Rambling On About My Glory Days: Perplexing Managerial Move #2

Continuing with “head shaking managerial moves” from my previous post and later in the same game, my team was involved in a tense ball game with the score tied in the 10th inning. With two outs an opposing team’s player smacked a triple putting the potential winning run on third. With their team’s pitcher the next scheduled batter, the manager obviously decided a pinch hitter was needed. He walks across the diamond from the third base coaching box to the front of his dugout and scours up and down for the player he wants to bat. A few of their players were getting loose holding bats and obviously expecting to get the call. Finally, the manger points to a seated player who seemed a little startled, from what I could tell at my 2nd base position. Having known only a couple of players on the opposing team, I did not think again about the move.

The opposing team’s pinch hitter proceeds to get loose, walks up to home plate and takes three pitches in a row. “Mighty Casey” he was not even though he struck out just the same, he never even offered at any of the pitches, which were pretty much right down the middle. Three outs, our turn up to bat, and we scored the winning run.

Post game one of my friends from the other team called me over to say, “Jack, you know that batter the coach sent up to bat? He was a pitcher who has never batted all year. So and So (Player who went on to have a big major league career – name deleted to protect the innocent) was ready to hit and when he wasn’t called on to hit, he bolted the game and took a taxi back to our hotel.”

Oh well, I guess everyone (even managers) have bad days from time to time, and the circus moved on.

Former major leaguer Jack Perconte is the author of The Making of a Hitter ( http://jackperconte.com ) and has a baseball instruction site that can be found at www.baseballcoachingtips.net . He has recently published his second book Raising an Athlete – How to Instill Confidence, Build Skills and Inspire a Love of Sport