Thursday, December 27, 2007

Really? 23 Ways?

I just ordered the book "23 Ways to Get to First Base - The ESPN Uncyclopedia". It sounds like a lot of fun, and I think my kids might enjoy it too. But the main reason I ordered it is because I don't really believe there are 23 ways to safely reach first base. Without receiving the book yet, I think I can come up with about eight. Let's see:

  1. 1B -- base hit
  2. BB -- walk
  3. HBP -- hit by pitch
  4. FC -- fielder's choice
  5. E -- fielding error
  6. K/PB -- passed ball on third strike
  7. CI -- catcher's interference
  8. PR -- coming in as a pinch-runner

At least that's all I've seen in all the years I've kept score for my kids' youth baseball teams (I think -- I'm kind of out of practice here at the end of December). And I wouldn't necessarily count number 8 above -- it's kind of lame -- but I'm sure they did in order to get to 23. Unless they counted fielding errors by each of the positions (E1, E2, E3, etc.), but that would only bump it up to 16. There must be some obscure rules that I'm not aware of or that I can't remember.

Anyone else have any?

Update: I just thought of something...I'll bet that returning safely on a pick-off attempt would count too. Also, returning on a fly-out. Maybe.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

matthew lecroy used to hit doubles but somehow end up at first base.

k-bro said...

haasertime,

*chuckle*

k-bro