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August 13, 2012

Out of Left Field

The Choices of Riggleman

by Matthew Kory

About 25 years ago a friend’s dad met a man with a business idea. The man was looking for investors. My friend’s dad was interested so the man explained his idea. They went over the whole business plan, finances, everything in detail. At the end the man asked what my friend’s dad thought. My friend’s dad was quiet for a while then said, “I just can’t imagine a world where people go to a store just to buy a cup of coffee.” My friend’s dad didn’t invest with the man, but Starbucks ended up doing just fine anyway.

I love that example because the coffee shop is so ubiquitous now. Just about every town has one and just about every city has one per block. This meeting boiled down to this: could you imagine it? If so you’re a millionaire.

I’ve been thinking a lot about mistakes. We all make them. They are inevitable. There are too many decisions to be made and often not enough time with which to accurately assess the choices involved. Things happen quickly. You come to a fork in the road and, as Yogi Berra supposedly said, you take it. That can mean rash decision-making and that can mean bad decisions.

Baseball requires lots of decisions. Some of them come after months or years of planning. Some must be made in split seconds.

Question 1: You are a third base coach. What do you if two runners are rounding third base at the same time?
On Saturday, the Red Sox had the bases loaded and Adrian Gonzalez up. Gonzalez hit a ball off the top of the wall. The runner on third held up to see what was going to happen. The runner on second jogged to third and the runner on first put his head down and indiscriminately ran. That’s how it happened that three runners left third base one after the other and that’s how it happened that they all reached home plate split seconds apart. The first runner was easily safe. The second runner was safe but without a step to spare and the third runner was easily out. The announcer remarked that the play had put the third base coach into an impossible situation. He couldn’t waive one runner around third and put the stop sign up a split second later. Things were happening too quickly for him to react. The result of the play was a mistake, but given the circumstances it was an understandable one.

Answer 1: Shove the last runner in the back while he rounds third hoping this this gets him in ahead of the tag, and none of the 30,000 people in the ballpark notice.