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OUT OF LEFT FIELD |
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 "Those guys were reading my signs to the pitcher all through the last inning by spying on me with that damned global tracking satellite. That oughta fall under the 1961 rule!" |
Two Baseball Obits
Stir Some Memories
of TheColumnists.com
Two obituaries on the same page of The New York Times recently caught my eye. They involved the “Infield-Fly Rule Lawyer” and the “New York Giants Bullpen Spy.”
William Stevens was the lawyer. The Times lead read, “William Stevens, whose slyly humorous law-review note on the relationship between baseball’s infield fly-rule and Anglo-American common law became one of the most celebrated and imitated analyses in American legal history, died Monday….He was 60.”
The story adds, “Published as a
semi-parodic aside in June, 1975, 'The Common Law Origins of
the Infield Fly Rule' quickly achieved legal fame, in part because
nothing like it had ever appeared in a major law review, in part
because of its concise, elegant reasoning….It is credited
with giving birth to the law and baseball movement, a thriving
branch of legal studies, devoted to the law and its social context.”
The Times piece noted that “like common law, the infield-fly
rule developed bit by bit, with refinements added to address
new problems as they arose, just as common law uses judicial
decisions and legislation to make legal remedies conform to new
situations.”
This was a surprise to me because I didn’t understand how the infield-fly rule could go through changes. It either was or wasn’t.
Some research with the aid of Bill Francis at the Baseball Hall of Fame pinned down the history of the rule.
In 1890 the Players National League (which lasted only one year) instituted the rule. It stated that “if a Base Runner was on first base and there were less than two outs and the Batsman made a fair hit so that the ball would fall within the infield and the ball touches any fielder whether held by him or not before it touches the ground, the Batsman was out.”
The National League and American Association adopted the rule in 1894. It applied only to a situation of a runner on first base. Then, in 1895, the rule was changed to what it is today. The rule comes into play if an infield fly is hit when there are runners on first and second or with the bases loaded and there are less than two outs.
That being said, I’d like to pick up on a suggestion made by my daughter Ellen. When she first learned about the rule as a teenager, she questioned its need. I agree with her that the infield fly rule takes some of the fun and suspense out of baseball.
When a batter hits an infield or (short outfield) fly now, the runners go back to their bases knowing that the batter is automatically out. But suppose there were no infield-fly rule. Suppose the infielder has the option of intentionally dropping the ball to try and force out two of the runners on base.
That would be easy if the runners hugged their base. But if there were a chance the infielder might intentionally drop the fly ball, the base runners might dance off their bases enough so that they could run to the next base and avert two force-outs. The infielder would have an easy-enough time getting the initial force-out, but his mates might not be able to act quickly enough to achieve the second force-out and the desired double play.
This would put a little pizzazz into an infield fly. As the fielder settled under the fly and the runners danced off their bases, there would be the suspense of whether he would intentionally drop the ball or not. If the fielder dropped the ball, would the runners be quick enough to avert a double play? If the infielders attempted the two force-outs, might there be a wild throw and negate any outs at all?
The mind envisions such as Jackie Robinson, Rickey Henderson or Lou Brock on the bases alert to beating a double play.
William Stevens went on to an exemplary career in Philadelphia law circles, but his legacy is his infield-fly rule law review note. He said, “My ego is simultaneously flattered and bruised by the notion that something I cranked out more than 25 years ago would prove to be the highlight of my professional and academic careers.”
I dare suggest that William Stevens, the “Infield-Fly Rule Lawyer” who cited the piecemeal changes in the infield fly rule as an argument for incremental changes in the common law, would be in favor of an incremental change backwards to eliminate the infield-fly rule.
In the name of more exciting baseball,
of course.
* * *
Sal Yvars, was a backup catcher with the New York Giants in 1951
who liked to get attention. Yvars later made a stir when a Wall
Street Journal reporter got himself a scoop quoting Yvars
revealing that the Giants had a spy operation in their bullpen
that season, the year of the “The Shot Heard ‘Round
the World.”
Yvars said the Giants had Hank Schenz,, a substitute infielder or coach Herman Franks stationed in the Giants clubhouse in center field in the Polo Grounds. They peered through a telescope to get the opposing catcher’s signs, then relayed with the help of an electrician a message to Yvars sitting in the Giants bullpen in deep right-center field. One buzz meant a fastball, two a curveball. Yvars then tipped off the batter: a fastball if he held a ball in his hand, a curveball if he tossed it in the air.
This led to the claim by some that the spy operation helped the Giants win the pennant. This was poppycock. Some facts:
# The Giants played better on the road in the final days of the season.
# They won on improved pitching rather than hitting.
# Batters usually don’t hit home runs-or get what would be safe hits for that matter-in batting practice when they know that soft pitchers are coming.
# The Giants were shut out the day before in the Polo Grounds and had scored only one run going into the ninth inning.
# Bobby Thomson, who denied getting any signs, had let a fat pitch for a strike by Ralph Branca go by him just before his epic home run. And, of course, he had hit a homer off Branca in the opening game of the playoff at Ebbets Field.
Yvars, who died at 84, played eight years as a part-timer in the big leagues. He made the last out of the 1951 World Series, a pinch-hit line drive in the sixth game against the Yankees that looked as if it might tie the score, but was caught by right fielder Hank Bauer playing out of position.
Sign-stealing by mechanical means was outlawed by baseball in 1961. Yvars’ story comes up now whenever there is talk about cheating in baseball.
©2009 by Stan Isaacs. The Stan Isaacs caricature is ©2001 by Jim Hummel. The illustration is from IMSI's Master Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA. This column first posted Feb. 2, 2009.
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