I've been a baseball fan since 1967, when I was 10 years old. I've seen thousands of games, both in person and on television. Yesterday, during the game between the Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariners, I saw something for the first time. The game was close and Ichiro Suzuki had reached first base. There was one out. The batter hit a popup to short right field. Omar Vizquel, who is playing second base while Ian Kinsler nurses a sore hamstring, waved other players off and prepared to catch the ball. To my horror, the ball fell to the ground directly in front of him! He immediately picked the ball up and tossed it to Elvis Andrus at second base for the force.
Josh Lewin and Tom Grieve, the Rangers' announcers, knew immediately that Vizquel had let the ball drop on purpose. His rationale was simple. It was better to have a slow runner on first base than the speedy Ichiro. Had Vizquel caught the ball, there would have been the same number of outs, but Ichiro rather than the slow runner would have been on first base.
Is this brilliant, or what? After the game, Rangers' catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia said that he had never seen such a play and was surprised by it. He added that he shouldn't have been surprised, given that Vizquel is a future Hall of Famer. I'll bet that many people in the stands thought Vizquel lost the ball in the lights, or even misjudged it. Some of them may still not understand why he let it fall. Vizquel is willing to let people think less of him if it helps his team. It is a joy to watch him play.
Have you ever seen this play? I wonder whether Vizquel has made it before. If not, has he always had it in the back of his mind? Baseball is chess on grass, and Vizquel is a grandmaster.
Addendum: The play was not without risk. Vizquel had no way to signal to Andrus that he was going to allow the ball to drop. Andrus happened to be alert and went to second base to take Vizquel's throw, but suppose he had stayed in his shortstop position. Vizquel would have had nobody to throw the ball to, and Ichiro would have reached second base.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 