Embarassing moments in baseball thread

[sidewall]

I'm sure a few of you played back in the day. One of mine was stealing second when a guy was already on second and another was the catcher faking me out, causing me to slide into home on my knees.

[Steven S. Dallas]

I made the last out of a playoff game my first year in little league when a wild pitch went behind my head, hit the bat, and bounced back to the pitcher, who threw me out- had no idea where the ball was so I didn't even run (not that it would have mattered). And I got thrown out of a game in high school for running over a catcher at the plate- blew through the "hold" sign from the third base coach, saw I was going to be out by twenty feet, and figured I'd get my money's worth. Knocked the kid all the way to the backstop and he had to be taken off on a stretcher.

[spook]

my first year in little league i had a batting average of .000 for the entire season but i had the highest on-base percentage. i would freeze every time the pitcher pitched to me and was hit by pitch almost every time up.

we went on to win the league championship and in the championship game i was up with the bases loaded and crushed a long drive that would have been a home run had it not curled 2 feet outside the third base line.

all that said, i lead every team i played on every year after that in batting average.

[Tippster]

When I moved here from Germany at age 11 I wanted to get over my "German Kid" rap so started playing Kiwanis baseball. In my first game tried to leg out a weak little grounder to 3rd base - lost my focus, dropped, and "slid." I stopped 2" short of the bag and naturally got thrown out. The coach was screaming at me and my dad almost pissed himself from laughter.

I rode pine for most of the summer after that.

[gatorboy]

Freshman in HS. My teammate sharted himself while warming up. He "scooched" his butt in the dirt to mask the dark spot. Later in the game, while trying to beat out a grounder, he lunged to first base and broke his ankle. Coached asked us who would ride in the ambulance with him to the hospital. None of us spoke up.

[Viva]

In little league when I was 11, a fly ball went over my head and I chased it down. But my foot slid under the chain-link fence and my sock snagged. I spent 10 seconds or so trying to free my leg while the batter ran in for an inside-the-park home run.

[Crock]

First time playing baseball ever. Was 5 or 6 I guess, Kindergarten aged anyway, hit the ball and ran to 3rd...

Now in my defense I'd never played on a field before, just toss and catch with my old man in the back yard. AND i was the only one batting lefty, so when I saw all the other kids run to first while batting righty, I thought it was reversed for me.

Next embarrassing moment happened my junior year of high school during a playoff game. A low fly got hit to left center, i was playing left and the center fielder and I got the same jump on the ball.. I heard him call out "I got it" and my brain knew what that meant, but my body didn't seem to get the message because I kept after it. I was just about to lay out and try to make the catch when BAM. I hit him hard. I was able to get up immediately and get the ball to the infield but he wasn't so lucky. I had probably 30lbs or so on the kid, and we collided on a dead sprint. He went to the hospital with a few cracked ribs and I got chewed out by my coach for not yielding when the kid called me off. We lost that game too.

[AltaAndy]

when i was 12 or 13 I played baseball, was relegated to the outfield. A ball was hit my way and apparently the look on my face was one of sheer terror. I didn't catch the ball. My buddies didn't let me down from that one very easily. Deservedly so, looking back on it.

[cooks]

During a hs game the batter hit a fairly hard grounder that hit a sprinkler head about 5 feet in front of me. The ball hit me in the head and nearly knocked me out. I stumbled toward the ball, threw it, then ran into one of the fence posts of the dugout with my forehead and was out cold. Apparently I threw the ball into the opposite dugout, which also happened to loose the game for our team

[teleee]

First year of college ball. We played the University of Hawaii. Now I was a small town Wyoming boy who had only been out of the state a few times in my life. Hawaii was a whole new world, drinking age was 18, the bars were open all night... Needless to say I had myself a REALLY good time the first night we were there. The first game it was 82 degrees and really humid, the first batter up blooped one into center where I was feeling pretty fuzzy. I sprinted in and dove to cut it off, threw it in to the 2nd baseman and promptly blew an enitre nights worth of partying all over centerfield. I ran stadiums after practice for WEEKS!

[DeathVan]

Coed softball a few years back.

Took a pitch to the head (on purpose, just goofing around)
fat ass lady ump didn't give me my base.

me: "Come on Big Blue, what gives?"

The Whale: "YOU'RE OUTTA HERE!"

...had to leave the field.....the whole field complex......my team lost.....never played those fields again.....*

*had plenty of beers back in the car!

[BirdRock]

Just last night a kid on my son's team popped up a ball that landed in the grass right in front of home. Rather than run for first he leaned over, picked up the ball and tossed it to the ump. Freaking Hillarious!

8 years olds so they are still learning the rules. The catcher didn't think to grab it either. He just sat and watched.

[legallyillegal]

pitching machine days

no cup

my turn to play catcher

should have worn a cup

[Steven S. Dallas]

A lot of people remember "Merkle's boner," which effectively ended the 1908 Giants pennant run, but even more remember irul running on the field and desperately trying to suck it.

[DasBlunt]

my first year in little league i had a batting average of .000 for the entire season but i had the highest on-base percentage. i would freeze every time the pitcher pitched to me and was hit by pitch almost every time up.

we went on to win the league championship and in the championship game i was up with the bases loaded and crushed a long drive that would have been a home run had it not curled 2 feet outside the third base line.

all that said, i lead every team i played on every year after that in batting average.

That is rad, not embarrassing and I am jealous.

[DasBlunt]

Pitched little league and a little beyond. Decent side arm pitcher and have a really good knuckle ball that the coaches did not want me to throw, but one catcher was the best player on the team and ALWAYS made me throw it at the right time. I hit the umpire in the taint with that pitch.

My funniest, throwing to first, trying to be sly, dropped the ball....and I think I got called for a balk for that. My whole career at the plate was embarrassing.

GO GIANTS

[back bowl]

HS ball. I'm catcher. Guy on first takes off. I see him going and as the pitch is coming in I extend my leg and lean way into the pitch, preparing to make the throw to second. Lo and behold the kid hitting takes a big swing (even though his runner is stealing), and connects squarely with the back quarter of my helmet. I don't know if it actually knocked me out for an instant, but I got up with some idea what was going on, but totally disoriented and with some serious lack of physical control. People are running to get me onto a backboard, I grab the ball, which bounced off me and is a couple yards in front of the plate. I make a weird attempt to throw it in a totally random direction, it only goes a few yards b/c my motor control is all fucked up, and I pounce on it again just as coaches and others reach me and try to hold me down and get me on a backboard. I'm fighting with them and still trying to throw the ball and I'm just generally fucked up. Then suddenly some sense comes back to me and I realize how fucking weird I must look having just got crushed in the head and now fighting with all the coaches and some players while I try to throw out a runner in a game that's totally stopped.

In the end, I was fine. Concussed, but fine.

[flyandski365]

Catching, runner on first goes and my throw is a little low. Pitcher doesn't clear out and catches it in the face. I felt terrible about it at the time but goddamn he just stood there like a fucking statue.

Lost sight of a fly ball in the sun and caught it with my chin. Glad I still have all my teeth.

[BigDaddy]

While pitching in little league, I threw one over the backstop. Early release program.

Rode with Joe Torre and Mel Stottlemyer on an elevator, but assumed it was low level Yankee managers and gave them some memorable crap. I was embarrassed to not recognize such legends, but at least made a lasting impression...

[Edgnar]

Little league, warming up before practice or a game, don't really remember. Anyway, playing catch, except instead of using my glove I used my eye socket. That left a nice shiner. I must've been 9 or 10. My playing days ended maybe a season after that. Always froze up for fear of getting hit by a pitch.

[whatcomridaz]

Realizing there were other sports that didn't require balls and wood

[ICEHOCEY77]

My baseball career never got past little league, so I had to live vicariously through the little brother.

State playoff game, 2nd round. Guy on the other team that ended up getting drafted in the supplemental round of the draft hits a bomb to straightaway center. Little bro is the CF and goes taking off for a spot. His LF and RF were freshmen and didn't have enough sense to tell him when he was getting near the fence. You all know where this is heading...he runs into the fence on a dead sprint. Ends up breaking his nose the night before prom. Made for nice photos. First question he asked when the coaches got out to him was if the ball went over the fence.

Probably the other best moment was when the bro was playing JV baseball. Game was getting out of hand, the other team hits a slow roller to 1b. Pitcher goes to cover and knocks over the runner at the bag. Pitcher stands over the batter, who gets up and starts jawing at the pitcher. They both get tossed. Head coach goes out to argue to no avail.

Next half inning, slow roller goes foul....head coach is coaching 3rd, gathers the ball on the hop and in one step tries to go from scooping it to tossing it back to the pitcher.....only he slips.

Ends up throwing a rope at the opposing pitcher's ankles and nails him. Immediately gets tossed.

[Crock]

Anyway, playing catch, except instead of using my glove I used my eye socket.

Ahh I had forgotten about this til just now:

JV baseball, we're warming up before a game. Everyone is bullshitting, having a good time just playing toss n catch. My buddy and I were tossing a weighted ball around, and I'm somewhat having a convo with the kid next to me; ie not paying super close attention. Well my buddy decided to be a dick and toss me a knuckleball... I was only half paying attention, and realized something wasn't right a split second before the ball skipped off the top of my glove and smashed right into my nose. I've never seen so much blood come out of my body before. I left a blood trail across the field, parking lot, into the school, and down a few hallways to the nurse's office.

[half-fast]

It never actually happened, but I used to dream about turning my back on a long fly ball and having it fall behind me