"The Invincible One" Verses "The Dominican Dandy" - The Greatest Game Ever Pitched

July 2nd of this year will mark the 50th anniversary of one of the most amazing feats in baseball history.

July 2, 1963 - the day in which the greatest game was ever pitched by opposing pitchers. Warren Spahn was the pitcher for the Milwaukee Braves and Juan Marichal was on the hill for the San Francisco Giants.  Here are some facts regarding that game:

• The game went 16 innings and both pitchers pitched the entire game!!
• The game was 0-0 until the bottom of the 16th when Willie Mays hit a home run against Spahn to end it.
• Despite the 16 innings, the game only lasted 4:10.
• Marichal's pitching line: 16 innings, 8 hits, 0 runs, 4 walks and 10 strikeouts
• Spahn’s line was  15 1/3 innings, 9 hits, 1 run, 1 walk and 2 strikeouts
• In the 1960s complete games were common but this game was far and above those standards making this game extraordinary.
• This April a book was published about this game, appropriately named - "The Greatest Game Ever Pitched"
• Here is the boxscore - http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN196307020.shtml
  

I wish I could get my hands on a video of this game.  It would be enjoyable to watch.

Thanks for reading

-Tom

"I Got It, I Got It" - Get your priorities straight

“Action expresses priorities.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

It's occurring more and more.  You see it in a game or on ESPN or on MLB Network.  It's the lack of attention to fielding priorities.  The season isn't only five days old, yet I think I've seen about five collisions.

Of all of the fundamentals a baseball manager can instill in a team, fly-ball fielding priority is one of the most time consuming to teach.  This skill takes team work and cohesiveness.  With the player turnover in the MLB these days, breeding a culture to carry out skills like this are difficult.  As you can imagine the players must be acutely aware of their teammates voices.  This is a skill that must be practiced as a team.

Here are some notes regarding fly-ball fielding priorities:

• In the outfield the center fielder has priority on all fly balls.   That includes infielders too.  If a ball is hit to an area in which the CF, LF and SS can get to a ball and the CF calls it, the LF and SS have to back off.
• The shortstop is the quarterback of the infield.  They have priority of all fly balls in the infield.  Again, all infielders should know each others voices, especially the shortstops.
• Next is the second baseman.
• Corner infielders are next.
• The Catcher is next on the totem pole
• Last but not least is the pitcher.

Remember, even though a player has priority, he must call for it.  In the recent White Sox / Royals game LF Dayan Viciedo and  SS Alexei Ramirez collided on a fly ball to short left.  At first glance you would think it was Viciedo's ball - and it was.  But, as the camera showed (and Hawk Harrelson reminded us all) Viciedo's mouth was not moving to call off Ramirez.  With Ramirez moving backward it would have helped for Viciedo to know the priority and more importantly yell "GOT IT"!!

So next time you are watching a game on TV and you see two fielders body-slam each other, you can show off your newly found "priority" knowledge and tell it like it was supposed to be

Thanks for reading.

-Tom