OCR Text |
Show 'THIEVER' FINALLY OUT Three Assists Required to Retire Man Stealing Base. Throw From Catcher Hits Pitcher on-Head, on-Head, Shortstop Catches It and Nips Runner at Third How Scorer Figured It Out. Claude Berry, former catcher for the Pittsburgh Feds, tells this one: "One day while I was catching for the Dallas (Tex.) team a runner on first started to steal second. I pegged toward the base but our pitcher Walker had moved out of the box after he delivered the ball, and walked into the throw. "The ball hit Walker on top of the head, and as Walker dropped to the-ground the-ground the ball bounded high in the air. The runner had reached second by that time, and not Being the ball-in ball-in play raced for third. But our shortstop saw the ball, caught It as It came down and whipped it to third in time to put out the runner. "The official scorer credited three men with an assist. He gave me an assist because I had made the original throw, he gave one to the pitcher, be- cause his head had deflected the ball to the shortstop, and, of course, he gave one to the shortstop for making the throw to third." Berry, by the way, is believed to be the only catcher who jumped into a grandstand after a foul ball and caught it. He performed the trick when he was in San Francisco in 1908. Berry's other claim to fame is that during the season of 1908-1909 in California Cali-fornia covering a straight stretch of 12 months he caught 34 games, while with the San Francisco team. That means he worked nearly every day for a year. |