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February 16, 2007
An Unexpected Sad Realization
The YES Network is showing the game of July 1, 2004 on Yankees Classics tonight. It's the game against the Red Sox where Jeter dove into the stands to catch a pop-fly.
I was at that game with my buddy Gary. It was a thrill. In any event, I've never seen the whole YES broadcast of the contest. Like tonight, I usually only catch a few minutes of the game replay when it's on the telly.
Most times I've stumbled across the game on the tube, it's not a big deal to me - since I was there when it all happened. This evening, when I caught a glimpse of the replay, my first reaction was "Hey, that's right - Brad Halsey started that game. Gee, that still must be, and may always be, a highlight of his career." Then, it hit me.
I heard Bobby Murcer's voice on the television. All of a sudden, I felt very sad. Now, I was never a huge fan of Murcer's style and skill in the booth. Nonetheless, it bothered me tonight, when I heard his voice, to think that he may never get a chance to do another Yankees game.
I know that Murcer hopes to return to the YES Network this season. And, I'm rooting for his dream to come true. If he does, it's a lock that there's going to be very few dry eyes on the YES crew that day - and I'll probably be a little misty myself.
Posted by Steve Lombardi at February 16, 2007 08:28 PM
Comments
In addition, under the new rules MLB adopted yesterday this play by Jeter would not have ended the 12th inning. Now, if a player catches the ball then falls into the stands or dugout, the baserunner takes a base/extra base. This change wasn't listed in Singer's MLB.com report on their website, but was listed in a New Zealand paper that I got on my google reports.
Posted by: susanmullen ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.waswatching.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 17, 2007 11:15 AM
Nice find. Even if it's the 3rd out of an inning?
Posted by: Steve Lombardi at February 17, 2007 11:32 AM
Forget that - as soon as I hit "Post" I realized that's a stupid question. :-o
Posted by: Steve Lombardi at February 17, 2007 11:32 AM
That rule either isn't correct or wasn't stated correctly. Jeter caught the ball in fair territory. That's an OUT no matter what happened afterward.
Posted by: Southern Yankee at February 17, 2007 11:38 AM
Here's the official wording of the rule:
"Rule 7.04(c) Comment: If a fielder, after having made a legal catch, should fall into a stand or among spectators or into the dugout or any other out-of-play area while in possession of the ball after making a legal catch, or fall while in the dugout after making a legal catch, the ball is dead and each runner shall advance one base, without liability to be put out, from his last legally touched base at the time the fielder fell into, or in, such out-of-play area."
We had this rule in college (softball). But the crappy thing was that most fields we played at didn't have fences around the field of play. There were just chalk lines or imaginary boundaries to mark what was out of play. So if you made a catch near the line you had to be careful not to step over it if there were runners on.
Here's are PDFs of the rule changes and the scoring rule changes.
http://mlb.mlb.com/pressbox/downloads/y2007/rule_changes_021607.pdf
http://mlb.mlb.com/pressbox/downloads/y2007/summary_rule_changes_021607.pdf
Posted by: Jen at February 17, 2007 02:45 PM