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September 21, 2006

Schrodinger's Bat

On Scorers and Scoring

by Dan Fox

"I shouldn't get so mad when I think there's been a scoring mistake, but I do. You just want it to be fair to everybody involved, and I understand that's hard. But you can't forget that players in the major leagues should be expected to make major-league-caliber plays."

--Hall of Famer turned announcer Tom Seaver

On some days official scorers have a tough job. I witnessed one of them from the press box in May of 2004, at a Royals/Twins game at Kauffman Stadium. In the bottom of the fifth, the Royals had loaded the bases with one out. Desi Relaford was perched on third, Angel Berroa on second and Carlos Beltran on first. What came next was a series of events that you'll likely never see again.

The batter is Mike Sweeney, and he lofts a short pop-up behind first base. First baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, second baseman Michael Cuddyer and right fielder Jacque Jones all converge on the ball while first-base umpire Jeff Kellogg signals an infield fly. With Mientkiewicz's back turned toward the infield, the ball hits his glove and falls to the ground as he and Cuddyer brush against one another. Kellogg signals that the batter is out. Meanwhile, Beltran has left first and gone halfway to second, and seeing the ball drop, continues to second. However, Berroa hasn't moved from second, so both Beltran and Berroa are now standing within a couple feet of the base. Relaford speeds toward home from third as soon as the ball hits the ground.

Back in the outfield Mientkiewicz picks up the ball, whirls and throws it in the general direction of home plate, apparently in an effort to nab Relaford. However, the throw hits Sweeney square in the back as he stands near first base watching the action. Sweeney hits the ground in pain ("I thought I got shot" he said later) as the ball slowly rolls in the direction of the Royals dugout. By this time, Berroa is madly waving Beltran to get back to first, and convinced by Berroa's theatrics, Beltran indeed starts heading that way. Catcher Henry Blanco retrieves the ball by the Royals dugout and rifles it to first, where right fielder Jones catches the ball and just beats a sliding Beltran, tagging him and touching the base for the second out of the play, and the third of the inning. The home-plate umpire signals the press box to indicate that Relaford's run counts. The Twins, slightly confused, trot off the field.

Needless to say all of this caused a considerable amount of consternation in the press box for both the scorer and the media, as both the former and the latter scrambled to consult their rule books, and then offered several conflicting opinions as to whether Sweeney should be credited with a sacrifice fly and/or a run batted in, whether Mientkiewicz should be charged with an error, whether the Twins get credit for a double play, whether the run is unearned, and whether Beltran had to retreat to first.