Baseball

Discussion in 'The Lounge Bar' started by CL1, Aug 2, 2021.

  1. Wobbler

    Wobbler Well-Known Member

    I think it’s mainly to put pressure on the batsman, Dave, to hopefully restrict his shots, plus occasionally there will be some small ricochet off his bat that doesn’t travel that far - with a fielder in that close there’s a very good chance they’ll take that catch. I hated the position, was always a bit nervous there, but the captain says field there, you field there.

    Of course, very often as soon as the batsman is clearly lining up to play an aggressive shot, the fielder there tends to look or turn away anyway. And in answer to your question as to whether the batsman can swing away, the plain answer is yep! Some batsmen will decide the best form of defence is attack and make a point of playing aggressively in the hope of driving any of those very close fielders away.

    Mate of mine, superb batsman, hit a ball once with some considerable venom to the “leg” side (basically directly to the batsman’s left) and hit the “short leg” fielder square in the face (“short” is another term for fielding so close, would shortstop be the same?)

    This is a very hard cricket ball at pace and at, effectively, point blank range. We all thought he’d killed the guy. Seriously, he went down like he’d been shot and it looked awful bad. Fortunately, he was “ok”, but his nose had been obliterated and off to hospital he went, leaking claret everywhere (on the playing area too, how inconsiderate of him ;))

    Nobody fielded that close to my teammate again that afternoon.
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2021
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  2. Wobbler

    Wobbler Well-Known Member

    That hurts just watching. It shows how all the armour and helmets in the world are just not always enough. Some of those blows to the feet looked bad too; are baseball shoes/boots as soft as they look in these clips, or do they have some sort of reinforced protection?

    When I started playing cricket in the late 1970s, my cricket boots had fairly hard, decent protection around the toes. By the time I finished playing in the early 2000s, that protection had become, or seemed to me to have become anyway, much weaker. The boots had almost turned into trainers/sneakers.
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2021
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  3. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Old Hickory Recon

    I've never heard them described in quite a glowing term like that but, yes, pain is one their charms.

    Catcher's equipment keeps you from having damage, but it still hurts, particularly when the ball hits the mask or cup. Then, there are tip fouls that hit unpadded parts of the body, such as the thigh, biceps, forefoot and (this only happened to me once, thankfully) the asshole. Yes, I had a foul bounce off the back corner of the plate and hit me square on the ass, just behind the cup. It hurt to squat and to shit for several days. And, lets face it, you can't rub it right after the hit like you could most any other part of the body. You just have to stand there and let folks wonder why you are stepping around like there is a corn cob shoved up your bung hole.

    I played third up on the grass, because at the time, I was a 2 years younger than the rest of the team and had a comparatively week arm, but with a quick release. To compensate, the coach moved me up so I could get the ball quicker and get it thrown across the diamond faster to make up for my slower throw.
     
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  4. TTH

    TTH Senior Member

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  5. Steve Mac

    Steve Mac Very Senior Member

    Isn’t it just rounders; link: Rounders - Wikipedia.
    The girls used to play this at school, whilst us boys played rugby; that’s like American Football without the Kevlar.
     
  6. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    Uhhuh :)

     
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  7. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

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