Tim McCarver on challenging home depending on the number of outs recorded, circa 1984

Описание: Here's the link to the full game,    • Видео  

And not a RE24 chart in sight? The nerds are in tears.

lol

In all seriousness, these types of conversations and discussions between play-by-play dude and colourman is how I learned baseball. Dads teach you how to do the important stuff that lets you get by in the school yard. If you were lucky enough to play little league, there are other aspects of the game that are shared as well. But in terms of meat and potatos baseball, an explanation as to why the guys running around on your television screen are doing things that mystify and sometimes confuse, this convo, initiated in the top of the 4th inninng, during a Mets-Stros tilt from April 7th, 1984, is the stuff that let me in on the philosophies that have governed the game.

With runners on second and third, and one out, Keith Hernandez didn't break for home on Darryl Strawberry's grounder to the second baseman. That's where McCarver -years before a childish Deion Sanders would shower him with scorn and ice water in a Braves clubhouse- jumped into action. To his understanding, the former Card and then-current WOR voice felt that the Mets' baserunner should have charged home to pressure the Astros' Bill Doran to make a strong throw to the catcher. The reward for this philosophy was an attempted run scored with the Mets already up by one. If the Mets had been down, though, with two outs recorded, McCarver's wisdom and advise would have been for Hernandez to hold at third. I can only assume this has something to do with the whole 'don't make the final out of an inning on the bases,' the idea being that it's hard enough to get on base, don't run your team out of a chance for runs to be scored. To me, there also have to be other variables at play.

Unfortunately, I do not recall Hernandez' reputation with foot-speed at that ten-year point in his big-league career. First basemen are notorious for their lack of pace, though. I'm not sure a good break from third is enough for a slow man to overcome his limitations in that respect. Similarly, I don't recall what type of arm Doran had, who would have benefitted from making the throw from a drawn-in position on the infield. I'm just a fan, one who is only blessed with the patience to watch old games, not one who spent a youth and lifetime being exposed to competitive baseball actually played. To me, I think Doran's position where he fielded Strawberry's grounder, that he didn't have to lose his footing to snag the bee, matters more than a philosophy about runs scored or baserunning daring with one out and the road team already leading by one. But that's the magic of the game, no? A half dozen considerations about a play that look less than two seconds to play-out.

The nerds that like to quantify natural phenomena in the game (in this case, the folks from Retrosheet) would argue that 1.380 runs would score on average in this situation. Interesting. But what does the skillset of the ballplayers in this type of situation, or any situation, have on probability and frequency compiled? Similarly, does an age old baseball axiom about breaks off third to challenge throws from second to home take into consideration just how good a night 'on Houston' Keith Hernandez may have had (this was the 80s, and these were the Mets after all).

Man, I love baseball.

In case you're wondering, Herandez and the man who was on second, George Foster, would eventually score, as Mookie Wilson drove them home with a double down the third base line. All that thought and consideration that Tim McCarver put in may not have decided the game that day, but, looking back 35 plus years later, it sure was an interesting conversation.

Note: the link I've included above, to the channel with the full game on it, is stacked with outstanding baseball uploads from yesteryear. Give it a spin.

#KeithHernandez #Mets #TimMcCarver