I would agree that that was the best I've seen. The only thing I don't know for certain is I don't think there was a first base coach out there to help the runner. Maybe it wouldn't have mattered.
I wonder if they had replay if they could have challenged interference. As it looks like the first baseman contacted the runner. Either way getting caught on a trick play at first base are on the first base coach.
He should have been wondering where his first base coach was. There’s no one other than the runner anywhere near first base. The best shot is the replay from the center field camera looking down the line from second to first. The runner would be watching the pitcher, especially the feet. As soon as the pitcher’s right foot backs off the rubber, he’s diving back to first. Normally, there would be a base coach there, to let the runner know where the ball is, because the runner really can’t see it, as he’s trying to reach first. He’s the only one with an excuse for not seeing the throw. But there’s no coach there. That’s probably why Miami spent so much time on this trick play, and why they used it. Had there been a first base coach, this likely wouldn’t have worked. It’s probably why you never see this in the majors. There isn’t much for a first base coach to do; it’s the third base coach who has more work. But this is a perfect illustration of why there is (usually) a first base coach. Why there isn’t one here is a mystery. The commentators never mentioned it, at least in this clip.
@@johncronin9540t’s a rabbit hole how I got here, but I really loved your analysis. I wasn’t alive in 1982 - did you ever find out why there was no 1st base coach? Or was it common to not have a 1st base coach then? Because you’re spot on that this likely wouldn’t have worked with a competent 1st base coach. You’re also right that they may have never used this play if there was a coach, but there’s no harm in trying, right? Worst case scenario is everyone gets a chuckle.
The Joe Posnanski book Why We Love Baseball explains that they were only going to try the play if a player was coaching first, not a coach, which was the case here. The player coaching first claims he yelled 'Stay'. No one else involved confirms that.
The baserunner Phil Stephenson really shows how difficult it is to make it at the major league level. He was one of the best college baseball hitters ever and according to that stat graphic he had stolen 86 bases in 90 attempts. In the majors that turned into 4 sb in 4 years and barely over .200 ba
Crazy that he stayed in the minors for 8 years too.. he had a pretty solid milb OPS. At 28 years old when he debuted, his best base stealing years were likely already behind him. Ofc it doesn't help that he barely hit above the mendoza line in the bigs...
That's not always true, though. . .Ever hear of a guy named Joe Carter? Yeah, the Joe Carter that hit a World Series walk-off for the Blue Jays and had an excellent career. . .He also played his college ball at Wichita State. Joe left college after the 1981 season to go pro. He was named College Player of the Year in '81. If he had stayed at Wichita State maybe they would have beat Miami in the title game. . .Maybe.
then again I reckon in 1982, you could buy a car and a house for much less than you can now, everything is so outrageously expensive. I get inflation but I mean 6 grand would get you a nice car back then, now you're paying 50-60k. insane.
Mustaches and long hair back then. Now all the snowflakes are Metro sex gay tattoos and some shave their arms and legs as well. Today the women are in charge
More testosterone and bigger taints back then before our diets of processed food, thousands of sperm killing chemicals and estrogen enhancers in nearly everything we touch, taste, and smell.
I'm a huge baseball fan and have been watching highlights, bloopers, etc. on every level from Little League to MLB my entire life and I've never seen this one before. It definitely just got added to my top ten! Its kinda sad that you don't really see trick plays like this anymore cause a lot of the younger players get waaaaaay too serious and tend to forget that baseball is supposed to be a very fun sport and not every second of the game being the World Series
@@michaelmilsom9518 I thought about that as well. I went back to have a second look, and it wasn’t a balk because the pitcher backed off the rubber. Once the pitcher does that, he’s just another fielder, and can legally fake a throw anywhere. Had his foot remained on the rubber, it would have been a balk both because he didn’t step in the direction of first, and he faked the throw to first. The play is a bit ironic, because the balk rule is intended to prevent pitchers from deceiving the runner, and this team practiced doing precisely that. Where they might have to have a rule change is with players running out of the dugout onto the field. They might get away with it because it looks like the bullpen is on the field, but while that’s foul territory, it’s still a “live ball” area, unlike the dugout or stands, which are “dead ball” areas. The precise definition of those lines depends on the ground rules of each ball park. I umpired many games on field which weren’t enclosed, so the live-ball, dead-ball line was important, as it’s usually not marked. The difference is that on a foul ball fly, a fielder can catch it for an out in the live-ball area, but not in the dead-ball area. In this case, you’ve got players running onto the live-ball area, which probably should not be allowed, but I can’t think of a specific rule which prohibits it. Perhaps the NCAA has a rule governing it, after an incident like this. That’s often how rules are created.
My 13 and 14 year old team pulled off the Grand Illusion in a game where we were winning 2 -0 in the last inning. Earlier that day we held a practice and we put the play in. This is back when kids loved to play baseball and coming to practice was enjoyable. So I taught the team how it worked and we practiced it. The signal to put the play on was that I would say, “Get the lead runner.” The lead off batter got on in the bottom of the last inning. We ran the play on the first pitch. I worried that the umpire might not see the pitcher step off, but the umpire was wise to what was going on. The pitcher faked the throw to first and the first baseman should have received an Academy Award. He did a much better job of faking that the throw to first was wild than Miami’s first baseman. He laid out and the right fielder came running in for the supposed errant throw and the whole team was shouting get the ball. The baserunner and the first base coach had no idea what was going on. It was complete mayhem. The runner danced back and forth between running and not running. While he was somewhere between first and second the pitcher very nonchalantly walked over to him and tagged him out. Again, the umpire knew who had the ball and when the tag was made, the umpire called the runner out. Nobody knew what happened. Our fans didn’t know and the other team had no idea what happened. We went on to win the game 2-0. We had to play that same team two days later for the league championship. We beat them again, but this time the score was 12-7. There was no trickery involved.
The book "Why We Love Baseball" talks about this play. Apparently the main problem the Witchita State coach had with it was that the ball girls were in on it. You can briefly see them up out of their chairs avoiding the phantom ball. Years later they admitted they were in on it. The Miami coach was reluctant to call the play but all the conditions were in place, including the sunlight starting to fade, an aggressive baserunner on, and another player acting as first base coach.
Omg ..Absolutely Perfection. 👍 I speak from experience too, had this pulled on ME back in College and I, unfortunately 😣... , was caught off the base and called out. Ill certainly never forget it, but this takes it to the next level...👍👍
That was good! Had the hidden ball play pulled on me in a different way in my hay day after I doubled. It was slick. That's why you should have your eye on that baseball at all times.
I wish there was more of this in today’s game, more risk taking, more attempts at stealing runs from the other team! Too much analytics has taken alot of the fun out of the game, its all about home runs and playing in shifts lol
I’m old school, as well, but my gripe with analytics is the fact nobody has broken the bunt his record, yet.. Ida pulled the other team outta that shift in 2 abs.. lol..
But shifting IS taking a risk. But it's easily countered with a bunt. So really, the analytics are punishing players that aren't scrappy and Ichiro-like.
I wonder if there is a manager in MLB with advanced stats and all that jazz who would have the balls to make this play call probably would go against the numbers....
This was back in the days when the best players would jump from high school to the minor leagues. In the ‘82 amateur draft 17 of the 28 first round picks were high school seniors. Shawon Dunston was the top pick. In 2023 the numbers were reversed as 61% of first rounders were drafted out of college.
Yup. If the pitcher wants to 'fake' a throw to any base, he must step off the rubber first before throwing. The replay shows that the pitcher did step off the rubber before the fake throw. It was a great and well-rehearsed play that fooled everyone especially the runner who should have been paying better attention.
Cool! I tell people I like baseball in part because of the sneakiness, here and there. there are the signs and the steals, but this is a first if there ever was one.
Even to the detail of the bullpen catcher & pitcher acting like they are dodging the loose ball. Full commitment to the bit was what sold it completely.
@@alanhess9306 I had to look twice, to ensure there was no balk. But the pitcher took his right foot back off the rubber, which is legal, and makes him just another fielder, and thus eligible to fake a throw. I didn’t see it in the video, but the commentator talked about two players running onto the field, which would be a little shady. But in the video, you just see the bullpen catcher and another player (probably a relief pitcher) in the bullpen area, and they just ran as if they were trying to get out of the way of a play, had the ball wound up being in that area.
I remember Phil Stephenson! 86 steals in 90 tries! In a college season? I think he also hit .335 that year. How did he not become a star in the bigs!!!??
"The umpire was looking down the right field line for the ball." No, he was wondering why the first baseman was chasing air, but I'm sure he figured it out fairly quickly. My question here: where the heck was the first base coach in all this? You don't even see him in this video.
I fell for the hidden ball trick in Little League and it still stings - 50 years later. We were losing bad - two outs on us. We were all feeling rotten. Came up and got a clean single to right. Ball came back to first and I lost track of it turning around. Thought pitcher had it, took a short lead and - uh-oh! First sacker had the ball all along. I'd swear I got my arm on the bag before the tag - but it didn't matter: I deserved to be out. Burns me to this day....
You just needed to remember it long enough to tell us strangers on TH-cam for the nostalgia of it! Now my kids are playing baseball and the number of mistakes the kids make now is astronomical! I’d like to see some of those trick plays! When I played I was tiny and everyone kept telling me to choke up on the bat but no one ever told me what it meant until years later lol!
Bro I hit a triple in softball league, and when I got to first, the first baseman was standing right in my path to round the bag. I missed the bag because of that a**hole, and got called out after sliding safely into third. Still pisses me off, and it was over 20 years ago.
I"m left handed and played first. In Little League I had the ball just like your first baseman. We had practiced this. The runner had just gotten the hit and stepped off the bag, and I tagged him, and he then came back to first. Umpire was behind home plate and he missed it completely. That burns me to this day! Ha!
There's another trick play where the first baseman fakes his throw back to the pitcher and when the runner leads off again, the first baseman tags him out.
The glory of baseball! What a beautiful play and video. It's a shame about the comments, which are almost universally full of ageism, ignorance, and body shaming, instead of baseball-oriented remarks.
Ballplayers these days would claim it violates some unwritten rule and want to fight. Then, those who pulled it off would run around screaming and yelling and drawing attention to themselves.
oh you mean "LET'S GO! LET'S GOOOOO! LET'S F-IN GOOOOOOO!" Seems like nowadays, if you do anything remotely good in any sport you're obligated to say 'let's go'
Phil Stepenson was also a qb in high school and on 1play faked a handoff so well the refs didn't know he still had the ball and ran 80 yards for a touchdown. But the refs called it back citing they thought the runner was tackled even thought he trotted back and handed it to one. In the confused they decided to replay the down.
That first base umpire was trying so hard to piece together what was happening but he couldn’t find the ball. His mind was racing but his body stood up and resigned to the fact that we got no idea what is happening or what to do.
Can someone please tell me why after watching this I automatically associate the pitch @ 1:10 as to being an 80's pitch? Is it bad form? I get a cartoonish vibe from watching it. I can't figure it out.
Where was the first base coach in all of this ??? .... and what was the first base ump looking at --- isn't his primary assignment to watch the pitcher/runner ???
Great play no doubt but the biggest takeaway is the realization of how people grew up faster in those days. My great grandmother was married at age 14. My mother was married at age 16 and had been cooking a full course lunch for her dad and his farm helpers since she was 12. People were just more mature and had more responsibility because of parents who taught them to work and provide. Respect for authority and elders was also taught more consistently in those days. Those days are over, unfortunately. Ironic that all these things come rushing back to memory because of the look of these college kids playing baseball. I miss that era
I was at the CWS when this play happened. The Wichita player had set the record for the most stolen bases in a season. I said the pitcher still had the gall. My friend said B.S. I was right. LOL
Imagine Stephenson would have seen that the ball was never thrown and would have just casually remained on base while everyone else was running around shouting "ball ball". :D
That was the best hidden ball trick I have seen executed. Thumbs up to that first baseman.
I would agree that that was the best I've seen. The only thing I don't know for certain is I don't think there was a first base coach out there to help the runner. Maybe it wouldn't have mattered.
I wonder if they had replay if they could have challenged interference. As it looks like the first baseman contacted the runner. Either way getting caught on a trick play at first base are on the first base coach.
No kidding.
first baseman sold that perfectly
@@Phil.The.Lumberjack You meant obstruction and no, there was no obstruction.
The manager wanted to be pissed but at the same time was thinking “damn that was good”
Yep, when you throw up your hands and turn your back, scolding look at your base runner, ultimately he knows they ate it right there
He should have been wondering where his first base coach was. There’s no one other than the runner anywhere near first base. The best shot is the replay from the center field camera looking down the line from second to first.
The runner would be watching the pitcher, especially the feet. As soon as the pitcher’s right foot backs off the rubber, he’s diving back to first. Normally, there would be a base coach there, to let the runner know where the ball is, because the runner really can’t see it, as he’s trying to reach first. He’s the only one with an excuse for not seeing the throw. But there’s no coach there.
That’s probably why Miami spent so much time on this trick play, and why they used it. Had there been a first base coach, this likely wouldn’t have worked. It’s probably why you never see this in the majors. There isn’t much for a first base coach to do; it’s the third base coach who has more work. But this is a perfect illustration of why there is (usually) a first base coach. Why there isn’t one here is a mystery. The commentators never mentioned it, at least in this clip.
@@johncronin9540t’s a rabbit hole how I got here, but I really loved your analysis. I wasn’t alive in 1982 - did you ever find out why there was no 1st base coach? Or was it common to not have a 1st base coach then? Because you’re spot on that this likely wouldn’t have worked with a competent 1st base coach. You’re also right that they may have never used this play if there was a coach, but there’s no harm in trying, right? Worst case scenario is everyone gets a chuckle.
The Joe Posnanski book Why We Love Baseball explains that they were only going to try the play if a player was coaching first, not a coach, which was the case here. The player coaching first claims he yelled 'Stay'. No one else involved confirms that.
The baserunner Phil Stephenson really shows how difficult it is to make it at the major league level. He was one of the best college baseball hitters ever and according to that stat graphic he had stolen 86 bases in 90 attempts. In the majors that turned into 4 sb in 4 years and barely over .200 ba
A scout said Phil had one of the best eyes and patience at the plate he had ever seen.
I miss baseball of the 80’s and 90’s. Even though everyone was jacked up on roids and coke, it seemed funner to watch.
@@galenmarek8287 speaking some big facts lol
Crazy that he stayed in the minors for 8 years too.. he had a pretty solid milb OPS. At 28 years old when he debuted, his best base stealing years were likely already behind him. Ofc it doesn't help that he barely hit above the mendoza line in the bigs...
That's not always true, though. . .Ever hear of a guy named Joe Carter? Yeah, the Joe Carter that hit a World Series walk-off for the Blue Jays and had an excellent career. . .He also played his college ball at Wichita State. Joe left college after the 1981 season to go pro. He was named College Player of the Year in '81. If he had stayed at Wichita State maybe they would have beat Miami in the title game. . .Maybe.
In the good old days, you couldn't enter college until you got a mortgage and 2 kids. The youngest one there looks like he's 30
Rodrigo that's a good one!
These college ballplayers look older than the current Dodgers team .;)
😂 lmao more like a refinanced mortgage and a boat.
@R G , it’s because of the long hair, mustaches, and they all started smoking cigarettes when they were 13.
Thank you
then again I reckon in 1982, you could buy a car and a house for much less than you can now, everything is so outrageously expensive. I get inflation but I mean 6 grand would get you a nice car back then, now you're paying 50-60k. insane.
The umpire calling him “out!” Hahahahaha. He was so excited and so formal with that put out call! 😆 so good! Little Big League loved it too!
Immediately thought of Little Big League.
College Baseball? I swear some of those dudes were older than I am now..... and I'm 40
Clearly big mustaches do the trick.
I'M A MAN, I'M 40!
Mustaches and long hair back then. Now all the snowflakes are Metro sex gay tattoos and some shave their arms and legs as well. Today the women are in charge
Times were hard back then 😂
More testosterone and bigger taints back then before our diets of processed food, thousands of sperm killing chemicals and estrogen enhancers in nearly everything we touch, taste, and smell.
Runner is the oldest looking college kid in history.
Funny thing is that the Head coach is his older brother
It was the 80s almost every guy had a mustache
The pitcher is no spring chicken either lol
My dad played at Alabama in 82, and I swear they all had mustaches and looked 35
@@willpgarrett2940 It's called steroids.
That ump coming in with perfect out mechanics on that play.
I’m surprised he still hasn’t talked about the ranger capitals fight
The 80’s was a good decade for miami sports
No. The 80s was the best decade for Everything really, Music, movies, & people. Sums it up.
80's Miami Starter Jackets made famous by 2 Live Crew🤣😂
2000s for UM were pretty good as well
You mean LA sports
Haha drugs
0:16
"HOW 'BOUT THAT?!?!"
-guy in the stands
According to Wikipedia, WSU coach Gene Stephenson was born in August 1945, so he would have been 36. He legit looks 50.
What's your point dbag?
@@LanceBeckman that he looked old as fuck....
If you hadn't said anything, I would have thought he looked 35 to 40. Unfortunately, we all look like that in the early eighties. Just saying
He didn't look that old imo
That’s a young coach by today’s standards
I'm a huge baseball fan and have been watching highlights, bloopers, etc. on every level from Little League to MLB my entire life and I've never seen this one before. It definitely just got added to my top ten! Its kinda sad that you don't really see trick plays like this anymore cause a lot of the younger players get waaaaaay too serious and tend to forget that baseball is supposed to be a very fun sport and not every second of the game being the World Series
Ahh, the good ol' days, that would be a BALK nowadays and then a 15 minute umpire discussion about it. Then 7 pitcher changes.
Yes.. I was wondering how that wasn't a balk
@@michaelmilsom9518 The pitcher stepped back off the rubber with his right foot. Cancels a balk.
There is no balk here.
it wouldn't be called a balk, its completely legal
@@michaelmilsom9518 I thought about that as well. I went back to have a second look, and it wasn’t a balk because the pitcher backed off the rubber. Once the pitcher does that, he’s just another fielder, and can legally fake a throw anywhere. Had his foot remained on the rubber, it would have been a balk both because he didn’t step in the direction of first, and he faked the throw to first. The play is a bit ironic, because the balk rule is intended to prevent pitchers from deceiving the runner, and this team practiced doing precisely that.
Where they might have to have a rule change is with players running out of the dugout onto the field. They might get away with it because it looks like the bullpen is on the field, but while that’s foul territory, it’s still a “live ball” area, unlike the dugout or stands, which are “dead ball” areas.
The precise definition of those lines depends on the ground rules of each ball park. I umpired many games on field which weren’t enclosed, so the live-ball, dead-ball line was important, as it’s usually not marked. The difference is that on a foul ball fly, a fielder can catch it for an out in the live-ball area, but not in the dead-ball area.
In this case, you’ve got players running onto the live-ball area, which probably should not be allowed, but I can’t think of a specific rule which prohibits it. Perhaps the NCAA has a rule governing it, after an incident like this. That’s often how rules are created.
Easily the best hidden ball trick I've ever seen. These men are magicians
My 13 and 14 year old team pulled off the Grand Illusion in a game where we were winning 2 -0 in the last inning. Earlier that day we held a practice and we put the play in. This is back when kids loved to play baseball and coming to practice was enjoyable. So I taught the team how it worked and we practiced it. The signal to put the play on was that I would say, “Get the lead runner.” The lead off batter got on in the bottom of the last inning. We ran the play on the first pitch. I worried that the umpire might not see the pitcher step off, but the umpire was wise to what was going on. The pitcher faked the throw to first and the first baseman should have received an Academy Award. He did a much better job of faking that the throw to first was wild than Miami’s first baseman. He laid out and the right fielder came running in for the supposed errant throw and the whole team was shouting get the ball. The baserunner and the first base coach had no idea what was going on. It was complete mayhem. The runner danced back and forth between running and not running. While he was somewhere between first and second the pitcher very nonchalantly walked over to him and tagged him out. Again, the umpire knew who had the ball and when the tag was made, the umpire called the runner out. Nobody knew what happened. Our fans didn’t know and the other team had no idea what happened. We went on to win the game 2-0. We had to play that same team two days later for the league championship. We beat them again, but this time the score was 12-7. There was no trickery involved.
The book "Why We Love Baseball" talks about this play. Apparently the main problem the Witchita State coach had with it was that the ball girls were in on it. You can briefly see them up out of their chairs avoiding the phantom ball. Years later they admitted they were in on it.
The Miami coach was reluctant to call the play but all the conditions were in place, including the sunlight starting to fade, an aggressive baserunner on, and another player acting as first base coach.
I can here to watch the play because of the book. The book told the story so well!
Skip Bettman who was then a Miami assistant coach helped design the play
I love the reaction of Wichita State coach at 0:25 acting as if he wasn't fooled himself!
HIs brother was the runner who got fooled.
Omg ..Absolutely Perfection. 👍 I speak from experience too, had this pulled on ME back in College and I, unfortunately 😣... , was caught off the base and called out. Ill certainly never forget it, but this takes it to the next level...👍👍
This is so cheeky, it's unbelievable. This is why I love baseball
That was good! Had the hidden ball play pulled on me in a different way in my hay day after I doubled. It was slick. That's why you should have your eye on that baseball at all times.
Apparently all college kids in the 80s were 35 or older
😅🤣😂 for reals all those guys looked like they were in their mid to late 40s
And this is why they called the coach of Miami Ron Frazier the Wizard!!! Homie won 4 college world series!!!
Wow! That trick was insane, rad, incredible, ridiculous, and awesome and totally cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wish there was more of this in today’s game, more risk taking, more attempts at stealing runs from the other team! Too much analytics has taken alot of the fun out of the game, its all about home runs and playing in shifts lol
I prefer small ball as well. Watching a guy run slowly around the bases is boring as hell.
I’m old school, as well, but my gripe with analytics is the fact nobody has broken the bunt his record, yet..
Ida pulled the other team outta that shift in 2 abs.. lol..
Thats what competitive sports do with every game
But shifting IS taking a risk. But it's easily countered with a bunt. So really, the analytics are punishing players that aren't scrappy and Ichiro-like.
@@CurtisDensmore1
You mean like Ted Williams?
They used this play in the Movie "Little Big League" lol
They sure did!!!!!!
Pretty much exactly. Wow.
Yeah I never knew until today that was an actual play that could be executed
@@PrinceoftheCityNY me either lol now I know where the Movie got the Play from
I wonder if there is a manager in MLB with advanced stats and all that jazz who would have the balls to make this play call probably would go against the numbers....
My team has done this play and it’s worked like 90 percent of the time when it doesn’t work we just looks stupid but when it does work it is awesome
Not stupid. They looked like they were having fun & entertaining the crowd!
Not working means the other team is alert As the should be
This was back in the days when the best players would jump from high school to the minor leagues. In the ‘82 amateur draft 17 of the 28 first round picks were high school seniors. Shawon Dunston was the top pick. In 2023 the numbers were reversed as 61% of first rounders were drafted out of college.
We implemented a hidden ball trick play back in my legion ball days. My coach's signal was to yell from the dugout, "put a tent over the circus"!
I played Little League ball with Phil Lane, #7 third base for Miami. Even then he looked 25
Skip Bertman, Miami's pitching coach, came up with this play. He went on to be a successful head coach somewhere I believe.
I want to see this done today's game of baseball.
Just remember that
It's a Grand Illusion
And deep inside we're all the same
And maybe the real lesson was the friends we made along the way
Based
I can't believe Jomboy hasn't covered this yet.
Funny that the guy announcing this then kinda reminded me of the way jomboy breaks plays down.
This is why "keep your eye on the ball" is the number one rule in baseball
One is taught that basic base running rule in babe ruth ball by rhe time ones 13 to 15 years old!
@@harolddenton6031 Once
For umpires also.
The way the umpire called it.....gotcha ya
Anyone who has pulled this off I’m a game knows how funny it is to see the runners face when you tag them out
They also know the feeling of grim disappointment when the one base ump is also fooled and doesn't see the tag.
@@squattoilet not when we did it lol
The youngest player on the field is 43 years old
Yup. If the pitcher wants to 'fake' a throw to any base, he must step off the rubber first before throwing. The replay shows that the pitcher did step off the rubber before the fake throw. It was a great and well-rehearsed play that fooled everyone especially the runner who should have been paying better attention.
Under ML rules, a pitcher does not need to step off to fake to second base. Under HS rules he can also fake to third base from the rubber.
@@alanhess9306 I stand corrected. I should have remembered about 2nd base, I've seen it done a gazillion times. My bad, thanks!
Oh, you guys are a bunch of comedians. 😂
Seriously, that was well executed to perfection.
Cool! I tell people I like baseball in part because of the sneakiness, here and there. there are the signs and the steals, but this is a first if there ever was one.
Even to the detail of the bullpen catcher & pitcher acting like they are dodging the loose ball. Full commitment to the bit was what sold it completely.
That was clean as hell.
Anybody else digging the early-'80s shorts?
What about the first base coach. He has to warn the runnee. Or the coach is just there to be standing up.
Jomboy needs to do a breakdown. The Wichita manager didn’t appreciate that.
The greatest out call by a umpire EVER!!!
This is the first time I’ve ever seen somebody pull of the phantom pick off play
It's illegal today
@@TaterNoggin what makes you think it would be illegal today?
@@alanhess9306 I had to look twice, to ensure there was no balk. But the pitcher took his right foot back off the rubber, which is legal, and makes him just another fielder, and thus eligible to fake a throw.
I didn’t see it in the video, but the commentator talked about two players running onto the field, which would be a little shady. But in the video, you just see the bullpen catcher and another player (probably a relief pitcher) in the bullpen area, and they just ran as if they were trying to get out of the way of a play, had the ball wound up being in that area.
That ump call was magnificent
I remember Phil Stephenson! 86 steals in 90 tries! In a college season? I think he also hit .335 that year. How did he not become a star in the bigs!!!??
I love this trick!
"The umpire was looking down the right field line for the ball." No, he was wondering why the first baseman was chasing air, but I'm sure he figured it out fairly quickly. My question here: where the heck was the first base coach in all this? You don't even see him in this video.
he got caught napping
We need to bring back the mustache
I fell for the hidden ball trick in Little League and it still stings - 50 years later. We were losing bad - two outs on us. We were all feeling rotten. Came up and got a clean single to right. Ball came back to first and I lost track of it turning around. Thought pitcher had it, took a short lead and - uh-oh! First sacker had the ball all along. I'd swear I got my arm on the bag before the tag - but it didn't matter: I deserved to be out.
Burns me to this day....
You just needed to remember it long enough to tell us strangers on TH-cam for the nostalgia of it! Now my kids are playing baseball and the number of mistakes the kids make now is astronomical! I’d like to see some of those trick plays! When I played I was tiny and everyone kept telling me to choke up on the bat but no one ever told me what it meant until years later lol!
Bro I hit a triple in softball league, and when I got to first, the first baseman was standing right in my path to round the bag. I missed the bag because of that a**hole, and got called out after sliding safely into third. Still pisses me off, and it was over 20 years ago.
I"m left handed and played first. In Little League I had the ball just like your first baseman. We had practiced this. The runner had just gotten the hit and stepped off the bag, and I tagged him, and he then came back to first. Umpire was behind home plate and he missed it completely. That burns me to this day! Ha!
What a gem!!!!
And for some reason this is fine, but god forbid you swing on a 3-0 with a 6 run lead in the 7th inning (for instance).
Cameras did all the work it was so blurry for the people watching this either way good stuff, I wonder if that trick would still work today
No First base coach? I didn’t see a FB coach to help the runner.
Yeah, was wondering exact same thing.
@@Thomas-fk3cw Me too. I looked for him on the replay but there wasn't one in sight.
There WAS a fb coach, but he was a Wichita state pitcher.
15 dislikes must’ve been the other team
Nah. I'm a Shockers fan. Just watched it to see Gene in his prime. Great clip.
Ron Fraser really a Wizard 🐐
And that’s how Miami won there first National Championship
Got get it
Where is the first base coach?
Legend has it you never searched for this
There's another trick play where the first baseman fakes his throw back to the pitcher and when the runner leads off again, the first baseman tags him out.
The glory of baseball! What a beautiful play and video. It's a shame about the comments, which are almost universally full of ageism, ignorance, and body shaming, instead of baseball-oriented remarks.
This was when I loved to watch baseball. Now not so much.
Ballplayers these days would claim it violates some unwritten rule and want to fight.
Then, those who pulled it off would run around screaming and yelling and drawing attention to themselves.
oh you mean "LET'S GO! LET'S GOOOOO! LET'S F-IN GOOOOOOO!"
Seems like nowadays, if you do anything remotely good in any sport you're obligated to say 'let's go'
Phil Stepenson was also a qb in high school and on 1play faked a handoff so well the refs didn't know he still had the ball and ran 80 yards for a touchdown. But the refs called it back citing they thought the runner was tackled even thought he trotted back and handed it to one. In the confused they decided to replay the down.
That first base umpire was trying so hard to piece together what was happening but he couldn’t find the ball. His mind was racing but his body stood up and resigned to the fact that we got no idea what is happening or what to do.
I wonder if any of those guys made the majors?
Can someone please tell me why after watching this I automatically associate the pitch @ 1:10 as to being an 80's pitch? Is it bad form? I get a cartoonish vibe from watching it. I can't figure it out.
The first-base coach was sleeping. If he had done his job, he would have told the runner to stay on the base.
Brought here by Joe Posnanski's new book
0:16 The P.A did channel his inner Mel Allen's trademark
I remember it,Ron Fraser baceball 👍
I thought the pitcher couldn't fake a throw to first
He can after he legally disengages the rubber, which he did.
Where was the first base coach in all of this ??? .... and what was the first base ump looking at --- isn't his primary assignment to watch the pitcher/runner ???
Florida tried this in regionals this year and almost pulled it off
Back when every college student looked like they were 35.
This was in the "olden days" before the invention of the first base coach.
How about that...how about that! The first how about that was coming from the broadcasters headphones instructing him what to say. LOL.
1st rule as a base runner: always see where the ball is
Chuck Knoblauch did a similar play... In the World Series
Great play no doubt but the biggest takeaway is the realization of how people grew up faster in those days. My great grandmother was married at age 14. My mother was married at age 16 and had been cooking a full course lunch for her dad and his farm helpers since she was 12. People were just more mature and had more responsibility because of parents who taught them to work and provide. Respect for authority and elders was also taught more consistently in those days. Those days are over, unfortunately. Ironic that all these things come rushing back to memory because of the look of these college kids playing baseball. I miss that era
That was brilliant.
That was pretty bad ass!
There was a scene that in the movie Little Big League did the same play
Cool trick. It would probably work alot since they dive as soon as the pitcher turns towards them.
What's amazing is that Phil Stephenson isn't the son of coach Gene Stephenson. It's his brother
If I didn't know this was college, I would think with those mustaches, that these guys were in their mid-thirties. Fun times the 80s.
Why do they all look like they're 40 yrs old?
The stache is strong with this one
Baseball was fun back then
That was a great play but am I the only guy who thought that woman in the dugout had great legs.
I was at the CWS when this play happened. The Wichita player had set the record for the most stolen bases in a season. I said the pitcher still had the gall. My friend said B.S. I was right. LOL
Created by the legendary Skip Bertman to help Miami win that College World Series.
They sold that perfectly.
It was such a good fake out it looks like the pitcher almost forgot to throw the ball to the guy covering second.
Imagine Stephenson would have seen that the ball was never thrown and would have just casually remained on base while everyone else was running around shouting "ball ball". :D
How is that not a balk? If you step off, as a right hander, I was always told you have to throw it. Is that wrong, or did the rule change?
HOW was that NOT a balk though ??
The pitcher stepped back off the rubber. That makes him an infielder and balk rules do not apply to infielders.