How in the heck does a short pop dropping in to center field allow ANY runner to get to second base. Any center fielder could throw out a runner trying to stretch a short base hit to center.
Yes, that was a weird aspect of that story, I couldn’t make total sense of. Maybe it was right at the foul line in right and so would have been a long throw and if Berra had really been motoring he could have beaten the throw?
Yes, that was a weird aspect of that story, I couldn’t make total sense of. Maybe it was right at the foul line in right and so would have been a long throw and if Berra had really been motoring he could have beaten the throw?
How in the heck does a short pop dropping in to center field allow ANY runner to get to second base. Any center fielder could throw out a runner trying to stretch a short base hit to center.
I've seen hitters take second on pops like that. Especially if, like Berra, they're power hitters known to hit to all parts of the park and thus have center fielders playing them a little more deep than normal. (Yogi had shown very early in his career that he could hit.) It's actually not that difficult, with that kind of fielder positioning, to take an extra base on a high pop like that if it falls in for a hit and you're gunning it up the baseline.
Quote:
“How in the heck does a short pop dropping in to center field allow ANY runner to get to second base. Any center fielder could throw out a runner trying to stretch a short base hit to center. “
Happens all the time. It’s called putting pressure on the other team’s defense. Aggressive base-running is very effective. If the pop-fly is high enough a good runner can be rounding first base by the time the ball lands.
The fielder, seeing this, often overruns the ball or rushes his throw resulting in an error. I’ve seen runners end up on third base from a “Texas Leaguer” to centerfield.