Miller: ‘Skunk in the outfield’: How the most epic trick play in history broke baseball
From Sam Miller at ESPN.com on August 17, 2017:
The Portsmouth High Patriots, like almost every high school baseball team, kept a trick play in their pocket.
Theirs was called the “phantom pickoff throw”: The pitcher would spin as if making a pickoff attempt but keep the ball tucked in his glove. His fielders would act as if the throw had gone wild, make a lot of noise and chase after it, and the runner — tricked — would start to run to the next base. The pitcher would casually throw him out.
This play worked. Pitcher Brendan Solecki remembers using it twice, once when he was on the freshman team and once as a sophomore on the varsity. Both times the runner fell for it. “Against Woonsocket, the parents were not very happy,” he says. “Like, ‘That’s not baseball, that’s bush league.'”
But high school baseball, and maybe only high school baseball, is built for trick plays.
Read the full article here: http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/20294816/skunk-outfield-how-most-epic-trick-play-history-broke-baseball
Originally published: August 17, 2017. Last Updated: August 17, 2017.