio Borbon who fell for it. Borbon has perhaps the least baseball smarts of anybody playing (this coming from a Rangers fan).

Found this, but not the fake to third deal.Edit: Okay, found it.

 

[Raider Nation]

That Tiger game, it was Julio Borbon who fell for it. Borbon has perhaps the least baseball smarts of anybody playing (this coming from a Rangers fan).

Found this, but not the fake to third deal.

Wow. That's a textbook pickoff move for a right-hander. Don't blink.

 

[Mr. Pickles]

So Borbon was picked off on April 12, and then again on April 13.

 

[belljr]

Nobody uses the hidden ball trick anymore. Seems like you'd see that a few times a year when I was a youngster.

You mean the fake throw back? I think I saw it a few weeks ago.

No sir. Man on 2nd base. 2B and SS come to the mound to "talk" to the pitcher. One of them takes the ball. Runner leads off the bag and gets tagged out. I suspect we haven't seen it in many years mainly because it's considered a pretty bush league move.

Where is the pitcher standing?

 

[Tiger Fan]

Has anyone ever seen that oh-so-tricky maneuver work?

Worked everytime when I was 16

 

[Tiger Fan]

Side note, my favorite "trick" play is the "Miami Play"...named b/c University of Miami tried it in the 84 college world series IIRC.

Runner on third. The pitcher fakes the pickoff move to third, but the entire team is in on the fake. The 3B runs back into foul territory to chase after the ball....the LF does the same....the bullpen guys all scramble like it's a live ball.

The runner takes off for home, and they nail the guy.

Youtube is blocked at work, but IIRC there was a crappy quality version of this play on there somewhere. Entertaining for any baseball fan.

 

[RnR]

Nobody uses the hidden ball trick anymore. Seems like you'd see that a few times a year when I was a youngster.

You mean the fake throw back? I think I saw it a few weeks ago.

No sir. Man on 2nd base. 2B and SS come to the mound to "talk" to the pitcher. One of them takes the ball. Runner leads off the bag and gets tagged out. I suspect we haven't seen it in many years mainly because it's considered a pretty bush league move.

Where is the pitcher standing?

If he approaches the rubber, its a balk.

 

[belljr]

Side note, my favorite "trick" play is the "Miami Play"...named b/c University of Miami tried it in the 84 college world series IIRC.

Runner on third. The pitcher fakes the pickoff move to third, but the entire team is in on the fake. The 3B runs back into foul territory to chase after the ball....the LF does the same....the bullpen guys all scramble like it's a live ball.

The runner takes off for home, and they nail the guy.

Youtube is blocked at work, but IIRC there was a crappy quality version of this play on there somewhere. Entertaining for any baseball fan.

I thought they did it at first base but yes it was quality ETA: it was 1982 http://hurricanesports.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/041307aac.html

Not sure how the fake throw is not a balk though ....

video

http://blog.gamechanger.io/post/2484494913/the-grand-illusion-and-the-art-of-the-hidden-ball-trick

 

[Tiger Fan]

Side note, my favorite "trick" play is the "Miami Play"...named b/c University of Miami tried it in the 84 college world series IIRC.

Runner on third. The pitcher fakes the pickoff move to third, but the entire team is in on the fake. The 3B runs back into foul territory to chase after the ball....the LF does the same....the bullpen guys all scramble like it's a live ball.

The runner takes off for home, and they nail the guy.

Youtube is blocked at work, but IIRC there was a crappy quality version of this play on there somewhere. Entertaining for any baseball fan.

I thought they did it at first base but yes it was quality ETA: it was 1982 http://hurricanesports.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/041307aac.html

Not sure how the fake throw is not a balk though ....

video

http://blog.gamechanger.io/post/2484494913/the-grand-illusion-and-the-art-of-the-hidden-ball-trick

maybe that's why I thought it was 3B. Perhaps the faking to first = balk is only in the majors

 

[RnR]

Side note, my favorite "trick" play is the "Miami Play"...named b/c University of Miami tried it in the 84 college world series IIRC.

Runner on third. The pitcher fakes the pickoff move to third, but the entire team is in on the fake. The 3B runs back into foul territory to chase after the ball....the LF does the same....the bullpen guys all scramble like it's a live ball.

The runner takes off for home, and they nail the guy.

Youtube is blocked at work, but IIRC there was a crappy quality version of this play on there somewhere. Entertaining for any baseball fan.

I thought they did it at first base but yes it was quality ETA: it was 1982 http://hurricanesports.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/041307aac.html

Not sure how the fake throw is not a balk though ....

video

http://blog.gamechanger.io/post/2484494913/the-grand-illusion-and-the-art-of-the-hidden-ball-trick

maybe that's why I thought it was 3B. Perhaps the faking to first = balk is only in the majors

Well, he didn't do a jump pick, he actually stepped off the rubber. At that point, I think you can fake a throw to first.

 

[Michael Brown]

You mean, "The Ol' Jeff Nelson?"

Yeah it worked a couple of times Jeff Nelson did it. Actually a modified version of it should have worked at the Yankee game last Friday. Fake to third, the runner on first was already going, pitcher stepped off the mound, and fired a missile into CF allowing everyone to be safe.

 

[shuke]

Side note, my favorite "trick" play is the "Miami Play"...named b/c University of Miami tried it in the 84 college world series IIRC.Runner on third. The pitcher fakes the pickoff move to third, but the entire team is in on the fake. The 3B runs back into foul territory to chase after the ball....the LF does the same....the bullpen guys all scramble like it's a live ball.The runner takes off for home, and they nail the guy.Youtube is blocked at work, but IIRC there was a crappy quality version of this play on there somewhere. Entertaining for any baseball fan.

That's no Dave Bresnahan potato trick.

 

[Tiger Fan]

Side note, my favorite "trick" play is the "Miami Play"...named b/c University of Miami tried it in the 84 college world series IIRC.Runner on third. The pitcher fakes the pickoff move to third, but the entire team is in on the fake. The 3B runs back into foul territory to chase after the ball....the LF does the same....the bullpen guys all scramble like it's a live ball.The runner takes off for home, and they nail the guy.Youtube is blocked at work, but IIRC there was a crappy quality version of this play on there somewhere. Entertaining for any baseball fan.

That's no Dave Bresnahan potato trick.

i had to google it, not bad

 

[Raider Nation]

That's no Dave Bresnahan potato trick.

i had to google it, not bad

LOL, I had no idea what he was talking about either. Here it is for those who are too lazy to Google it.

In August 1987, Dave Bresnahan, a second-string catcher for the Williamsport Bills (AA-Eastern League), hatched an idea: what if … I used something other than a baseball to trick a runner off base to get him out?When Bresnahan shared his idea with teammates, they laughed, then dared him. "Everybody said, 'Why don't you do it?' remembers Bresnahan. "It started out as a dare, became a challenge, and I eventually did it."With Williamsport in last-place (27 1/2 games back) and his dream of playing major league baseball waning (in 51 games, Bresnahan was hitting .141), Bresnahan got serious about his proposed gag."I went to the local grocery store and bought a bunch of potatoes," Bresnahan says. "I went back to my house and peeled one to two-thirds the size of a baseball. I even tried to draw laces on the potato with a red pen, but the ink wouldn't stay on.""It was tough," remembers Bresnahan, in preparing the perfect potato trick. "I had to empty the whole bag of potatoes. The produce guy got kind of upset. He said, 'Hey, what are you looking for?' I didn't want to tell him what I was doing. So I said, 'I'm just looking for the right potato here.' "Bresnahan finally mastered the potato, peeling it into a perfect size baseball. Seeing it in flight, you'd never know the baseball was – in reality – a peeled spud.With Bresnahan playing sparingly and hitting a mere .149, he knew his days were numbered and his opportunity to pull off his trick limited. Bresnahan placed his perfectly peeled tater in a backup catcher's glove and waited …On September 1, 1987, opportunity knocked. Bresnahan was penciled in the starting lineup of game one of a doubleheader with Reading.In the fifth inning, with Reading's Rick Lundblade on third base, Bresnahan realized it's now or never. The Bills catcher called timeout and told the home plate umpire something was wrong with his mitt, allowing him time to make the switch to the now infamous "potato glove"."When I picked up the potato glove that was the cue for everybody on the Bills that it was going to happen," Bresnahan said later in an interview. "I called for a slider away, so the batter wouldn't hit the ball. During the pitch, I had to move the potato from my glove to my bare hand. After catching the ball, I rifled the potato over the head of the third baseman in to the left field."That set off a chain of events that left Bresnahan's teammates in stitches and fans, umpires, coaches and Reading players completely confused."The home plate umpire didn't know what to do," Bresnahan recalls. "He (Scott Potter, home plate umpire) asked me, 'What did you throw into the outfield?' I said, it doesn't matter because I have the ball and tagged the runner."They figured it out when the third base umpire retrieved the potato, which, by that time, was in three pieces in the outfield, "Bresnahan chuckles. "He (the third base umpire) thought it was funny, but he didn't have to make the call."Potter eventually decided to call the runner safe and the inning continued.Williamsport manager Orlando Gomez was the only man in the park not laughing at the gag. Fuming, the Bills manager removed Bresnahan from the game, fined him $50 and the next day, the Cleveland Indians released Bresnahan and his four-year pro career was over."Gomez felt that I did it to make him look bad," remembers Bresnahan. "I was surprised they released me, but not too upset. I wasn't playing well, and there were just a few games left. It wasn't like they were taking my livelihood away …"Steve Howe got five chances to play this game after using drugs. I was just trying to have some fun playing minor league baseball. We were 27 games out. Reading was already in the playoffs. I just figured, what the hell?"The next day, upon his release, Bresnahan decided to play one last trick. When he arrived at the team clubhouse to clean out his locker, he brought with him a sack of potatoes. Bresnahan left a potato in every locker. "He then put a sack of 50 on Orlando Gomez's desk with a note attached that said…'Orlando, surely you don't expect me to pay the $50 fine since I got released," said former assistant GM Rick Muntean. "Instead, here's 50 potatoes. This spud's for you.'"It's never going to happen again," Muntean said. "It was a fluke that the whole thing worked out. It was a great moment for minor league baseball. I'm thrilled that I was a part of the deal."Bresnahan received instant recognition from the media. "After being released, I got home at 10:30 (a.m.) and the phone was ringing," Bresnahan says. "It was a writer in Arizona who said he saw the story on the AP wire, and he told me that everyone wanted a piece of me because of the potato thing. When I told him I just got released, he said that just added more spice to the story."Bresnahan was interviewed by the NBC "Game of the Week," Time magazine, The Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, and USA Today. He appeared on over 100 radio shows and has been interviewed by about 150 sportswriters through the years.In 1988, the Williamsport club held a "Dave Bresnahan Day" and retired his uniform number 59. Bresnahan told the more than 4,000 fans in attendance, "Lou Gehrig had to play in 2,130 consecutive games and hit .340 for his number to be retired, and all I had to do was bat .140 and throw a potato."

 

[The_Man]

I never see the fake to third, throw to first move work, but I do enjoy screaming "Balk!" erroneously when it happens at games I attend. I also do this when a pitcher bluffs a throw to second.

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

Matt Albers of the Red Sox giving it the ole college try--twice in ninety seconds. (Both times, surprisingly ineffective).

 

[Tom Servo]

I never see the fake to third, throw to first move work, but I do enjoy screaming "Balk!" erroneously when it happens at games I attend. I also do this when a pitcher bluffs a throw to second.

So you're the moron that keeps doing this. STOP IT!!!!

 

[Raider Nation]

Has anyone ever seen that oh-so-tricky maneuver work?

It just worked on Curtis Granderson. To end the game.

With Tex at the plate representing the winning run.

 

[Limp Ditka]

Astros catch J Upton off of first, blow the throw to second and allow the runner on 3rd to score.

oof

 

[The_Man]

I never see the fake to third, throw to first move work, but I do enjoy screaming "Balk!" erroneously when it happens at games I attend. I also do this when a pitcher bluffs a throw to second.

So you're the moron that keeps doing this. STOP IT!!!!

Looks like I was way ahead of things on this one.

 

[Epic Problem]

Guy on the Red Sox just did it twice in a row.