GaryMrMets
08-20-2004, 03:21 PM
http://www.yesnetwork.com/announcers/article.asp?article_id=232
Old trick, new rules
http://www.yesnetwork.com/images/talent/small/pepe_head_sm.jpgBy Phil Pepe
Special to YES Network Online
August 10 2004
Some things you hardly ever see in baseball any more:
* Complete games by pitchers
* Single-admission doubleheaders
* Ladies Day
* Steal of home
* Two-hour games
* Catcher's balk
* Salary cuts
* The hidden ball trick
Ah, the hidden ball trick; that deft, sleight-of-hand legerdemain maneuver that leaves the unsuspecting victim with an egg facial, searching for a hole in the ground in which to crawl, and the perpetrator with a cat-that-ate-the-canary smile and a reputation for trickery and one-upmanship.
The hidden ball trick is a lost art in baseball.
According to research by Retrosheet, there have been 210 successful executions of the hidden ball trick dating back to 1876, and 32 more unsubstantiated possibilities, but none since 1999 when Carlos Perez of the L.A. Dodgers was the victim of a J.T. Snow-job.
The leading practitioners of hidden ball trickery were George Stovall, a first baseman with Cleveland and St. Louis of the American League from 1904-1913, and legendary Yankee shortstop Frank Crosetti, each with six applications. They were followed closely with five by Babe Pinelli, a third baseman with the White Sox, Tigers and Reds before he became a leading National League umpire, Pinky Higgins, a third baseman with the Athletics, Red Sox and Tigers in the 1930s and '40s, and another Yankees shortstop, Gene (Stick) Michael, who may have been the last of a dying breed. He played his last game in 1975, two years after he nailed an unsuspecting Vic Harris of Texas wandering off second base.
Michael's other victims were Tom Matchick of Detroit in 1968, Zoilo Versalles of Cleveland in 1969, and Joe Keough of Kansas City and Jarvis Tatum of California six weeks apart in 1970.
"I could have had at least four or five more if it wasn't for Ralph Houk," Michael boasts. "I had the ball in my glove and a runner on second waiting to be had, and here comes Houk out of the dugout, across the lines to take out the pitcher."
Michael said he first employed the hidden ball trick in the minor leagues and when it worked, he decided to include it in his repertoire when he got to the big leagues. But it wasn't until he got to the Yankees in his third major league season that he put it into use.
There are, said Michael, three keys to the successful execution of the trick.
"First, you have to let the umpire know you have the ball. Second, you have to let the pitcher in on it so he doesn't get on the rubber. Fritz Peterson was the best at wandering around behind the mound when I was getting ready to use the play. And third, you have to distract the runner.
"The best time to do it is after a guy hits a double and slides into second. He's feeling pretty good about himself, so he's distracted. He'll slide into second, then pick himself up and dust himself off. While he's doing that, I'll take the ball from the outfield, keep it and act like nothing happened. I might even say something to the runner, like 'Nice hit.' Then when he steps off the base, I've got him."
Normally, the runner is too embarrassed to say anything, but one of Stick's victims, Versalles, was not a good sport.
"He said it was a bush play," Michael laughed. "I told him it was bush that he got caught."
Proudly Michael said that while he was the perpetrator of the hidden ball trick five times, he never was a victim.
"They tried it on me in a fantasy camp," Stick said, "but I knew what they were up to and I made sure I was on the base. I told them I couldn't ruin my reputation."
Michael never talked to Crosetti about the trick, but figured it was easier in Cro's day to pull it off.
"I heard Crosetti used to hide the ball in his hand inside the glove, rather than in the pocket," he said. "You could do that back then with the loose-fitting gloves they used in those days."
There are reasons Michael believes the hidden ball trick has gone the way of the doubleheader and the two-hour game in baseball and hasn't been performed in five years. One is that today's umpires are more diligent in making certain that the pitcher does not do anything to deceive a runner.
"The pitcher can't be on the rubber without the ball," Michael said, "and he can't even be in the vicinity of the rubber without the ball. He has to stand behind the mound and pretend he's doing something else, like rubbing up a baseball. That's a sure sign to a runner who's paying attention that something's up.
"Another reason you don't see it any more is that there's so much more communication and media coverage today. Every game is on television. If a player pulls the hidden ball trick today, word gets around, he gets a reputation, and runners are more alert. That wasn't the case in my day."
Maybe the real reason you don't see the hidden ball trick these days is that today's players are not as slick, or as larcenous, as Gene Michael.
Acclaimed author Phil Pepe is a regular contributor to YES Network Online.
Old trick, new rules
http://www.yesnetwork.com/images/talent/small/pepe_head_sm.jpgBy Phil Pepe
Special to YES Network Online
August 10 2004
Some things you hardly ever see in baseball any more:
* Complete games by pitchers
* Single-admission doubleheaders
* Ladies Day
* Steal of home
* Two-hour games
* Catcher's balk
* Salary cuts
* The hidden ball trick
Ah, the hidden ball trick; that deft, sleight-of-hand legerdemain maneuver that leaves the unsuspecting victim with an egg facial, searching for a hole in the ground in which to crawl, and the perpetrator with a cat-that-ate-the-canary smile and a reputation for trickery and one-upmanship.
The hidden ball trick is a lost art in baseball.
According to research by Retrosheet, there have been 210 successful executions of the hidden ball trick dating back to 1876, and 32 more unsubstantiated possibilities, but none since 1999 when Carlos Perez of the L.A. Dodgers was the victim of a J.T. Snow-job.
The leading practitioners of hidden ball trickery were George Stovall, a first baseman with Cleveland and St. Louis of the American League from 1904-1913, and legendary Yankee shortstop Frank Crosetti, each with six applications. They were followed closely with five by Babe Pinelli, a third baseman with the White Sox, Tigers and Reds before he became a leading National League umpire, Pinky Higgins, a third baseman with the Athletics, Red Sox and Tigers in the 1930s and '40s, and another Yankees shortstop, Gene (Stick) Michael, who may have been the last of a dying breed. He played his last game in 1975, two years after he nailed an unsuspecting Vic Harris of Texas wandering off second base.
Michael's other victims were Tom Matchick of Detroit in 1968, Zoilo Versalles of Cleveland in 1969, and Joe Keough of Kansas City and Jarvis Tatum of California six weeks apart in 1970.
"I could have had at least four or five more if it wasn't for Ralph Houk," Michael boasts. "I had the ball in my glove and a runner on second waiting to be had, and here comes Houk out of the dugout, across the lines to take out the pitcher."
Michael said he first employed the hidden ball trick in the minor leagues and when it worked, he decided to include it in his repertoire when he got to the big leagues. But it wasn't until he got to the Yankees in his third major league season that he put it into use.
There are, said Michael, three keys to the successful execution of the trick.
"First, you have to let the umpire know you have the ball. Second, you have to let the pitcher in on it so he doesn't get on the rubber. Fritz Peterson was the best at wandering around behind the mound when I was getting ready to use the play. And third, you have to distract the runner.
"The best time to do it is after a guy hits a double and slides into second. He's feeling pretty good about himself, so he's distracted. He'll slide into second, then pick himself up and dust himself off. While he's doing that, I'll take the ball from the outfield, keep it and act like nothing happened. I might even say something to the runner, like 'Nice hit.' Then when he steps off the base, I've got him."
Normally, the runner is too embarrassed to say anything, but one of Stick's victims, Versalles, was not a good sport.
"He said it was a bush play," Michael laughed. "I told him it was bush that he got caught."
Proudly Michael said that while he was the perpetrator of the hidden ball trick five times, he never was a victim.
"They tried it on me in a fantasy camp," Stick said, "but I knew what they were up to and I made sure I was on the base. I told them I couldn't ruin my reputation."
Michael never talked to Crosetti about the trick, but figured it was easier in Cro's day to pull it off.
"I heard Crosetti used to hide the ball in his hand inside the glove, rather than in the pocket," he said. "You could do that back then with the loose-fitting gloves they used in those days."
There are reasons Michael believes the hidden ball trick has gone the way of the doubleheader and the two-hour game in baseball and hasn't been performed in five years. One is that today's umpires are more diligent in making certain that the pitcher does not do anything to deceive a runner.
"The pitcher can't be on the rubber without the ball," Michael said, "and he can't even be in the vicinity of the rubber without the ball. He has to stand behind the mound and pretend he's doing something else, like rubbing up a baseball. That's a sure sign to a runner who's paying attention that something's up.
"Another reason you don't see it any more is that there's so much more communication and media coverage today. Every game is on television. If a player pulls the hidden ball trick today, word gets around, he gets a reputation, and runners are more alert. That wasn't the case in my day."
Maybe the real reason you don't see the hidden ball trick these days is that today's players are not as slick, or as larcenous, as Gene Michael.
Acclaimed author Phil Pepe is a regular contributor to YES Network Online.