There’s a great Gatorade commercial featuring movie gangster actor Harvey Keitel and Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees. Keitel is standing behind Derek Jeter at first base during a game whispering in his ear to steal second. “Go ahead and take it.” He nods at the pitcher, “That one keeps looking over here,” and then nodding at the catcher, “and that one has a gun. But you got to do what you got to do.” Jeter takes off like a rocket and slides head first into second and conquers the base. Keitel nods his head approvingly, “Ah, stealing. It’s a beautiful thing.”
I’m not sure how that sells Gatorade but it drives home the point that if a batter get on base, a whole ‘nother kind of game starts. What are you supposed to do then? RUN FORREST RUN! Let’s talk about baserunning. Which also means talking about stealing. And sliding.
One of saddest stats in baseball is LOB. That stands for Left On Base. Left on base is potential that didn’t go any place. A batter who gets on base, but dies there with the third out. Like those talented kids in high school you think are going to go far, but end up with a drug habit, drop out of college and now work at the Holiday Gas Station.
Baseball is made up of individual accomplishments but it is solidly a team sport. If the pitcher can’t get that ball across the plate without it being hit, then he hopes a fielder will get the out. If a runner gets to first, he hopes that the next batter can get him home or at least into scoring position. Second and Third bases are scoring positions, because if a batter gets a hit, a runner can usually make it home from those bases or a sacrifice fly will help the runner advance and bring him closer to home. Either way, you ain’t going nowhere unless the guy behind you does his stuff.
Generally, a player gets on base by hitting a fair ball, being walked ( four balls from the pitcher), or by being hit by a pitch. After that, his goal is to touch all the bases and get home for the run. The defensive team is not going to make that easy. Baserunners can attempt to run anytime the ball is live or as the pitcher is throwing a pitch. You’ve seen how they stand out a couple feet between themselves and first base? That’s called leading off. That gives them a little extra juice to get to second base. Pitchers get all snarky about that because sometimes that lead off turns into a steal. But when he is leading off, the runner is also off the base. And if he can be touched with the ball when off the base, he’s out. So the pitcher tries a pick off attempt. That means he throws the ball back to first unexpectedly in order for the first baseman to tag the runner before he gets back to base. So sweeeeet when it happens! But it rarely happens. Really the pitcher is just trying to hold the runner a little closer to base to lessen his chances of making it to scoring position. If he is tagged out trying to get back to first, it is called a pickoff. If the runner takes off and tries for second as the pitcher throws, the catcher will throw to second in hopes that the second baseman will be able to tag him before he reaches second. If he is out, it is scored caught stealing. If he makes it, it is scored a stolen base.
If the game is at a point where it doesn’t really matter if the runner takes second, sometimes the defense won’t even try to get him out. Big deal, they seem to say as they shrug their collective shoulders. So you’ve been talking to Harvey Keitel. Then it is called defensive indifference. You don’t get to count that as a stolen base in your stats, because the other team didn’t even try. Defensive Indifference—describes a couple of encounters I’ve had recently…..Stealing describes when a baserunner advances to another base while the pitcher is pitching the ball. Now a pitcher can’t fake a pitch to get the runner to take off then throw it to first, like a sneak pass in football. That’s called a balk and that’s not acceptable. But up until a certain point in his delivery of a pitch, the pitcher can throw it to a base. So pitchers are watching runners (and so are third base coaches and catchers and signaling to the pitcher) and baserunners and the third base coach are watching pitchers (is he lifting his right heel or his left heel? Is he a right handed pitcher or a left handed pitcher?)
Not every runner is a stealing candidate. David Ortiz, bless his heart and his big booming bat, is not the best base stealer because he is, ummm, well how you say, big boned and slow. Now Coco Crisp and Jacoby Ellsbury of the Red Sox are known base stealers because they are little fast and hungry. That’s the combo you want to be looking for.
Because second base is the farthest from the catcher, it is the base that is most often stolen. Third base isn’t so easy, because it is closer to the catcher. There’s some old baseball wisdom that says you should never make the third out stealing third base. You better have sure thing if you are stealing third, because if you are on second in scoring position, it is better to give the batter up an opportunity to score.
When the count is full and there are two outs, runners with someone on the base behind them will always take off running as if they were stealing on the pitch. If the ball is hit foul, they get to go back to their base. If the ball is a strike, they have to head to the dugout anyway. And it the ball is hit, they should try to get as big a leap as they possibly can. You may hear this called as “runners go”.
And when a runner gets to the base they want, what do they do? Slide, baby, slide! Well, unless there is no reason to. Most players run standing up into first because you can overrun first and still be safe as long as you touched the base before the first baseman did. But it ain’t necessarily so on second or third base. If you run past it, the baseman can still tag you out. So you slide, feet or hands extended, using momentum to throw your body forward. Of course, once you touch home, you score. But you first got to get past that big catcher blocking the plate
Advantages of sliding? First, you have a better chance of staying near and on the base. Second, you are a more difficult target close to the ground. You have a better chance of getting a body part on the base before Mr. Baseman is able to lean down and tag you. Thirdly, if it looks like you are going to be out, you can throw yourself in a way that makes it harder for Mr. Baseman to stay upright long enough to throw to another base to get your buddy behind you out. It is said that during the 20’s Ty Cobb used to sharpen his baseball cleats in view of the opposing team in case anyone had any bright ideas of blocking his way. He has seasons where he stole nearly 100 bases.
When you steal, it is advised you throw your feet first, because let’s face it, people get hurt. Fingers gets pulled back, necks get snapped and noses get broken when a face collides with a base. Check out the runners at first. Often you will see the runners hold their batting gloves in their hands. That is a reminder to them to keep their hands closed when they are running and protecting those thousand dollar fingers. Sometimes you’ll see people dive instead of slide, but you can imagine that they get a friendly memo from the owner after the game.
I've seen The Boyfriend on several occasions dive head first into second during a friendly game of pick up softball, paralleling the ground with a look of hunger in his eye. In one of those games he had a container of Carmex lip balm in his pocket, and by the end of the night he had a circular black bruise kissing his hip bone. Sliding is not for the weak of heart (or for anyone with stuff in his jeans pocket).
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