If A Ball Hits A Chicken in Fair Territory, It's Still Fowl

[DOUGHBOYS]

I don't read much. Well, books that is.
If I read anything with a lot of words during summer, it has to be a baseball book.
It's the way I'm wired.
Baseball has my total attention from April through October.
The book of choice now is called 'The Baseball'
Fascinating and it got me to look at other stuff in record books and what not.

Before I get to some info that you should find entertaining, I've gotta tell this story.
We have a new minor league team in our community. We've never had a minor league team here, so naturally our town and especially I, was very excited about this team coming.
It is a rookie team in the Pioneer League. I was recruited to be its official scorekeeper.
I know score keeping has changed. With technology, the most important thing score keepers do in a minor league facility is not to determine whether a batted ball is a hit or an error.
Nope, the most important thing is calling MILB every half inning to keep them updated of the game and thereby keeping EVERYBODY updated with the game.
A special thanks here to Perry Van Hook (Captain Hook), an experienced score keeper, for helping out this rookie.

The home stands for the team are usually seven to 10 days.
When the team is out of town, I'll supervise, umpire, and score keep for our local softball program.
Last night, my wife reminded me that I had been at one ball park or another for 27 straight nights and that I had this Friday off.
She said that she wanted to make this Friday special and that I could spend it anyway I saw fit.
I said I just want to relax in the easy chair and watch baseball.
Major League baseball.
All she could do was laugh.

Anyway, the foul ball gets a bad rap.
They are considered dull and meaningless.
Especially to tv viewers.
Hopefully, this will change that view....


When baseball started, games were played with one ball.
Fans would give the ball to ushers if caught, or throw the ball back on the field. This was just the way of pre-1900 baseball. Fouls were not strikes at this time.
They were nothing.
If thinking that foul balls are dull now, think of how boring it would be to wait for a player to whiff three times for a strike out.
One of the best pre-1900 players was Billy Hamilton. He was the king of the foul ball. Fouling off pitch after pitch till getting exactly the pitch he wanted. At the same time, he pissed off pitchers that felt like they would/could throw to one batter forever. However, they did not want to walk him because Hamilton was an accomplished base thief.
Hamilton holds the very unofficial record of fouling off 29 pitches in a row. He is partially responsible for the foul ball becoming a strike and ushering in the 'modern era' of post 1900 rules that largely make up our game today.
One more Billy Hamilton tidbit-
In 1897, Hamilton had already become revered in some circles and hated in others for his adeptness at fouling off pitches. It's easy to figure out that pitchers were Hamilton haters.
One hot day in 1897, Hamilton led off a game against Cy Young by hitting three foul balls. Young had a double header to pitch and was tired of what he called Hamilton's 'tomfoolery'.
Young walked off the mound and to within six feet of Hamilton.
"Mr. Hamilton", Young said, "I am going to throw the next pitch over the heart of the plate. If you foul that pitch off, I will then put the next pitch in your ear."
Hamilton put the ball in play and made a mental note to not screw around with Cy Young.

After 1900, with the strike penalty for a foul ball, hitters like Hamilton faded away.
Still, some hitters have that skill.
Wade Boggs seem to flick away pitches at will before getting a pitch he could serve to an opening in the outfield.
In 2004, Joey Cora set a modern and the official record of fouling off 14 pitches in a row.
He was justly rewarded in that at bat by finishing it off with a home run.
Richie Ashburn was so good at hitting foul balls, that a teammate who had had a fight with his wife prior to a game offered him cash if he could hit his wife with a foul ball.
Ashburn refused.
Ashburn once hit a female spectator with a foul ball that broke her nose. His at bat continued as she was put on a stretcher and carried down the steps by ushers. Before getting to the bottom of the steps, Ashburn hit another foul ball that hit the woman again as she lay on the stretcher.
Ashburn felt so bad, he visited her in the hospital and gave her and her family free tickets to games.
Umm, those tickets were behind home plate... protected by screens.

Some say the best modern day 'fouler' was Luke Appling. Appling knew what kind of pitch he could drill fair and seemed to wait for that pitch by flicking foul balls till he saw it.
In one at bat, Appling had fouled off a dozen pitches against Dizzy Trout and still had an 0-2 count.
Trout was so peeved that he threw his glove at Appling and yelled, "Here, hit THAT foul!"
When Appling played, owners still considered balls expensive.
After the White Sox denied an Appling request for a dozen balls that he could sign and give away to friends, Appling went on a foul ball spree.
He hit two dozen balls into the stands the next day.
The owners got the message and any ball requests from Appling were always accepted afterwards.

Ted Williams tired of a heckler, decided that he'd use one at bat would be used to try at hit the jerk.
He hit three or four foul balls in his area, but never hit the intended target.

The Press are not immune to foul balls. And sometimes a foul ball can find the desired target.
Cal Ripken was near the end of his consecutive game streak and members of the press were publicly stating that it was a burden and that Ripken should take a day or two off.
Chief among them was Ken Rosenthal.
Purely coincidental, or maybe fate, Ripken sent a foul ball that looked like a heat seeking missile trying to find Rosenthal in the Camden Yards press box.
Rosenthal ducked out of the way. His lap top did not however, and it was smashed and destroyed.

Joe Tipton was banned for life from baseball for hitting foul balls. He received two cash payments of $50 $75 for hitting foul balls from gamblers.
Those gamblers would find 'marks' in the crowd and bet them hundreds of dollars that the next ball would be foul.
This practice was common for gamblers from the 20's through the 50's.
Tipton however, was the only player who admitted to receiving money for intentionally hitting foul balls.

In 1939, Bob Feller was pitching on Mothers Day when a foul ball was slashed into the stands. Feller, seeing that the ball had hit his mother in the face, raced to the stands. She was bleeding profusely . The ball had struck her glasses and left a gash on her forehead. As she was taken out on a stretcher, Feller's Manager asked if he'd like to go the hospital with her. Feller, ever the professional said no, that he had a job to do.
Feller won that game, a complete game.
But, can you imagine being that batter when play resumed?
He had just hit the mother of the hardest throwing pitcher in baseball.
He struck out on the next pitch.

Denard Span hit his own mother with a line drive in spring training. She was taken away to a hospital and deemed ok.

The foul ball is one of the most benign things when watching a game on television. When we see the game live, we get to see the final landing place of those balls.
As dull and boring as they look on tv, they have the opposite effect on those that are close to a foul balls landing spot.
Each, is a souvenier, a story, or both.

[Ando]

Was there alot of excitement with Todd Helton's visit to town last weekend?

It appears it didn't go so well for him. Looks like a return visit is in order.

[DOUGHBOYS]

It tripled attendance.
Helton was the consummate professional.
Addressing Little Leaguers about the game of baseball.
Being accessible for autographs
Helping out rookies with stars in their eyes.

Last word heard was that he will be with the parent team this Friday.
We're hoping for a Tulo rehab next. He'll have a tough act to follow.