The Letter "G" (Round 2...Baseball Inspired!)

GOTCHA!

The Hidden Ball Trick: Once very popular...a rule was added in 1897 to discourage the use of the play...since 1997, the play has been pulled off in the majors just six times (according to baseball historian Bill Deane and Retrosheet...a non-profit database with box-score data dating back to 1871 and fairly in depth since 1948)...here's the list of times I found it in the majors...

• September 19, 1997 - Cleveland Indians 3rd baseman Matt Williams tagged out Kansas City Royals 2nd baseman Jed Hansen
• April 25, 1998 - Baltimore Orioles 1st baseman Rafael Palmeiro tagged out Oakland A left fielder Rickey Henderson (Henderson of course notorious for stealing bases...number one rule of stealing? Don't get caught Rickey! He should have known better...1,406 stolen bases is first all-time in major league history)
• June 26, 1999 - San Francisco Giants 1st baseman J.T. Snow tagged Los Angeles Dodger pitcher Carlos Perez
• September 15, 2004 - Florida Marlins 3rd baseman Mike Lowell got Montreal Expos catcher Brian Schneider
• August 10, 2005 - Back to Mike Lowell with the Marlins...this time getting Arizona Diamondbacks center fielder Luis Terrero
• June 8, 2007 - Boston Red Sox shortstop Julio Lugo tagged Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Alberto Callaspo

And here's an example...epic!

GETTING TO FIRST... (23 ways to do it...(according to Baseball Hall of Fame...only 3 can extend a streak of reaching first safely in consecutive games: hit, walk or hit by pitch)....seriously? seriously?)

1. Hit
2. Fielder's Choice
3. Forceout at another base
4. Preceding runner put out allows batter to reach first base
5. Sacrifice bunt fails to advance the runner (fielder's choice on bunt would fit here)
6. Hit by pitch
7. Error
8. Walk
9. Intentional Walk
10. Pinch-runner
11. Dropped 3rd Strike
12. Catcher Interference (catcher impedes batter)
13. Fair ball hits runner
14. Fair ball hits umpire
15. Sacrifice fly dropped
16. Obstruction of runner (example: second baseman obstructs runner on way to 2nd on a batted ball in play)
17. Fielder Interference (example: pitcher obstructs batter on way to first)
18. Spectator Interference (of the ball)
19. Fan Obstruction (of batter for example)
20. Runner out on appeal (runner on first, misses second on way to third...out on appeal...runner on first now is credited with at bat but not the hit)
21. Failure to deliver pitch within 20 seconds on 3-ball count
22. Four illegal pitches
23. Game suspended with runner on first, if he's traded prior to the makeup game, another player may take his place (most interesting thing I've ever seen...can't find an example though...I'm still working on it!)

I honestly never thought there were that many ways to get to first...23 is ridiculous...oh baseball...you make me smile!